Rafael Bracero Torres (born 1940 in

Santurce, Puerto Rico Santurce (, from the Basque '' Santurtzi'' which means Saint George) is a barrio or district in the municipality of San Juan. Its population in 2020 was 69,469. It is also the biggest and most populated of all the barrios in the capital city wi ...

) is a Puerto Rican sportscaster. Bracero graduated from the

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish (also referred to as Colegio and CAAM in allusion to its former name), is a public land-grant university in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. UPRM ...

then known as ''Colegio de Artes Mecánicas'' (College of Arts and Mechanical Arts - ''CAAM'' in Spanish) with a degree in civil engineering, and then he joined

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

's Perez Perry ''Channel 11'' to cover sports as their main reporter. The ''Perez Perry Network'' soon went bankrupt and then Bracero became the night sportscaster on

WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish language in the United States, Spanish-language Independent station (North America), independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by :es:Hemisphere Media Group, Hemisphere Media Group, w ...

, a position in which he performed at for two years and a half. At WAPA TV, their night news edition sportscasters were considered by WAPA executives as being second string to their afternoon news edition colleagues, so Bracero would, for those two years and a half, perform under the shadow of Luis Rigual, WAPAs afternoon sportscaster. Nevertheless, he joined Rigual to cover

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

fights and other live sporting events, and in sports documentaries. When Rigual died in 1983, Bracero became his substitute on the afternoon news cast. Still as a WAPA sportscaster, Bracero worked with the transmissions of BSN

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

games (which he shared with

Manolo Rivera Morales Manuel Rivera Morales (''aka'' "Manolo", "El Olimpico", "Mr. Apuntenlo") (May 14, 1923–May 25, 2000) (in Spanish) was a Puerto Rican sportscaster, radio announcer and marketing sales executive. Rivera Morales is considered by many to be the be ...

and ''

Fufi Santori José Santori Coll (May 7, 1932 – April 2, 2018) was a Puerto Rican basketball player and coach. Santori was also, for a short period late in his life, a bachata singer; he recorded an album, named ''El Sentimiento de Fufi'' (''Fufi's Feelin ...

''), boxing telecasts,

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

games and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

games. In 1988, he assisted with WAPA's transmission of the 1988

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. One of Bracero's catchphrases during his basketball game telecasts was "Eeel Canasto!!!" (loosely translated to "Theee basket"!) which he pronounced in a way similar to

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he ...

's "from downtown!* and became a popular phrase in Puerto Rican jargon at the time. Bracero performed for WAPA TV as a sportscaster until he retired during 2017. He has written various books and is also an engineer. He has interviewed many sports stars, and he has traveled often to do specials and documentaries for boxing fights, such as the one he did before the fight between

Héctor Camacho Héctor Luís Camacho Matías (May 24, 1962 – November 24, 2012), commonly known by his nickname "Macho" Camacho, was a Puerto Rican professional boxer and entertainer. Known for his quickness in the ring and flamboyant style, Camacho compet ...

and

Edwin Rosario Edwin "Chapo" Rosario Rivera (; March 15, 1963 – December 1, 1997) was a Puerto Rican professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 1997. He is a world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBC lightweight title from 1983 to 1984, ...

, and before Rosario's bout with

Julio César Chávez Julio César Chávez González (; born July 12, 1962), also known as Julio César Chávez Sr., is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005. A multiple-time world champion in three weight divisions, Chávez was liste ...

. On October 18, 2012, WAPA Television honored Bracero for being the station's main sportscaster during 30 years. Also during 2012, Bracero, along with Juan González,

Félix Trinidad Félix Juan Trinidad García (born January 10, 1973), popularly known as "Tito" Trinidad, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes and is said to b ...

, Felix Trinidad Sr. and others, became a member of the Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bracero, Rafael Puerto Rican journalists Puerto Rican television journalists 1950 births Living people People from Santurce, Puerto Rico Boxing commentators

See also

References