Raimundo Pérez Lezama (29 November 1922 – 23 July 2007) was a Spanish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. After beginning his professional career in England, he returned to his country, going on to later represent, mainly, Athletic Bilbao.

Club career

Refugee in England

Lezama was born in

Barakaldo Barakaldo ( es, Baracaldo; eu, Barakaldo ) is a municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country. Located on the Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is part of Greater Bilbao, has a population at 100,881. Barakaldo h ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

but moved to England as a refugee at the age of 14. He entered at the port of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on board the ''Habana'' on 23 May 1937, he and his brother Luis being among 3,889

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

children fleeing the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

; some of the other refugees also became footballers, including Emilio Aldecoa,

Sabino Barinaga Sabino Barinaga Alberdi (15 August 1922 – 19 March 1988) was a Spanish football forward and manager. He appeared in 205 La Liga matches and scored 92 goals over 13 seasons, almost exclusively for Real Madrid. He later embarked on a manager ...

and José Gallego. While in Southampton, Lezama played for his school Nazareth House (less than half a mile from The Dell), where he was spotted by

and signed for the club as a trainee, eventually progressing to the reserves before making his first-team debut on 1 June 1940 in a 0–5 away defeat against Arsenal. His next game was at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against ...

, when the "Saints" fielded five Arsenal players ( Ernie Collett, Leslie Compton,

Eddie Hapgood Edris Albert "Eddie" Hapgood (24 September 1908 – 20 April 1973) was an English footballer, who captained both Arsenal and England during the 1930s. Playing career Hapgood was born in Bristol and started his footballing career in the mid-192 ...

, Leslie Jones and

Bernard Joy Bernard Joy (29 October 1911 – 18 July 1984) was an English footballer and journalist. He is notable for being the last amateur player to play for the England national team. Biography Joy was born in Fulham, London and educated at Cardinal ...

) in a 2–1 victory over Fulham, with both goals for the victors being scored by local boy Eric Webber despite the plethora of stars. Lezama played one further match, a 1–3 defeat at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

at the end of an extended wartime season. Despite being underage, he briefly worked as a driver for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Athletic Bilbao

On returning to Spain in 1940, Lezama joined Arenas Club de Getxo in Segunda División.Lezama, el gran portero del Athletic (Lezama, Athletic's great goalkeeper)
Periodista Digital, 24 July 2007 (in Spanish) In 1941 he signed for Athletic Bilbao, and made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

debut on 27 September 1942 in a 5–0 home win over

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

. The 1942–43 season saw the side, with a team that also included

Telmo Zarra Telmo may refer to: People * Saint Telmo (died 303), also known as Erasmus of Formia, Christian martyr and saint * Pedro González Telmo (1190-1246), Castilian friar and priest * Luis Telmo Paz y Miño (1884-1962), President of the Supreme Milit ...

José Luis Panizo José Luis López Panizo (6 February 1922 – 14 February 1990) was a Spanish footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. During 16 seasons he played for Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 413 official matches (179 goals) and winning seven ma ...

and Agustín Gaínza, win a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

(league and

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

); he helped Athletic retain the cup in both 1944 and 1945, winning it again in 1950. While at Bilbao, Lezama also won the

Ricardo Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy ( es, Trofeo Ricardo Zamora, link=no) is a football award, established by Spanish newspaper '' MARCA'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" ratio.Similar to goals against average in ic ...

as best goalkeeper during 1946–47. He added his only cap for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

on 26 January 1947, when he was a second-half substitute for José Bañón in a 1–4 away defeat against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Throughout the rest of his career at Athletic, Lezama was only a squad player, making only 12 league appearances in his last five campaigns combined. After playing 197 league matches (261 in all competitions), he left the club in 1957.

Later career

In 1957, Lezama joined

SD Indautxu Sociedad Deportiva Indautxu is a Spanish football club based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1924, it plays in Vizcaya Group of '' Territorial Preferente'', holding home games at ''Campo Iparralde''. Apart ...

in the second level, where his teammates included emerging youngsters Chus Pereda and Miguel Jones. He spent two further seasons in that tier with

Sestao Sport Club Sestao Sport Club was a Spanish football club based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded it 1916 it held home matches at ''Campo Municipal de las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,900 seats. History Sestao managed to p ...

, before rejoining first team in Spain Arenas de Getxo in 1960. Lezama died of heart failure in

Laguardia, Álava Laguardia ( eu, Guardia) is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the southern province of Álava, in the north of Spain; it belongs to the region of Rioja Alavesa, in the Basque Autonomous Community. It has a population of 1 ...

, at the age of 84. It was sometimes thought that Athletic's training facilities were named after him, but in fact these were named for their location, the village of

Lezama Lezama is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is home to the training headquarters of the football team Athletic Bilbao, and is accessible by bus - Bizkai ...

near Bilbao.Lezama
at Mi Athletic (in Spanish)

Honours

Club

Athletic Bilbao *

: 1942–43 *

Copa del Generalísimo The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat. Events Below, ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

Copa Eva Duarte The Copa Eva Duarte was a Spanish football tournament organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and contested by the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Generalísimo. History In September 1940, a match with this format had the nam ...

: 1950

Individual

: 1946–47

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lezama, Raimundo 1922 births 2007 deaths Spanish refugees Spanish footballers Footballers from Barakaldo Association football goalkeepers Southampton F.C. wartime guest players La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Arenas Club de Getxo footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Barakaldo CF footballers SD Indautxu footballers Sestao Sport Club footballers Spain international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the United Kingdom