Teófilo "Teo" Cruz Downs (January 8, 1942 – August 30, 2005) was a Puerto Rican professional

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 (appro ...

player. After playing

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

, Cruz played in Puerto Rico's top-level league, the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. T ...

(BSN) with Cangrejeros de Santurce,

Indios de Canóvanas Indio may refer to: Places * Indio, Bovey Tracey, an historic estate in Devon, England * Indio, California, a city in Riverside County, California, United States People with the name * Indio (musician), Canadian musician Gordon Peterson * Índi ...

, Mets de Guaynabo, Cardenales de Río Piedras, and Taínos de Mayagüez. Cruz also played in Spain with Picadero Damm, and in Belgium with Racing Club Mechelen. Cruz was also a member of the senior Puerto Rican national basketball team, and he represented Puerto Rico in five

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

, from

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

, making him the first athlete to do so. On March 1, 2007, he became an International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Hall of Famer.

College career

Cruz played

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He was originally a member of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

's NYU Violets (1961–1962), but he transferred to Seattle University, where he was a member of the Seattle Redhawks (1962–1965). After his college career, he was selected with the 55th overall pick of the

1965 NBA draft The 1965 NBA draft was the 19th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 6, 1965, before the 1965–66 season. In this draft, nine NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball player ...

, by the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

Club career

Cruz played for 25 seasons in the

(BSN) of Puerto Rico. He was the league's Most Valuable Player 4 times. He was also selected the league's Defensive Player of the Year a record five times. He played with the Santurce Crabbers,

, Mets de Guaynabo, Cardenales de Río Piedras, and Taínos de Mayagüez. He also led the league in points per game twice, and was the first player ever to reach 9,000 total points scored in the BSN. In total, he scored 9,535 points, for an average of 16.3 points per game. He also grabbed 4,672 total rebounds, for an average of 8.0 rebounds per game. He also had 605 assists, during his twenty-five-year career.Cruz Downs, Teofilo 'Teo' .
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National team career

Cruz was the starting center of the senior Puerto Rican national basketball team, at the times when Puerto Rico and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

were the two dominant teams in the

FIBA Americas FIBA Americas (, ) is a continental federation of FIBA (International Basketball Federation). It is one of FIBA's five continental zones. FIBA Americas is responsible for the organization and governance of the major international basketball comp ...

region, excluding the

. Cruz was the first men's basketball player to compete at five different

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

. That feat was matched twenty years later by Brazilian player

Oscar Schmidt Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt (born February 16, 1958), nicknamed ''Mão Santa'' (Holy Hand), is a Brazilian retired professional basketball player. Schmidt primarily played the power forward and small forward position, was 2.06 m (6 ft 9 i ...

, at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, and later by Australian player Andrew Gaze, at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, and by Spanish player Juan Carlos Navarro at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. Cruz also played at the

1974 FIBA World Championship The 1974 FIBA World Championship was the 7th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. It was hosted by Puerto Rico from July 3 to 14, 1974. The tournament was won by the Soviet Union men's ...

, in Puerto Rico, and at numerous

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

and CentroBasket tournaments.

Awards and accomplishments

*2× Puerto Rican BSN League scoring champion: (1960, 1962) *2× Puerto Rican BSN League champion: (1962, 1968) *4× Puerto Rican BSN League MVP: (1962, 1967, 1970, 1971) *6× Puerto Rican BSN League Defensive Player of the Year: (1964, 1966, 1969–1972) *Cruz played at 5

. He played at the Rome 1960 Olympics, at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics, at the Mexico 1968 Olympics, at Munich 1972 Olympics, and at the Montreal 1976 Olympics. *Cruz was named one FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. *His number 13 jersey was retired by Cangrejeros de Santurce. *

Olympic Order The Olympic Order, established in 1975, is the highest award of the Olympic Movement. It is awarded for particularly distinguished contributions to the Olympic Movement, i.e. recognition of efforts worthy of merit in the cause of sport. Tradit ...

*On March 1, 2007, Cruz was inducted into the

FIBA Hall of Fame The FIBA Hall of Fame, or FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, honors players, coaches, teams, referees, and administrators who have greatly contributed to international competitive basketball. It was established by FIBA in 1991. Originally built in ...

. Along with

Bill Russell William Felton Russell (February 12, 1934 – July 31, 2022) was an American professional basketball player who played Center (basketball), center for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1956 to 1969. He was t ...

and

Nikos Galis Nikolaos Georgalis (; born July 23, 1957), commonly known as either Nikos Galis (), or Nick Galis, is a Greek-American former professional basketball player. Galis, who during his playing days was nicknamed, "Nick The Greek", "The Gangster", and ...

, he was one of the first sixteen players to be inducted into the international Hall of Fame, as he was a part of the first induction class in history.

Death

Cruz died on August 30, 2005, of a

brain hemorrhage The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

. After his death, on August 31, 2005, the sports complex in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

was named after him, in his honor. Also, before a game between the Puerto Rican and

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

national teams, a moment of silence was held in his memory.

References

External links

FIBA Profile 1

Teófilo Cruz
at the

* *
Puerto Rican BSN Profile

Teófilo Cruz

The DraftReview.com Profile

Gallery of Pictures of Puerto Rican players
at enciclopediapr.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Teofilo 1942 births 2005 deaths Baloncesto Superior Nacional players Basketball players at the 1959 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1960 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1967 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1971 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1975 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Centers (basketball) FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Los Angeles Lakers draft picks NYU Violets men's basketball players Olympic basketball players for Puerto Rico Pan American Games silver medalists in basketball Pan American Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Puerto Rican men's basketball players 1974 FIBA World Championship players Puerto Rico men's national basketball team players Recipients of the Olympic Order Seattle Redhawks men's basketball players Sportspeople from San Juan, Puerto Rico Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games Mets de Guaynabo basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen