Mario Morales Micheo (born November 13, 1957) is a former Puerto Rican

basketball player Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. He is known as a.k.a. "Quijote" Morales for his ability to conquer both scoring and team championships in

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 BSN league. He is the father of Evansville Purple Aces women's volleyball coach Fernando Morales Lopez. And he also played for the Villanova Wildcats Men's Basketball team in 1975-76 season where he averaged 4.7 points and 1.5 rebounds and Villanova went 16-11.

Biography

Professional career

Morales became a member of the BSN's ''Cangrejeros De Santurce'' in 1974, when he was only 17 while still playing high school basketball at the Colegio De La Salle in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Four years later he became a member of

's national basketball team. Morales didn't go to the

Montreal Olympics Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

because, being under 21 years old in 1976, he still couldn't join the national team, the 1980 Olympics in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, because

Olympic committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

decided to join the

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in the boycott, and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games because the national team did not qualify for those. However, when he did get to go to the Olympics, for the

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 of ...

games in 1988 and the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

games in 1992, he impressed international audiences with his skills and savvy. In between Olympics and Olympics, he became an effective shooter from the 3-point area in the BSN. In 1976, the ''Cangrejeros'' became the ''Mets de Guaynabo'', and Morales, aided with the help of his brother in law Federico Fico Lopez, took the Mets to a total of 8 BSN finals, winning 3 championships along the way. The 1989 finals where they won it in 7 games beating the '' Leones de Ponce'', featured a classic game 7, where they had to go into overtime before edging out an 89-84 decision. Morales had his eyes set on the NBA, but after attending college in the United States, the lack of understanding of

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

became too difficult for him to overcome, and he decided to return to Puerto Rico. Like other highly educated Puerto Rican athletes, such as the case of internationally renowned Juan "Pachin" Vicens, Mario "Quijote" Morales holds a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) license.

Retirement

After he retired, the coliseum where he played for most of his career,

Guaynabo Guaynabo (, ) is a city, suburb of San Juan and municipality in the northern part of Puerto Rico, located in the northern coast of the island, north of Aguas Buenas, south of Cataño, east of Bayamón, and west of San Juan. Guaynabo is spr ...

's Mets Pavilion, was renamed the Mario Quijote Morales Coliseum. There is a large painting of him in a Guaynabo Mets uniform just to the entrance of the coliseum.

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

made Morales a spokesperson for

Viagra Sildenafil, sold under the brand name Viagra, among others, is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is unclear if it is effective for treating sexual dysfunction in women. It is taken by ...

in 2004.

Legal troubles

On 4 June 2016, the

Puerto Rico Police The Puerto Rico Police Department ( es, Policía de Puerto Rico), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department ...

charged Morales with driving under the influence. An alcohol test showed he had an alcohol level of 0.17 percent, the maximum legal level in Puerto Rico being 0.08 percent.''Detienen a “Quijote” Morales por manejar bajo los efectos del alcohol: Morales fue detenido inicialmente porque su pasajero no llevaba puesto el cinturón de seguridad.''
Metro.PR 5 June 2016. Accessed 25 August 2020

on 2020-08-25 at the Wayback Machine.

References

External links