Raymond Dalmau Pérez (born October 27, 1948) is a retired 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player and coach. Dalmau played in the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. The Baloncesto Superior Naci ...

(BSN), the top tier basketball league in the country, for 20 seasons with the

Piratas de Quebradillas The Piratas de Quebradillas is a Puerto Rican basketball team, part of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional league. Founded in the mid 1920s, it is one of the original teams of the league. The club enjoyed its most successful era during the 1970s, ...

. At the time of his retirement, at the end of the 1985 season, Dalmau was the BSN's all-time leader in points (11,592), rebounds (5,673) and assists (2,302).

Career

Dalmau grew up in Harlem, New York. From there he came to Puerto Rico for the first time in 1966, recruited by Raymond Burgos to reinforce the

in the BSN. At that time, players of Puerto Rican descent were recognized as imported into the tournament. Dalmau had a very immediate impact in the league despite been only 17 years old. In his rookie year he finished second in scoring with an average of 18.4 points and 8.3 rebounds. In 1968, Dalmau lead the league in scoring. He repeated as scoring champion in 1970, when he won his first championship as a member of the

. Dalmau, along with other '

Nuyorican Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "New York" and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Ricans located in or around New York City, or of their descendants (especially those raised or currently living in the N ...

s' such as Neftalí Rivera and Néstor Cora in the Piratas team, dominated in the BSN league in the 1970s, reaching the BSN finals eight times and winning the championship on four occasions including back to back to back titles in 1977, 1978 and 1979. He won the BSN Most Valuable Player award three times. He was in conversations in 1975 to sign a contract with the former Utah Stars in the ABA (American basketball association) but he declined to maintain his amateur status. Professional basketball players were not allowed at that time to play for their countries in international competition. In 1982, Dalmau and Quebradillas returned to the BSN finals, but they lost to Mario Morales and the Guaynabo Mets in six games. Dalmau participated in three Summer Olympics. He held the record for the most career points scored in the BSN league when he retired after scoring over 11,000 points in his career. He currently is in fifth place in the all-time scoring list and fourth in the all-time rebounding list of the BSN league. Throughout his career, he was known not only for his abilities on the court, but also for his competitive spirit, which led him to do his best even when paired against taller and stronger rivals in international competitions.

Retirement and coaching years

In 1985, Dalmau retired from basketball as a player, going on to coaching in the BSN for many years. He has also coached in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

for a number of years. He had success as coach for the

Puerto Rico national basketball team The Puerto Rico national basketball team ( es, Selección de Baloncesto de Puerto Rico) represents Puerto Rico in men's international basketball competitions, it is governed by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation ( es, link=no, Federación d ...

. He won gold in the

1989 Tournament of the Americas The 1989 Tournament of the Americas, later known as the FIBA Americas Championship and the FIBA AmeriCup, was a basketball championship hosted by Mexico from June 8 to June 18, 1989. The games were played in Mexico City. This FIBA AmeriCup was t ...

and a fourth place in the 1990 FIBA World Championship.

Personal life

Dalmau is married to Sandra Ortiz. They have three sons Christian, Richie, and

Ricardo Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugu ...

, and one daughter, Natalia. All three sons, were played basketball players in the BSN and also were part of the Puerto Rico national team. In 1993, Dalmau was diagnosed with colon cancer, from which he recuperated. During a 2005 television show where he and Eddie Miró were being introduced as spokesmen in Puerto Rico for colon cancer, he quipped that, at his age, he can still jog everyday from Santurce to past the

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín) is a joint civil-military international airport located in suburban Carolina, Puerto Rico, southeast of San Juan. It is named for Luis Muñoz ...

in Isla Verde, which constitutes a considerable distance (more than five miles). On June 16, 2008, a project was approved by the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, in which Dalmau's name was going to be used for a coliseum being built in Quebradillas.

In popular culture

In the 1996 film Basquiat,

Benicio del Toro Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez (born February 19, 1967) is a Puerto Rican actor and producer. He has garnered critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen ...

made a homage to Dalmau by wearing a replica of his Puerto Rico men's national basketball team uniform with his distinctive number (14) fourteen. According to the IMDB, his character Benny's last name is Dalmau. Dalmau will appear in the forthcoming feature-length

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

Nuyorican Básquet about Puerto Rico's Men Basketball Squad of the

1979 Pan American Games The 1979 Pan American Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Panamericanos de 1979''), officially the VIII Pan American Games were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, and were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from July 1 to July 15 ...

References

External links