José Guzmán (footballer)

José Pérez de Guzmán Urzaiz (1891 – 18 April 1930) was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder for Recreativo de Huelva and Madrid FC in the early 20th century. He is also known for being considered the creator of a new type of fandango whose purpose is not for dancing, as it is typically meant to, but rather for listening.

Early and personal life

José Pérez de Guzmán was born in the Extremaduran municipality of Jerez de los Caballeros in 1891, as the third son of Manuel Pérez de Guzmán, a landowner, and Maria Teresa de Urzáiz, a native of Moguer.

Pérez de Guzmán married Dolores Molina Alvarez, and the couple had no children.

Playing career

Like all his brothers, Pérez de Guzmán spent his youth in the sporting environment, instilled by his father, a sports lover; for instance, all of the six Pérez de Guzmán brothers played football at their hometown club, Recreativo de Huelva between 1903 and 1920. When his father became the vice president of Recreativo de Huelva in 1906, he had four of his sons playing for the club, including José, aged 15.

In May 1909, three Recreativo players, José, his older brother Francisco, and Antonio Tellechea, traveled from Huelva to Extremadura, at the request of the recently created CD Badajoz, to reinforce the club in its first-ever match. A few months later, Madrid FC made the same request, taking advantage of the fact that three of the Pérez de Guzmán brothers (Francisco, José, and Luis) were studying for their university degrees in the Spanish capital, and thus, all of them ended up playing on loan in the ranks of the Madrid FC.

During the 1909–10 season, his brothers Francisco and Luis played several matches for Madrid, official or otherwise, but during the build-up for the 1910 Copa del Rey (UECF), Madrid, which already had three players from Recreativo, the other being Tomás Estrada, requested the incorporation of another one, José, but despite their presence, Madrid failed to reach the final. These were the only two official matches that José played for Madrid.

On 31 March 1910, José and his older brother Manuel started for Recreativo in the Seville City Council Cup, helping his side to a 2–0 win over Seville FC at the Plaza de España field. During the first half of the 1910s, he helped Recreativo win three unofficial Andalusian Championship, which Recreativo itself organized, and the ''Copa Centenario de las Cortes de Cádiz'' in 1912. Outside football, he also enjoyed horses and bullfighting, and at one point, he even wanted to be a bullfighter.

Fandango

Outside sports, Pérez de Guzmán enjoyed singing and also played the guitar. He is currently considered the creator of a new type of fandango whose purpose is not for dancing, as it is typically meant to, but rather for listening. This personal fandango has been widely performed by numerous singers, and he introduced it into all social circles in Huelva, both aristocratic and lower class, thus becoming popular thanks to him. One of the uniqueness of his fandango, among other aspects, was the fact that it was played on an abandalao air. According to Juan Gómez Hiraldo, "during one of José's wanderings in Huelva, he met Joaquín Vargas, who had a melodious and long cante, which Pérez de Guzmán used for his own fandango, being so permeated by it, that he left the guitar to sing it, giving it a greatness and strength that still make it the most brilliant and powerful fandango in the range of Huelva songs".

Even though he did not record anything, as he never dedicated himself to singing or playing the guitar professionally, his reputation as a singer and connoisseur is nonetheless confirmed and documented through the testimonies collected by his biographer from contemporary artists, writers, and flamencologists.

Death

In 1927, Guzmán contracted the then-incurable disease of tuberculosis, which had already claimed the lives of his brother Joaquín in 1927, when he was only 27 years old.

Due to this illness, he fell into a deep depression and despair and eventually took his own life with a firearm, dying at the ''Convento de la Luz'' in the town of Lucena del Puerto on 18 April 1930, at the age of 39.

Legacy

Almost half a century after his death, Pepe Marchena gave an illustrated lecture at the University of Seville in 1972, in which he recalled and mentioned a decisive protagonist of the glorious expansion of the fandango, José Guzmán.

Honours

Recreativo de Huelva
* Andalusian Championship:
**Champions (3): 1910, 1911, and 1912

*Copa Centenario de las Cortes de Cádiz
**Champions (1): 1912

See also

* List of Real Madrid CF players

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guzmán, José
1891 births
1930 deaths
Footballers from Huelva
Spanish men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Recreativo de Huelva players
Real Madrid CF players
Sportspeople from Extremadura
20th-century Spanish sportsmen
Spanish musicians