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4 unusual facts about Flor Meléndez


Flor Meléndez

Although Meléndez would have probably been chosen to play on Puerto Rico's Liga de Baloncesto Superior (Puerto Rico's professional basketball league) he decided to pursue basketball as a future career, playing in the YMCA before entering the Puerto Rico's professional basketball league in 1965, with San Juan's squad.

He moved to Cantera, a San Juan area that is close to the childhood homes of salsa singer Andy Montañez and world boxing champion Ossie Ocasio, when he was still a child.

Because United States President Jimmy Carter announced a boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Meléndez was deprived of participating in his second Olympic Games.

In 1981, Meléndez returned to the finals, this time coaching the Bayamón Cowboys, who, helped by stars such as Rubén Rodríguez, Jose Sosa and Roberto Valderas, won the national championship by defeating Fico Lopez, Mario Morales and the Julio Toro coached Guaynabo Mets.



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