Juan "Pachín" Vicéns

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This article is about the Puerto Rican basketball player. For the indoor sports arena and auditorium named after him, see Juan Pachín Vicéns Auditorium.

Juan "Pachín" Vicens (b. September 7, 1934, Ciales, Puerto Rico - d. February 18, 2007, Ponce, Puerto Rico) was a renowned basketball player who lived most of his adult life in Ponce and was bestowed with the accolade of Best Player of the World at the 1959 World Championship in Chile,^[1] where he played with other basketball greats such as Oscar Robinson and Jerry West.

He played point guard for Tex Winter at Marquette University and Kansas State University, as well as for the Ponce Lions (Leones de Ponce).

Juan "Pachin" Vicens is a world-famous basketball player, known for being elected World's Best Basketball Player in 1959, at the World Championship held in Antofagasta, Chile. At the age of 15, Vicens moved from Ciales to Ponce with his cousin to live with Armando Wirshing's family. The next year, in 1950, Vicens debuted as the point guard of the Ponce Lions.

From 1954 to 1956, Vicens was a college-basketball star at Kansas State University under Triangle-Offense guru, Tex Winter.

In 1958 he was the leader in points of Puerto Rico's Superior National Basketball league, and helped Ponce win seven (7) championship titles and took the team to an additional three finals during his sixteen (16) year career with the Lions. He was the first player to score 5,000 points in the league and retired with 5,102, achieving a lifetime average of seventeen (17) points per game during the low-scoring pre-shot clock era. He was selected four times to the league's Most Valuable Player Award MVP.

He was selected the World's Best Basketball Player in 1959, at the World Championship in Chile. He was a member of the National Team and represented Puerto Rico in four Central American and Caribbean Games, 2 World Championships and 2 Olympic Games.

In 1972, the Ponce Lions gave their new venue the name of Juan Pachín Vicéns Coliseum, which became official when approved by his close friend and Governor, Luis Ferré.

After retiring as an active basketball player in 1966, Ferré's newly-founded New Progressive Party unsuccessfully attempted to recruit him as its Ponce mayoral candidate in 1968. He had a successful career in business, serving as branch manager for several banks in Ponce, and continued being involved in sports as a radio commentator.

His last public appearance several months before passing away was to honor Juan "Johnny" Báez, who along with Vicens and Teo Cruz were considered the stars of the gold-medal-winning Puerto Rico basketball team at the 1966 Caribbean and Central American games held in San Juan.

Vicens' health had deteriorated since 2005, when both his legs where amputated. In late 2006 and early 2007 he had to be hospitalized several ocations. He died on February 18, 2007 at his home in Ponce at the age of 72.

Vicens, from Ciales, Puerto Rico, was part of an extensive family, as he was an integral part of a thirteen sibling nucleus that he cherished throughout his life.