Ruben Rodriguez
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ruben Rodriguez (born 1953) is a Puerto Rican former basketball player who played 23 seasons in the BSN tournament.
Many people consider either him, Jose Ortiz, Raymond Dalmau, Georgie Torres or Mario Morales to be the greatest basketball player in Puerto Rico's national tournament's history. He was one of only five players (Morales, Dalmau, Georgie Torres and Mario Butler being the other four) to reach 10,000 or more points during his BSN career, and for a long time, was the second best scorer ever behind Dalmau.
Rodriguez spent his whole career with the team Vaqueros of Bayamon. With the Vaqueros, he won 9 national championships, 1967, 1969, five in a row from 1971 to 1975, one in 1981 and one in 1988, the year that the team inaugurated his actual venue, that carries his name, the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum. He also garnered the MVP award in 1979, and, once the three point shot was established for the first time in the Puerto Rican tournament during the 1980 season, he started making shots from behind the three point line too.
Rodriguez was a member of the Puerto Rican National Basketball Team, playing in many international tournaments such as the Olympic Games and Pan American Games.
He retired in 1991, and he refused to take a drug test during the early 1990s, being suspended for a whole year. He tried several times to coach a basketball team in the Puerto Rico League, BSN, but without success. His most recent attempt was on Bayamon team in 2002, when started the season with 0-5, being fired. He's now a basketball analyst for several radio shows along the island.
