Manolo Rivera Morales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Manuel Rivera Morales (aka Manolo) (1934-1996) was a Puerto Rican sportscaster, radio announcer and marketing sales executive. Rivera Morales is considered by many to be one of the best sportscasters in Puerto Rican sports history.[citation needed]
He was born in Naranjito and raised in Trujillo Alto.
Manolo Rivera Morales gained nationwide fame in Puerto Rico during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, when he covered BSN basketball games live, first on radio, and later on television, for various broadcasters (most famously WAPA-TV), along other famous Puerto Rican sportscasters such as Johnny Flores Monge, Rafael Bracero and Fufi Santori. Rivera Morales became sort of a cultural icon in Puerto Rico: His phrases, many of which he invented, were commonly repeated by many Puerto Ricans and they became part of the regular Puerto Rican dialogue. When he accompanied the Puerto Rican team that played the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo to broadcast the games through radio, his style was so colorful and attracted so much attention that a local Japanese newspaper covered him.
Morales was also famous for the nicknames he gave some of Puerto Rico's basketball players. Jose Ortiz, for example, was given the nickname of El Concorde by Rivera Morales. Mario Morales became "El Quijote" (and became better known by his nickname than by his real name), José Sosa became "El Galgo" ("The Greyhound"), and Martín Ansa got the nickname El Señor from Morales.
During the 1970s and 1980s, local laws established that boxing fights held in Puerto Rico could not be transmitted live on television; this to encourage fans to pay tickets to see the fights live. They were, however, transmitted live by radio, and Rivera Morales also became a well-known boxing commentator on the Puerto Rican radio stations.
