Teófilo Cruz

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Teófilo Cruz
Position	Center
Nickname	Teó
League	BSN
Height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Weight	{{{weight}}}
Nationality	Puerto Rico
Born	1942 Puerto Rico
Draft	Undrafted
Pro career	1960–1985
Awards	BSN MVP 4 times, Defensive Player of the year 5 times

Teófilo Cruz (born 1942 in Puerto Rico) was a Puerto Rican professional basketball player. Cruz has played in the NCAA, and the National Superior Basketball League of Puerto Rico with Santurce Crabbers, Guaynabo Mets, Canovanas Indians, Rio Piedras, and Mayaguez Tainos. Cruz has played internationally in Spain. Cruz was a member of the Puerto Rican National Basketball Team and represented Puerto Rico in 5 olympic games. On March 1, 2007 he was selected to the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Hall of Fame.

1 Biography
2 Career stats
3 International honors and career acomplishments
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Teo Cruz was a Puerto Rican professional basketball player. The Puerto Rican center is one of three players to have participated in five Olympics (the other players are Oscar Schmidt and Andrew Gaze). Cruz played for 25 seasons in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) of Puerto Rico and was the Most Valuable Player 4 times. He was also selected the defensive player of the year a record five times . Playing with Santurce Crabbers, Guaynabo Mets, Canovanas Indians, Rio Piedras, and Mayaguez Tainos. Teo also lead the league in points per game twice and was the first player ever to reach 9,000 points in the BSN (9535 points to be exact). Teo was the starting center of the Puerto Rican National basketball team in the times when Puerto Rico and Brazil were the two dominant teams in the Americas outside the United States. Teo is one of four Puerto Rican basketball players to have carried the nation's flag for the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Teo did this in 1976 during the Montreal Olympics (the others were Carlos Arroyo (Athens 2004), Jose "Tonin" Casillas (Rome 1960), and Jaime Frontera (Mexico 1968). After Teo's death in August 31, 2005, they decided to name the sports complex in San Juan in his honor. And before a game against Venezuela, a moment of Silence was held in memory of Teofilo Cruz.

[edit] Career stats

During his career in the National Superior Basketball league, Cruz scored 9,512 points with an average of 16.3 points per game. He captured 4,672 rebounds with an average of 8.0 rebounds per game. He also had 605 assists during his twenty five year career.

[edit] International honors and career acomplishments

On March 1, 2007, Cruz was selected to the International Basketball Federation Hall of Fame, he was the first player from America to be inducted in the international Hall of Fame, he was part of the first introduction class in history.