Rafael Valle

For the Puerto Rican boxer with a similar name, see Rafael del Valle (boxer).

Rafael Valle González (March 1, 1938 – January 2, 2024) was a Puerto Rican professional basketball player. In the 1950s and 1960s, he played with the Cangrejeros de Santurce and the Santos de San Juan teams in the Puerto Rican National Basketball League.[1]

During that time, he was also a member of the Puerto Rican national basketball team, leading the team to a 13th place at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, where he scored 127 points in seven games.[2][3] In 1956, he was the highest scorer of the league, with 693 points in 24 games, for an average of 28.5 points per game.[4]

In 2008, he was selected as one of the 12 best players in Puerto Rican basketball history between 1920 and 1969. In an interview, Coach Flor Meléndez picked Valle as part of his all-time Puerto Rican starting five in the power forward position along with PG. Pachín Vicens, SG. Neftalí Rivera, SF. Raymond Dalmau, C. José ‘Piculín’ Ortiz.[5]

Valle was 1.93 m tall and weighed 91 kg. He died on January 2, 2024, at the age of 85.[6]

  1. ^ "Player Statistics – Rafael Valle (Spanish)". BSN. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  2. ^ "Men's Competition – Puerto Rico". FIBA Americas. Archived from the original on July 12, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  3. ^ "Rafael Valle (Spanish)". SR/Olympic Sports. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  4. ^ "Campeones Anotadores del Baloncesto Superior Nacional (Spanish)". XtremeRacingPR. Archived from the original on December 12, 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  5. ^ "A escoger los mejores en el baloncesto (Spanish)". Noticias Online. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
  6. ^ "Falleció leyenda del baloncesto boricua Rafael Valle a los 85 años de edad". Meridiano. January 2, 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2024.