Personal information | |||||||||||||
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Born | November 13, 1957 | ||||||||||||
Nationality | Puerto Rican | ||||||||||||
Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||||||
Listed weight | 200 lb (91 kg) | ||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||
Playing career | 1975–1998 | ||||||||||||
Position | Forward | ||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||
1975—1976 | Cangrejeros de Santurce | ||||||||||||
1977—1998 | Mets de Guaynabo | ||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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Medals
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Mario Morales Micheo (born November 13, 1957) is a former Puerto Rican basketball player. He is known as a.k.a. "Quijote" Morales for his ability to conquer both scoring and team championships in Puerto Rico's BSN league.
Morales became a member of the BSN's Cangrejeros De Santurce in 1974, when he was only 17 while still playing high school basketball at the Colegio De La Salle in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Four years later he became a member of Puerto Rico's national basketball team. Morales didn't go to the Montreal Olympics because, as a minor in 1976, he still couldn't join the national team, the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, because Puerto Rico's Olympic committee decided to join the United States in the boycott, and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games because the national team did not qualify for those. However, when he did get to go to the Olympics, for the Seoul games in 1988 and the Barcelona games in 1992, he impressed international audiences with his skills and savvy.
In between Olympics and Olympics, he became an effective shooter from the 3-point area in the BSN. In 1976, the Cangrejeros became the Mets de Guaynabo, and Morales, aided with the help of his brother in law Federico Fico Lopez, took the Mets to a total of 8 BSN finals, winning 3 championships along the way. The 1989 finals where they won it in 7 games beating the Leones de Ponce, featured a classic game 7, where they had to go into overtime before edging out an 89-84 decision.
Morales had his eyes set on the NBA, but after attending college in the United States, the lack of understanding of English became too difficult for him to overcome, and he decided to return to Puerto Rico.