The car driven by his beloved son-in-law Valerio parks at the door of the mythical Luna Park and, when he opens the door, the Negro cannot help but give his first smile. Not even a long trip, almost two hours from his house in Pilar, can minimize the joy that runs through his body.
Ricardo Primitivo González turns 99 today, but his energy and vivacity are contagious. As much as the happiness he feels upon returning to the place where he lived is probably the most captivating sensation of his life. He then gets down, takes out his cane, stands on the sidewalk, looks up to recognize the place, breathes and asks. “How beautiful, how many memories… Shall we go in?” He says while asking for help with the bag full of memories that he brought for his mini documentary that he can see in this publication.
The emotion inside you can already be felt when you take the first steps towards the bowels of the most famous closed stadium in our country… And it is completed when you receive a surprise: the gift of two Europaris balls, the first current and the other the same as the one used in the World Cup won in Buenos Aires. “How different… But how beautiful they are both. Did you know that we played the final with two different balls, the first half with ours, made of wedges, and the second with theirs, the American one, which was much better. It was not planned, but they asked for it and we accepted it. And well, we beat them both times,” he says while letting out another smile and showing another one he brought, none other than the original one that was used the day Argentina faced the USA in the ’48 Olympic Games.
Photo: Federico Peretti
The stadium looks different, but the same at the same time, says Ricardo as he watches how everything is prepared for a new musical show. Almost 74 years earlier, the Luna was the epicenter of a true pandemonium – inside and outside the place – that was unleashed with the consecration of Argentina as world basketball champion, on November 3, 1950, after defeating none other than the United States. in the end. First and only national title at that level, something that not even the Golden Generation could achieve…
But, of course, that generation was the other golden generation, which between 1948 and 1955 remained in the world elite, until the military dictatorship decided to brand it as “professional” as political revenge – against everything that had to do with Juan Domingo Perón. and the Peronist Party – and condemn it to a lifetime suspension – for 34 players -, causing a true sporting genocide that it took basketball to overcome for decades. El Negro admits “feeling sadness every time I remember him,” but today he is not in Luna precisely to remember the dark part of history… On the contrary.
“When they told me I was going to come to Luna, I was very excited. For us players of my time, playing here was wonderful. Imagine becoming a world champion…” he says, avoiding tears, while he visually pans around the place. “It is a privilege to be here, that they have had this idea, to come back, just days before my birthday… And to do it at my age… I don’t know, it’s special. Something very exciting,” he says, his eyes already somewhat glassy, as he tries to remember when the last time was. “Ugh, many years ago… There was a time when I worked here, three blocks away, in a real estate agency, and I came to Luna a lot, because I had a very good relationship with Tito Lectoure, especially for some shows,” he comments.
The years fly by and when he is reminded of how long ago he became champion, he never ceases to be surprised. “Ah, 74 years,” he says while giving his particular laugh and opening the chest of his memories. “When the game ended, people entered the field and we celebrated for a long time. Crazy. I think if it had been played on a Boca or River court, it would also be full. In the previous one there were no entries. Our friends and family had to wait for us on the road to be able to enter with us,” he recalls while describing the celebrations in downtown Buenos Aires that went down in history as The Night of the Torches. “There was a sea of people in the streets and it occurred to one of us to grab a newspaper and set it on fire, as if setting up a torch. Many joined in on that walk through Corrientes to the Obelisk. “It was crazy,” he says.
Black takes the Euro balls and, while comparing them, reveals something that few know. “Did you know that the World Cup final was played for one time with our ball and another with the American ball? It was not planned, but they asked for it and we accepted. In fact, his was a better ball. Ours, of course, was different, for everyone. But we still beat them both times (34-24 and 30-26)”, he recalls with a smile as he then does the math when recalling the final score (64-50).
Photo: Federico Peretti
González was a figure of that team, no less, being chosen in the ideal quintet of the tournament along with his teammate Oscar Furlong, the team’s top star. Of the 16 chosen for that advanced preparation, which included a month’s stay at the River Plate camp (in fact they had talks with Angel Labruna and his famous teammates), only two are alive, Negro Bustos with 95 and the other Negro , González, now almost 99. “Days ago I spoke with him, he was in bed, but fine. It makes me sad that we are not more, we were friends, very close, we met with those we could every Wednesday at the Palermo club. I still go, at least twice a month. Now I’m going to come back at 99, the Wednesday after my birthday, I’m going to go with a cake,” says who is remembered as a 1m75 guard who was very competitive and talented, although also a great teammate, talents that he showed in Deportivo Buenos Aires, Añasco, Gimnasia de Vélez Sarsfield and his club, of course, Palermo.
-How is your age, almost 100 years old?
-I feel great. Like everything else, I go to bed quite late, I get up early, I only sometimes take a nap. I really am privileged. I still enjoy life a lot. And the beautiful memories I have.
Like that team that he was part of, with a coach ahead of the time like Jorge Canavesi and with his very complete coaching staff for the time (with Casimiro González Trilla as assistant and Jorge Boreau, as PF), who planned an advanced preparation that ended to form a great human group and to sharpen a team that had many players with complementary skills. “In River we had the best: several fields available, all the amenities… What they planned in the CT was perfect. And we did the rest, with great popular support,” he recalls who was the captain chosen by his own teammates. “I was lucky enough to be chosen by almost all of my classmates, a great emotion,” he admits.
In history there is a Golden Generation, the 2004 Olympic champion who remained in the world elite for 15 years, but this was the first. Until the prohibition of the dictatorship appeared. The National Team had arrived from the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico, where they had beaten the USA in the final, and were preparing for the 1956 Olympic Games, when the sporting genocide hit many athletes. A couple of excuses, having received permits to import cars and having enjoyed successes facilitated by Peronist sports policy, were enough. “It was all an excuse, a facade. Our only sin was playing basketball. The truth is that, from then on, everything that had been done well disappeared. It was the fall of national sport. Everything was destroyed. Then there were many years without going to the Games, Pan American Games, Olympics, or South American Games. I felt it a lot and when I remember it, it makes me very sad,” he explains.
Ricardo returned to play anyway, in the Buenos Aires tournament, for Palermo, even if it was to avoid retiring “forbidden.” And the memory of him from his career couldn’t be better, despite that sadness. “My life as a basketball player was very nice, I enjoyed it, I had the honor of becoming world, Pan American, and South American champion several times, I even had the joy of being free throw champion,” he recalls with a laugh, with the simplicity and freshness that characterizes him. . The Negro is happy, because he returned to the place where he was happy. And one year after reaching his centenary of life, he cannot ask for much more…
The bell
Preliminary round
Argentina 56-France 40
Final round
Argentina 40-Brazil 35
Argentina 62-Chile 41
Argentina 66-France 41
Argentina 68-Egypt 33
The final
Argentina 64-United States 50
Date: November 3, 1950.
Argentina (64): Viau 2, González 7, Uder 1, Furlong 20 and Contarbio 8 (INITIAL FORMATION) Bustos 1, Del Vecchio 14, Pérez Varela 4, Menini 7, Monza 0 and López 0. Coach: Jorge Canavesi.
EE.UU. (50): Slocum 8, Langdom 6, Stanich 11, Reese 3, Kahler 5, Metzger 3, Parks 2, Jaquet 2, Fisher 0, Haffley 6 y Williams 4. Entrenador: Gordon Carpenter.
First half: Argentina 34-24. Stadium: Luna Park.
