101 Greats of European Basketball

The Flying Mexican
In a hypothetical quiz about basketball knowledge,
I doubt there would be a lot of correct answers
if the first question were: “Who was the first
non-American player ever drafted by an NBA
team?” I am guessing most people would point
to some European legend, but the right answer is
Manuel Raga Navarro of Mexico. This unforgettable
player was born on March 14, 1944, in Villa Aldama,
in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. He was chosen
by the Atlanta Hawks with pick number 167 in the
10th round of the 1970 draft. In the following round,
the 11th, the first European was picked, big man Dino
Meneghin of Italy, also by the Atlanta Hawks. But the
first non-American was always Raga.
Marty Blake, the general manager in Atlanta, had
seen that Raga and Meneghin were a great duo at Ignis
Varese, the European champion at that time, and both
were capable of playing in the NBA. But that was a different
time and teams in the United States didn’t trust players
developed outside of the country. Maybe that’s the
reason why the Hawks didn’t want to pay the $35,000 to
free Raga from Varese. The Italian team didn’t even want
to hear about a buyout for Meneghin, who would be its
undisputed star throughout the next decade.
Key part of the great Ignis Varese
The name of Manuel Raga is found for the first
time in a major competition at the 1963 World Cup in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was only 19 years old, but
he was already a regular for his national team. Mexico
finished that competition in ninth place, but the young,
1.88-meter guard caught everybody’s attention. He finished
the tourney with 12.3 points per game, with highs
of 24 points against Canada and 20 against Uruguay.
Four years later, at the 1967 World Cup in Uruguay, Raga
increased his numbers to 15.6 points and sank Italy
with 31 points. However, the decisive moment in his
career came at the 1968 Olympic Games in his home
country of Mexico. The Mexican team, coached by
American Lester Lane, an Olympic champ from Rome
1960, finished fifth thanks to two excellent players: Raga
and Arturo Guerrero. At the same time, Ignis Varese
president Alberto Tedeschi had asked his club’s director,
Giancarlo Gualco, to renew the team. But instead of
bringing in a well-known American, Gualco brought in a
rather unknown Mexican player. Shortly after his arrival
in Varese, Raga earned the nickname Indian, but shortly
afterward it was changed for two others: The Flying
Mexican and The Phenomenon.
Already in his first season in Italy, in 1968-69, Raga
earned the respect of all his colleagues, the admiration
of the audience and the kudos of the press. Despite
being short, he jumped like nobody else (an estimated
1.1 meters from a standing position). It was said that
he could touch the rim with his elbow. Ignis Varese won
the Italian League with 418 points by Raga, an average
of 19.0 over 22 games, enough to finish eighth in the
top scorers’ list of the league in which the leader was
ace scorer Radivoj Korac with an average of 26 points
even though his Padova team was relegated to the second
division. Raga was also the third-best rebounder of
the team, with 98 boards, only 5 fewer than Meneghin,
while the leader on the team was Ottorino Flaborea
with 136. Winning the league, Ignis earned the right to
play the EuroLeague, and on April 9, 1970, in Sarajevo’s
new Skenderija Arena (which now bears the name of
101 greats of european basketball
Manuel Raga
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