Butch Lee began his career in the NCAA, where he gathered several "Player of the Year" recognitions and earned All-American honors as both a junior and senior while at Marquette University.
22 Facts About Butch Lee
2.
Butch Lee was selected as the Most Outstanding Player at the 1977 Final Four where he led the Warriors to the school's first national championship.
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Butch Lee concluded his career in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional.
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Butch Lee is known to be the only Puerto Rican professional basketball player to win championships in the NCAA, NBA, and BSN.
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Butch Lee was a member of the Puerto Rican national team.
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Butch Lee was born in Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico to Gloria and Alfred Butch Lee Sr.
7.
Butch Lee's family moved to Harlem, New York, US, when he was a young child.
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Butch Lee showed talent for basketball since an early age, and he impressed many college scouts with his game style.
9.
Butch Lee accepted an offer to play for Marquette University, starring there from 1974 to 1978.
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In 1974 Butch Lee asked his coach Al McGuire to allow him to play for the United States Olympic basketball team.
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However, his coach had sent someone else and Butch Lee went to Puerto Rico where he qualified for the Puerto Rican national basketball team.
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When Puerto Rico played against the US in the 1976 Summer Olympics, Butch Lee made 15 out of 18 field goals and scored 35 points.
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In 1977, Butch Lee led Marquette to the Final Four in what McGuire had announced would be his final season.
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Butch Lee then went on to become the first Puerto Rican player to play in the National Basketball Association, when he was chosen in the first round of the 1978 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks.
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Butch Lee was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he enjoyed what were perhaps his best games in the league, scoring 11.5 points per game in the remaining 33 games of the season.
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Butch Lee ended up scoring an average of 9.6 points per game in his first season in the NBA.
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Butch Lee only scored 1.3 points per game on those three games.
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Butch Lee did win an NBA championship ring, as the Lakers went on to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in that season's NBA Finals.
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Butch Lee, who is fluent in Spanish, returned to Puerto Rico after his experience as an NBA basketball player was over.
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In 1992, Butch Lee led the Capitanes de Arecibo to the BSN Finals, where they lost to the Leones de Ponce in 6 games.
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Butch Lee coached Aguadilla, Ponce and the Gigantes de Carolina.
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Butch Lee continued to help out with teams and coached some of them at the Guaynabo Basketball Academy.