Julio Enrique Monagas
Encyclopedia
Julio Enrique Monagas born in Ponce, Puerto Rico
, is considered the father of Olympic sports
in Puerto Rico
. Through his efforts, Puerto Rico was admitted into the Olympic Games
in 1948. Monagas was also the first director Puerto Rico's Public Recreation and Parks Commission, and the first president of the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization.
events, including the shot put
and pole vaulting. He went to college at the Polytechnic Institute in San Germán, Puerto Rico, the school that became the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico.
), and in 1929, Monagas founded one of the first two athletic clubs on the island, the Ponce Athletic Club. Along with the San Juan Olympic Club, the Ponce Athletic Club was the first sports organization not affiliated with an educational institution. During the 1930s he worked on promoting the development of sports in Ponce and southern Puerto Rico. In 1938, he was part of the Puerto Rican delegation that participated in the Sixth Central American Games in Panama
, both as an athlete delegate and as a journalist.
In 1950, the Commission became the Administracion de Parques y Recreos Publicos (Public Recreation and Parks Administration). Under his directorship, sports and recreation saw significant growth islandwide: baseball leagues were created for children, the Golden Gloves Association was formed to organize amateur boxing, and parks were established throughout the island. In 1980, this government agency became the Departamento de Recreación y Deportes (Department of Recreation and Sports).
(IOC) to recognize the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee
, which consisted of Governor Jesús T. Piñero
as chairman, Monagas as vice-chairman, Roberto Sánchez Vilella
as secretary, and Rafael Buscaglia, Jorge Jiménez, and Luis Torres Ros as members. The IOC responded requiring that Puerto Rico first join the international sports organizations. On September 17, 1947, Monagas re-submitted his request and in January, 1948, the ICO officially recognized the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee. That year, Puerto Rico participated in three sports in the Olympic Games held in London
in 1950: track and field, marksmanship, and boxing
. In boxing Puerto Rico won a bronze medal under Juan Evangelista Venegas
.
The Puerto Rican delegation joined the opening parade in the London games carrying a white flag with the seal of Puerto Rico. In 1952, a Puerto Rican delegation was sent to the Olympic Games in Helsinki
. This time, they first carried the United States
flag, but after July 25, the date of the founding of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican delegation carried the official flag of the newly constituted Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
. He retired in 1965. On April 4, 1984, he was awarded the Olympic Order
, the highest honor granted by the International Olympic Committee
to those who have contributed to the development of Olympic sports. Monagas died on 14 July 1984 in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
He is recognized in Ponce at the Park of the Illustrious Ponce Citizens. The Julio E. Monagas National Park in Bayamon, Puerto Rico
, and the Julio Enrique Monagas Family Park
in Ponce, Puerto Rico
, were named after him.
Mayo Santana, Raúl. El juguete sagrado: Germán Rieckehoff Sampayo: vida y leyenda. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Plaza Mayor, 2000. Printed version.
Torres Rivera, Johnny. "Antigua Administración de Parques y Recreo Públicos". Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico, n. d. Web. 18 April 2010.
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
, is considered the father of Olympic sports
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. Through his efforts, Puerto Rico was admitted into the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in 1948. Monagas was also the first director Puerto Rico's Public Recreation and Parks Commission, and the first president of the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization.
First years
Julio Enrique Monagas was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico. While still a boy, he competed in several track and fieldTrack and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
events, including the shot put
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
and pole vaulting. He went to college at the Polytechnic Institute in San Germán, Puerto Rico, the school that became the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico.
Sports enthusiast and advocate
In 1928 Monagas became "the first and finest" sports editor to work for a local newspaper (El DíaEl Nuevo Día
El Nuevo Día is a Puerto Rican newspaper based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and distributed daily throughout Puerto Rico and some parts of the United States.- History :...
), and in 1929, Monagas founded one of the first two athletic clubs on the island, the Ponce Athletic Club. Along with the San Juan Olympic Club, the Ponce Athletic Club was the first sports organization not affiliated with an educational institution. During the 1930s he worked on promoting the development of sports in Ponce and southern Puerto Rico. In 1938, he was part of the Puerto Rican delegation that participated in the Sixth Central American Games in Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, both as an athlete delegate and as a journalist.
Public servant
In 1941, he was appointed director of Puerto Rico's Comisión de Recreo y Deportes Públicos (Public Sports and Recreation Commission), with responsibility to regulate sports in Puerto Rico. As director of the Comisión, Monagas sent Puerto Rican teams to play exhibition games in other countries. In 1947, the Comisión de Recreo y Deportes Públicos became the Comisión de Parques y Recreo Públicos (Public Recreation and Parks Commission) under Monagas' direction. In the same year, Monagas created the Federación de Atletismo Aficionado de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Amateur Athletics Federation) which he presided until 1965. The Federation was instrumental in the development of track and field islandwide. Later, the organization affiliated with the International Amateur Athletics Federation.In 1950, the Commission became the Administracion de Parques y Recreos Publicos (Public Recreation and Parks Administration). Under his directorship, sports and recreation saw significant growth islandwide: baseball leagues were created for children, the Golden Gloves Association was formed to organize amateur boxing, and parks were established throughout the island. In 1980, this government agency became the Departamento de Recreación y Deportes (Department of Recreation and Sports).
International Olympics competitions
In 1946, Monagas asked the International Olympic CommitteeInternational Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
(IOC) to recognize the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee
Puerto Rico Olympic Committee
The Puerto Rico Olympic Committee ) is the National Olympic Committee for Puerto Rico. It oversees Olympic-sports in Puerto Rico, and selects the Olympic team which represents the island...
, which consisted of Governor Jesús T. Piñero
Jesus T. Piñero
Jesús Toribio Piñero Jiménez was the first native Puerto Rican to be appointed governor of Puerto Rico by the Government of the United States.-Early years:...
as chairman, Monagas as vice-chairman, Roberto Sánchez Vilella
Roberto Sánchez Vilella
Roberto Sánchez Vilella was the second Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 1965 to 1969. He was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico...
as secretary, and Rafael Buscaglia, Jorge Jiménez, and Luis Torres Ros as members. The IOC responded requiring that Puerto Rico first join the international sports organizations. On September 17, 1947, Monagas re-submitted his request and in January, 1948, the ICO officially recognized the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee. That year, Puerto Rico participated in three sports in the Olympic Games held in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1950: track and field, marksmanship, and boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. In boxing Puerto Rico won a bronze medal under Juan Evangelista Venegas
Juan Evangelista Venegas
Juan Evangelista Venegas was the first Puerto Rican to win an Olympic medal.-Early years:Venegas was born in an underprivileged section of San Juan, Puerto Rico where fighting was a common way of life. Many of the youth at that time saw the sport of boxing as a way to a better life...
.
The Puerto Rican delegation joined the opening parade in the London games carrying a white flag with the seal of Puerto Rico. In 1952, a Puerto Rican delegation was sent to the Olympic Games in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
. This time, they first carried the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
flag, but after July 25, the date of the founding of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican delegation carried the official flag of the newly constituted Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Controversies
In 1956, some members of the Puerto Rico Shooting Federation challenged the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee because it consisted of government officials, thus violating Rule 25 of the Olympic Charter which stipulated that national Olympic committees should be "completely independent and autonomous and completely free of political, religious and commercial influence." A new Olympic Committee was formed with members of the five Puerto Rican federations that had international affiliations – athletics, boxing, cycling, weightlifting and shooting – but it was challenged again as it still included Monagas, who was both the president of the Puerto Rico Athletics Association and the director of the Public Recreation and Parks Administration. Finally, a new committee was formed under the direction of businessman Jaime Annexy and other members of the federations. The IOC granted provisional recognition to the Puerto Rican committee, which allowed Puerto Rico to participate in the Olympic Games held in Melbourne, Australia in 1956. In 1958, after Annexy's death, the committee was challenged again. A new committee was formed, headed by Julio E. Monagas, and it was officially recognized as the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee. Monagas served as president until 1965.Later years
From 1962 to 1965, Monagas served as the first president of the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organization, an entity formed in 1962 to take charge of organizing the Central American and Caribbean GamesCentral American and Caribbean Games
The Central American and Caribbean Games are a multi-sport regional championships event, held quadrennial , typically in the middle year between Summer Olympics...
. He retired in 1965. On April 4, 1984, he was awarded the Olympic Order
Olympic Order
The Olympic Order is the highest award of the Olympic Movement, created by the International Olympic Committee in May 1975 as a successor to the Olympic Certificate previously awarded. The Olympic Order originally had three grades , although the bronze grade was retired in 1984...
, the highest honor granted by the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
to those who have contributed to the development of Olympic sports. Monagas died on 14 July 1984 in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Legacy
Julio Enrique Monagas is considered the father of Puerto Rican Olympic sports. Through his efforts Puerto Rico was able to achieve recognition from the International Olympic Committee and the island's sporting sovereignty was accepted internationally.He is recognized in Ponce at the Park of the Illustrious Ponce Citizens. The Julio E. Monagas National Park in Bayamon, Puerto Rico
Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Bayamón is a municipality of Puerto Rico located on the northern coastal valley, north of Aguas Buenas and Comerío; south of Toa Baja and Cataño; west of Guaynabo; and east of Toa Alta and Naranjito. Bayamón is spread over 11 wards and Bayamón Pueblo...
, and the Julio Enrique Monagas Family Park
Julio Enrique Monagas Family Park
The Parque Familiar Julio Enrique Monagas is Puerto Rico's largest passive park. It is located in barrio Bucaná, Ponce, Puerto Rico, on the banks of rivers Bucaná and Portugués...
in Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
, were named after him.
Sources
"Luto en el deporte con muerte de Monagas". El Mundo 15 July 1984. Printed version.Mayo Santana, Raúl. El juguete sagrado: Germán Rieckehoff Sampayo: vida y leyenda. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Plaza Mayor, 2000. Printed version.
Torres Rivera, Johnny. "Antigua Administración de Parques y Recreo Públicos". Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico, n. d. Web. 18 April 2010.