Gustavo ‘Jeta’ Palacio: a great basketball player, one of the unrepeatable

By Roly Pérez Beveraggi

A lifelong friend, from the earliest childhood, since my grandparents lived in front of their house. He studied at the Don Bosco College, where from a very young age he embraced basketball as his emblem sport and finished his secondary studies at the National College, where he excelled in athletics at the provincial level (100 m Chaco champion). He also played soccer as a goalkeeper for San Fernando, rugby, and whatever sport existed.

His father, along with well-known neighbors and with the help of the neighborhood boys, founded the soccer field eventually called “Canchita Palacio”, where we spent indelible moments of our youth.

His dad, a dentist, seemed like a very tough man in handling the field, but it was only a gesture to be able to direct so many boys. He saw to it that there was always a soccer ball, a rugby ball, softball gloves and bat and everything else that might be needed.

His passion for basketball led him to be one of the emblematic players of the Chaco. He excelled in his home club and in Chaco For Ever, in the seventies he played professionally in Boca Juniors and in Bahía Blanca.

He represented Chaco in youth and senior tournaments, standing out as a point guard, where he showed off with feints and belt passes with unusual speed. His lifelong friends and the forgers of an unbreakable trio in Don Bosco were Dr. Rolando “Roli” Toledo, and his inseparable friend until his last hours, the plastic artist “Taqui” Sánchez. His other great friend in life and by profession was “Nino” Capelatti.

Returning to his studies, for many years he studied Architecture and, although he did not finish it, his apprenticeship served him for future jobs as a draftsman in Supercemento and later in the Provincial Highway Management, where he took retirement.

Personally, I had to share all those moments and many adventures with him, which made us a great friendship. But there was a fundamental fact in our lives, that united us at that time, when we shared the Military Service. The two extended by study, we coincided in 1977 (full time of those unfortunate military) with the first class of 18 years, so for us they were all kids.

But there is an indelible anecdotal fact from our military experience: we were Marina and they transferred us to the city of La Plata, to BIM 3. When they recruited us in La Liguria they gave us a bag with food, in which it was not distinguished what was what , and they put us on a train with a direct destination to La Plata, non-stop and for security reasons with all the windows covered.

Thirty hours we traveled that way, so we brought out all our experiences and were the leaders of the group. While completing his military service, he married and had a daughter, María José Palacio Soriano, and in a second marriage with Lilita Gizzi he had his second son, the beloved architect “Quitito” Palacio, who accompanied him permanently and was always by his side in his worst moments.

In his last decade, his health deteriorated tremendously when he suffered a stroke, which practically marginalized him from sports life. But he fought her, he fought her, he gave her claw and will to overcome that trance.

To make matters worse, he was a chain smoker and – here I want to make a separate paragraph – for years we argued about the evil caused by smoking. He was a staunch advocate until his stroke occurred and he abandoned it for a long time.

At the end of last year he was admitted with a picture of pneumonia and he had been fighting very well, he had even left therapy. Then they had to operate on his hips and he was admitted again. There he caught Covid 19 and could not get out of that.

His son “Quitito” told me that his hospitalization was in a private hospital until his infection, where he was transferred to the Perrando Modular Hospital and he told me the tremendous differences, from almost nothing to the excellent care in every sense of the public hospital.

“Jetón”, you just left a little earlier.