“Ricardo’s contribution to Asturian basketball is gigantic, especially seen from today’s perspective. Ricardo transformed it ”. Ramón Fernández Pérez (Navia, 1958), linked to basketball for many years as manager of Baloncesto León and Fuenlabrada and as general director of the basketball section of Real Madrid, has had a long relationship with Ricardo Hevia, the coach who replaced him in front of the CAU. Fernández is still very aware of basketball, his true passion, although he currently has a sports advisory company and is the second largest shareholder in Fuenlabrada de Fútbol, of whose board of directors he is a member.
The leader recalls that “at that time Asturian basketball was, with all the respect in the world, about walking around the house. But Ricardo, who was a person who traveled a lot, who cared to learn, transformed us. From there, following in his wake, many people who had a relationship with him went on to be a coach or to carry out other positions within basketball clubs ”.
Fernández recalls that “these were times when there was no internet, in which Asturian basketball was not minimally structured, so their work was gigantic. Seen from the current perspective, his figure is enlarged even more ”. In addition, the Asturian leader wants to highlight “another aspect that cannot be forgotten. This type of people, such as Ricardo, have such a great contribution to the transformation of a sport that they instill passion in a series of people who, after time, continue to exercise a profession related to that sport. I am a professional thanks to him ”.
The CAU, the genesis
Ramón Fernández recalls that he was not the only one: “Of the people who coincided with Ricardo in his time at the CAU, the majority either became coaches or executives, or even club presidents. That CAU was the genesis of Asturian professional basketball. At that time, neither the Gijón Basketball nor the Tradehi existed yet. The Covadonga Group did exist, but it was not a basketball, let’s say, professional ”. In addition to the future dedication of many of its components, the naviego remembers that “it was a spectacle to see him play. In fact, in that enclosure, although it was not very big, they put additional stands and it was overflowing in each game ”.
Funeral in Mieres today at 1:00 p.m.
Asturian basketball and the immense trail of friends that he forged throughout his life will have the opportunity today to say their last goodbye to Ricardo Hevia at the funeral scheduled at the church of San Juan de Mieres at 1:00 p.m., a public act and not restricted to family privacy. Hevia, born in Mieres in 1940, died last Saturday in Lugo, the city where he spent part of his career as a coach and where he stayed to live, acting as an opinion-maker in Breogán matches. Although his health was delicate in recent times, his death caused deep consternation in Asturian basketball and in the many people he influenced when directing his career towards the sport of the basket.
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