A record player. A legend. Rafael Rullán, a historic Ala-Pivot of Real Madrid, died yesterday at 73 years after a long illness, according to the white club itself in a statement.
If James Harden is ‘the beard’ of the NBA, Rullán was the European basketball during the seventies and eighties of the last century (“I put it quite young to cover a scar that remained in my neck and there I left it,” he explained on some occasion on her). He defended the Madrid shirt during 18 seasons, from 1969 to 1987, which meant an absolute record in the entity until his countryman Sergio Llull surpassed it last year. At that time he competed with Dino Meneghin and Kresimir Cosic for the honorary title of best wing in Europe. The three combined an overwhelming physical presence with spectacular versatility and technique. Rullán not only matched them at stake, but also in Palmares: 3 European Cups, 4 intercontinental cups, 1 European Recopa, 14 leagues – eight of them consecutive -, 9 glasses of Spain and 1 Super Cup of Spain. He also left his mark with the selection. It was international on 162 times and was part of the team that conquered the silver medal at the Eurobasket in Barcelona (1973). He also participated in the 1972 Munich Olympic games.
Rullán arrived in Madrid from his Palma de Mallorca Natal being a teenager. He began playing basketball at age 13 on medical recommendation, due to his excessive growth (he reached 2.07 meters), and a year later he pointed to the ‘height operation’, a kind of talent capture campus that the Spanish Federation organized in Segovia, where he was selected. He was assigned to go to the canoe, but he did not convince him the experience. Through his father and friends he contacted Real Madrid, and Pedro Ferrándiz did a test. He had to be an inactive year for federative sanction after giving up his place in El Canoe, but ended up fulfilling his dream of playing in the white club.
Since then, his life was linked to Real Madrid. He went through the youth and the senior team until reaching the first team with 18 years. Shortly after he achieved his first title, the 1970 Cup, with a star performance: 14 points in 12 minutes.
Rullán found in Clifford Luyk more than a partner: it was his mentor. Thanks to his teachings he perfected his medium distance shot, his great specialty. His face and back game to the hoop, along with his combativeness, were other hallmarks.
He was also fortunate to be under the orders of the best technicians: Ferrándiz, Raimundo Saporta, Antonio Díaz-Miguel … and, above all, Lolo Sainz. With him he lived his best years on the court. It was the one who took his maximum potential, but also who taught him the exit door. «With him I began to give everything I had learned with Ferrándiz and, later, my sunset came until he stopped playing. It cost me to assimilate it; I was rabid with Lolo because he didn’t take me out, but over time he made me see that it was something that had to come, ”he would recognize the player himself in an interview with ABC in 1988.
He played more than 600 games with Madrid, but none left him better memory than the 1980 European Cup final, in which the whites achieved their seventh continental title. In that tight duel in Berlin against Maccabi (89-85), Rullán scored 28 points.
After finishing his stage as a player in Madrid, he played one more season with Batobao Villalba, but soon returned to the club, first as a delegate of the first team and later as responsible for the sports schools of the Real Madrid Foundation.
In love with his native palm, Rullán returned frequently, especially to enjoy the sea in Sóller, where he practiced candle, motonáutica, submarineism and swimming, accompanied by his wife, Marisol, and of his two children, Jaime and Jorge. He also spoke with pride of his Catholic faith, which influenced his way of being on and off the court: «It influences myself and, from there, influences my relationship with others; It helps me try to be a better partner ».
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