Raimundo Pérez Lezama

Raimundo Pérez Lezama (29 November 1922 – 23 July 2007) was a Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Pérez and the second or maternal family name is Lezama.

Raimundo Lezama
Personal information
Full name Raimundo Pérez Lezama
Date of birth (1922-11-29)29 November 1922
Place of birth Barakaldo, Spain
Date of death 23 July 2007(2007-07-23) (aged 84)
Place of death Laguardia, Spain
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Southampton
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1939–1940 Southampton 0 (0)
1940–1941 Arenas Getxo
1941–1957 Athletic Bilbao 197 (0)
1955 → Barakaldo (loan) 5 (0)
1957–1958 Indautxu 1 (0)
1958–1960 Sestao 34 (0)
1960–1961 Arenas Getxo
Total 237 (0)
National team
1947 Spain 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

After beginning his professional career in England, he returned to his country, going on to later represent, mainly, Athletic Bilbao.

Club career

Refugee in England

Lezama was born in Barakaldo, Biscay but moved to England as a refugee at the age of 14. He entered at the port of Southampton on board the Habana on 23 May 1937, he and his brother Luis being among 3,889 Basque children fleeing the Spanish Civil War;[1] some of the other refugees also became footballers, including Emilio Aldecoa, Sabino Barinaga and José Gallego.[2][3][4]

While in Southampton, Lezama played for his school Nazareth House (less than half a mile from The Dell), where he was spotted by Southampton and signed for the club as a trainee, eventually progressing to the reserves before making his first-team debut on 1 June 1940 in a 0–5 away defeat against Arsenal. His next game was at Craven Cottage, when the "Saints" fielded five Arsenal players (Ernie Collett, Leslie Compton, Eddie Hapgood, Leslie Jones and Bernard Joy) in a 2–1 victory over Fulham,[5] with both goals for the victors being scored by local boy Eric Webber despite the plethora of stars.[6]

Lezama played one further match, a 1–3 defeat at Charlton Athletic at the end of an extended wartime season. Despite being underage, he briefly worked as a driver for the Royal Air Force.[5]

Athletic Bilbao

On returning to Spain in 1940, Lezama joined Arenas Club de Getxo in Segunda División.[7] In 1941 he signed for Athletic Bilbao, and made his La Liga debut on 27 September 1942 in a 5–0 home win over Real Betis.[8] The 1942–43 season saw the side, with a team that also included Telmo Zarra, José Luis Panizo and Agustín Gaínza, win a double (league and Copa del Rey); he helped Athletic retain the cup in both 1944 and 1945, winning it again in 1950.

While at Bilbao, Lezama also won the Ricardo Zamora Trophy as best goalkeeper during 1946–47.[9] He added his only cap for Spain on 26 January 1947, when he was a second-half substitute for José Bañón in a 1–4 away defeat against Portugal.[10]

Throughout the rest of his career at Athletic, Lezama was only a squad player, making only 12 league appearances in his last five campaigns combined. After playing 197 league matches (261 in all competitions[7]), he left the club in 1957.

Later career

In 1957, Lezama joined SD Indautxu in the second level, where his teammates included emerging youngsters Jesús María Pereda and Miguel Jones. He spent two further seasons in that tier with Sestao Sport Club, before rejoining first team in Spain Arenas de Getxo in 1960.

Lezama died of heart failure in Laguardia, Álava, at the age of 84.[9] It was sometimes thought that Athletic's training facilities were named after him, but in fact these were named for their location, the village of Lezama near Bilbao.[11]

Honours

Club

Athletic Bilbao[9]

Individual

References
  1. Raimundo Pérez Lezama, futbolista del Athletic (Raimundo Pérez Lezama, Athletic footballer); El País, 25 July 2007 (in Spanish)
  2. Herbert, Ian (6 September 2015). "A Spanish refugee boy 78 years ago blazed the trail for David Silva and Cesc Fabregas". The Independent. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  3. "First foreign footballers: Spain's Emilio Aldecoa". Football365. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  4. Westland, Naomi (26 April 2017). "When football welcomed refugees". Amnesty International. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  5. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. p. 103. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
  6. Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 391. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  7. Lezama, el gran portero del Athletic (Lezama, Athletic's great goalkeeper); Periodista Digital, 24 July 2007 (in Spanish)
  8. Atlético 5; Betis 0; Mundo Deportivo, 28 September 1942 (in Spanish)
  9. "Fallece Lezama, el legendario ex-portero del Athletic" [Death of Lezama, legendary former Athletic goalkeeper] (in Spanish). El País. 24 July 2007. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
  10. Lasplazas, José Luis (27 January 1947). "Portugal, 4 – España, 1" [Portugal, 4 – Spain, 1] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  11. Lezama; at Mi Athletic (in Spanish)
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