Rafael Lecuona facts for kids
Rafael Argelio Lecuona (June 2, 1928 – June 7, 2014) was a Cuban-American gymnast and later political science professor. He was a competive gymnast from 1948 until 1956.
Lecuona represented Cuba three times at the Summer Olympics: 1948 in London, England, 1952 in Helsinki, Finland, and 1956 in Melbourne, Australia. He was also in the Pan American Games twice: in Buenos Aires Argentina (1951) and Mexico City, Mexico (1955). He was a member of the Florida State University men's gymnastics team from 1953 to 1956.
Later, he was a science professor at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas from 1970 to 2002.
Lecuona was born in Havana, the nephew of Ernesto Lecuona, the Cuban composer and musician. He left Cuba for the United States after Fidel Castro rose to power. He was anti-communist and never returned to Cuba again. He was married twice in the U.S. and had two children with his first wife.
Lecuona died on June 7, 2014 in San Antonio, Texas, aged 86.
