A packed house at the Étienne Desmarteau Centre in Montreal during the 1976 Olympics watched as Puerto Rico’s Butch Lee had one of the greatest performances in Olympic basketball history.
Lee, who attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, hit 15 of 18 shots and scored a game-high 35 points as Puerto Rico took the heavily favored Americans to the wire before losing 95-94.
Lee, a New York playground and high school star, wasn’t invited to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
Lee’s parents were from the U.S. Virgin Islands and they were on a flight when Lee’s mother went into labor. The plane made an unscheduled landing in San Juan where she gave birth to Alfred Jr. (Butch) on Dec. 5, 1956.
Lee’s birth in Puerto Rico allowed him to represent that country later.
The U.S. team was loaded with future NBA players Adrian Dantley, Phil Hubbard, Phil Ford, Walter Davis, Quinn Buckner and Mitch Kupchak, and led by legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
So apparently, there was no room for Lee.
But Lee got his revenge when he and the other Marquette players who were left off the Olympic squad upset Smith and his Tar Heels 67-59 in the 1977 NCAA title game in Atlanta.
Lee was named Final Four MVP after scoring 19 points against Ford, Davis and Tommy LaGarde, who were on the 1976 U.S. Olympic team.
