Ramón Colón

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Ramón Colón

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| full_name = Ramón Colón Acevedo

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|03|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Madrid, Spain

| death_date = 1999 (aged 82-83)

| death_place = Madrid, Spain

| height =

| position = Defender

| youthyears1 = |youthclubs1 =

| years1 = 1939–1940 | clubs1 = Imperio | caps1 = | goals1 =

| years2 = 1940–1943 | clubs2 = Atlético Aviación | caps2 = 8 | goals2 = 0

| years3 = 1945–1946 | clubs3 = Salamanca | caps3 = | goals3 =

| years4 = 1947–1948 | clubs4 = Chamberí FC | caps4 = | goals4 =

| manageryears1 = 1952–1954 | managerclubs1 = Atlético Madrid

| manageryears2 = 1954–1955 | managerclubs2 = Real Murcia

| manageryears3 = 1955–1956 | managerclubs3 = Málaga

| manageryears4 = 1956–1958 | managerclubs4 = Rayo Vallecano

| manageryears5 = 1958–1959 | managerclubs5 = Badajoz

| manageryears6 = 1959–1961 | managerclubs6 = Rayo Vallecano

| manageryears7 = 1963–1964 | managerclubs7 = Salamanca

}}

Ramón Colón Acevedo (22 March 1916 – 1999) was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender for Atlético Madrid.{{cite web |url=https://www.infoatleti.es/jugador/ramon-colon |title=Colón (Ramón Colón Acevedo) |language=es |website=www.infoatleti.es |access-date=17 May 2024 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.worldfootball.net/player_summary/colon/ |title=Colón |website=www.worldfootball.net |access-date=17 May 2024 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/j/j10928.html |title=Colón, Ramón Colón Acevedo - Footballer |website=www.bdfutbol.com |access-date=17 May 2024 }}

He later became a manager, taking charge over Atlético Madrid, Real Murcia, and Rayo Vallecano.{{cite web |url=https://www.bdfutbol.com/en/l/l10928.html |title=Colón, Ramón Colón Acevedo - Manager |website=www.bdfutbol.com |access-date=17 May 2024 }}

Playing career

Born in Madrid, Colón began playing football at his hometown club in Imperio CF in 1939, which at the time served as a subsidiary of Atlético Madrid, then known as Atlético Aviación, who signed him in 1940. He remained with the club for three seasons, playing a total of eight La Liga matches, and winning one league title in 1940–41 and the 1941–47 FEF President Cup, in which he played in only one match, a 2–0 loss to Valencia CF.{{cite web |url=https://www.cuadernosdefutbol.com/2018/04/el-torneo-mas-largo-de-la-historia-del-futbol-espanol-la-copa-del-presidente-de-la-rfef-1941-47/ |title=El Torneo más largo de la historia del fútbol español. La Copa del presidente de la RFEF (1941-47) |trans-title=The longest tournament in the history of Spanish football. The RFEF President's Cup (1941-47) |language=es |website=www.cuadernosdefutbol.com |publisher=CIHEFE |date=17 March 2018 |access-date=17 May 2024 }} In June 1941, he started for Aviación in both legs of the final of the 1941 Copa Presidente Federación Castellana against Real Madrid, which ended in a 3–1 victory on aggregate.{{Cite web |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/span-centrchamp.html#41c |title=1940-41 (Campeonato Regional del Centro) |publisher=RSSSF |date=7 June 2018 |access-date=1 April 2025 }}

Colón then played for Salamanca and Chamberí FC before retiring in the late 1940s.

Managerial career

After his career as a player ended, Colón remained linked to Atlético, now as a coach of the amateur and youth teams for several years, with which he was proclaimed champion of Spain.{{cite web |url=https://goldelmurcia.es/historia-real-murcia/leyendas-granas/leyendas-granas-marsal-y-el-ala-infernal/984-leyendas-granas-marsal-y-el-ala-infernal |title=Leyendas Granas: Marsal y el ala infernal |trans-title=Granas Legends: Marsal and the Infernal Wing |language=es |website=goldelmurcia.es |date=5 January 2014 |accessdate=17 May 2024 }} In January 1953, he was promoted to the first team to replace Helenio Herrera when he was dismissed.{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.es/archivo/periodicos/abc-madrid-19530127-33.html |title=Helenio Herrera ha dejado |trans-title=Helenio Herrera has left |language=es |website=www.abc.es |publisher=ABC |date=27 January 1953 |accessdate=17 May 2024 }} He was dismissed at the start of the 1953–54 campaign after only five days, and in the following summer, he joined Real Murcia.

Knowing like few others about the Madrid football academy, Colón brought with him two kids with huge potential, the 18-year-old Joaquín Peiró and the 20-year-old Enrique Collar. The latter was claimed in the middle of the season by his parent club, but Colón pulled another one from Real Madrid, Ramón Marsal, thus forming a team with which he achieved promotion to the First Division in the 1954–55 season,{{cite web |url=https://www.goldelmurcia.es/historia-real-murcia/entrenadores-del-real-murcia |title=Entrenadores del Real Murcia |trans-title=Real Murcia coaches |language=es |website=www.goldelmurcia.es |accessdate=17 May 2024 }} with the journalist Juan Antonio Calvo, the head of the sports section of the La Verdad newspaper stating that "of the eleven times that Murcia has risen to the First Division, it has never done so with such little suffering and as much anticipation as the one that has just occurred".{{cite web |url=http://servicios.laverdad.es/especiales/real-murcia/ascensos.html |title=Especial Ascenso a 1ª División del Real Murcia |trans-title=Special Promotion to 1st Division of Real Murcia |language=es |website=servicios.laverdad.es |publisher=La Verdad |accessdate=17 May 2024 |archive-date=16 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130716062619/http://servicios.laverdad.es/especiales/real-murcia/ascensos.html |url-status=dead }}

Colón later coached Málaga (1955–56), Rayo Vallecano (1956–58 and 1959–61),{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.es/archivo/periodicos/abc-madrid-19721126-179.html |title=Entrenadores de la agrupación deportiva Rayo Vallecano |trans-title=Coaches of the Rayo Vallecano sports group |language=es |website=www.abc.es |publisher=ABC |page=179 |date=26 November 1972 |accessdate=17 May 2024 }} Badajoz (1958–59), and Salamanca (1963–64). He was also a youth coach of both {{ill|Federación Castellana de Fútbol|es|lt=Castilla}}{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.es/archivo/periodicos/abc-sevilla-19581107-34.html |title=Los equipos juveniles A v Z |trans-title=Youth teams A v Z |language=es |website=www.abc.es |publisher=ABC |page=34 |date=7 November 1958 |accessdate=17 May 2024 }} and the National team.{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.es/archivo/periodicos/abc-madrid-19750618-107.html |title=Seleccionadores de juveniles y aficionados |trans-title=Youth and amateur selectors |language=es |website=www.abc.es |publisher=ABC |page=107 |date=18 June 1975 |accessdate=17 May 2024 }}