Juan Vicéns Sastre was born in
Ciales, Puerto Rico. He was the sixth child of José 'Pepito' Vicéns Batalla and Antonia 'doña Lila' Sastre. In 1949, he moved to
Ponce to study in the
Colegio Ponceño encouraged by his brother
Enrique "Coco" Vicéns, who was already playing with the
Lions. After moving, he started visiting the practices and filling in for the team when a player was needed. In 1950, he finally debuted in the
National Superior Basketball (BSN) league with the
Ponce Lions. In 1952, he led the Lions to their first championship, and was declared the
Most Valuable Player of the series. In 1954, he repeated the feat with another championship and his second
MVP award. Also, from 1954 to 1956, Vicéns played
point guard at
Kansas State University, under the tutelage of
Tex Winter (Winter was a mentor of future
Chicago Bulls/
L.A. Lakers coach,
Phil Jackson). In 1956, he led Kansas State to the
NCAA Sweet Sixteen. During his sixteen years with the Ponce Lions, he led them to ten finals, and seven championship titles. In 1958, he was the scoring leader of the league, and was selected the league's
Most Valuable Player two more times (1958 and 1960). He was also the first player to score 5,000 points in the league, retiring with a total of 5,102. At the end of the 1950s, he received an invitation to play for the
New York Knicks, but he declined, so he could continue playing with Ponce and with the Puerto Rican team. Vicéns was a member of the
Puerto Rican National Basketball Team and represented the island in four Central American and Caribbean Games, two World Championships and two
Olympic Games. It was at the
1959 FIBA World Championship, held in
Antofagasta,
Chile that Vicéns was elected as the World's Best Basketball Player, while also being named among the five best players of the tournament. In 1966, Vicéns—along with
Juan "Johnny" Báez and Teo Cruz—led the National team to a
gold medal at the Caribbean and Central American Games held in
San Juan. ==Post-career==