champion San Antonio Spurs. With Vasco, Meléndez won the Brazilian Championship and South American basketball champion. Meléndez was still coaching the Cowboys in 2004, when, as assistant coach, he finally attended his second Olympic Games, after Puerto Rico's national men's basketball team won a bronze medal at the 2003 pre-Olympic Games to qualify for the Athens sports celebration. Meléndez has also coached the Ponce Lions in the BSN. He recorded his 600th career win on April 24th, 2017. As a basketball player, Meléndez retired as one of only 65 players in history to reach the 5,000 points mark in the BSN, having scored 5,088 points during his career. In 2020 Meléndez was managing the Indios de Mayagüez team until the season was postponed on account of a global pandemic. In 2021, Melendez began as the head coach of Mayagüez. He resigned in mid-August, and became an assistant coach at Carolina. Personal life Melendez's grandson Jhivvan Jackson plays college basketball for UTSA. At the end of March 2020, Melendez was hospitalized after contracting the coronavirus during the 2020 pandemic. He recovered and tested negative by April. His wife who had also tested positive, recovered as well. References External links Statistics in BSN Puerto Rican basketball federation's page about Meléndez 1947 births People from Cidra, Puerto Rico Living people Puerto Rican men's basketball players Baloncesto Superior Nacional players BSN coaches Sport Club Corinthians Paulista basketball coaches Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama basketball coaches Shooting guards