A DECENT MAN
ON February 15, 1970, at approximately 6.28pm, Dominicana DC-9 took off from Las Americas Airport en route to Puerto Rico. The twin-engine plane, which had flown in from San Juan a few hours earlier without a hitch, was given the all-clear by the Dominican mechanics. It was the dry season in that part of the tropics and every cloud in the sky was visible from the cockpit. About two minutes later, still in its initial climb, the right engine flamed out. A request for an immediate return to the airport was followed by a hard right. Seconds later, still turning, the plane’s other engine gave out. The plane went into an instant nosedive and plunged into the Caribbean Sea just two miles from the airport. All 102 onboard perished, including the former First Lady of the Dominican Republic and, Carlos Teofilo Cruz, the first boxing champion from the Dominican Republic.
When he boarded the fateful flight, Cruz was only months away from getting a chance to regain the title he had lost on cuts. That he had ever become a champion, one good enough to have beaten quality operators such as Carlos Ortiz and Mando Ramos, was a surprise to all except those closest to him. He was 20 years old when he first slipped his fist into a boxing glove. Two years and 17 amateur contests later, he turned pro and plodded his way to a
