There are traces that seemed indelible in their day and that, with the passage of time, the changes of the era and technological advances, begin to fade. Even for those who follow the same path for kinship reasons. Tell Luis Molowny Márquez, grandson of the legendary Real Madrid player of the same name. Luis -the grandson- knew about the achievements of his grandfather from the oral histories that were told in the family. A knowledge that was based, mainly, on figures of titles, games and goals.
On February 13, 2010, Luis -the grandfather- died and then a derivative came into play that, until then, remained hidden from those who had not seen him play or train: what Luis Molowny meant for several generations of soccer fans . And it was a lot.
Luis -the grandson- began at that time a documentation work that disappeared for ten years and which is translated into the book Luis Molowny, the first idol of Chamartín (Letrame). Molowny’s was a career that started the way stories begin: he wanted to play soccer so much that he used to accompany his older brother, who was part of Club Deportivo Tenerife, to training. He did it with that common and human longing that one day there would be no people in training and they would ask him to jump onto the field to complete the teams. And it happened-despite the fact that his slight corpulence initially appeared against him. At the end of training, they signed him for the infantile of the Tenerife team. He was about to launch a career that would lead him to score 48 goals in 68 games with Marino de Las Palmas; to sign for Real Madrid in 1946 and score 130 goals in 284 games with the white club; to lift two European Cups or three Leagues as a player -another three, two King’s Cups and two from UEFA as a coach-; to be the coach of Las Palmas, Spain coach and resource on up to 4 occasions for the Real Madrid bench, replacing Miguel Muñoz, Miljan Miljanic, Vujadin Boskov and Amancio Amaro.
Molowny was a player with dribbling, vision of the game, capable of shooting with both legs and a knack for getting unchecked. Characteristics that, in the 40s, clashed with a game in which direct style and physical power led the way. He became an idol for the white parish. Later, once he retired, he left his mark on the benches and in promoting football and its infrastructure in the Canary Islands. His legacy transcends the merely sporting. And his grandson Luis has spent a decade so that those footprints are never lost.
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