Mario Sepúlveda broke the statistics until he became El Señor de los Ascensos, had a great career in professional basketball and says goodbye precisely. 8 was his number, he says goodbye on the 8th (July) and at 8 pm. He will be at El Templo de Plottier, where a great party is expected, with the presence of family, friends and colleagues from each of his clubs. He wore the modest sum of 18 shirts -and hit him with 8-, so he will surely be left over to assemble the teams.
For the closing of his great campaign, the basketball player from Neuquén chose Centro Español, a club that is his second home and will have him among its ranks to fulfill different functions. He had decided to leave the activity in 2020, but he took advantage of the pandemic to train fully and realized that he had the rope to continue. Close to turning 46 (Neuquén, August 26, 1977), he left his skin until the last game with Torito and heard an ovation when he announced “no more”.
The family, a pillar in his career.
Five promotions in a row: the incredible record of Mario Sepúlveda
The highest point of Mario Sepúlveda’s career was between 2007 and 2011. He was consecutively key to five promotions from TNA to the National League: El Nacional 2007, Olímpico 2008, Unión de Sunchales 2009, El Nacional 2010 and Quilmes 2011. He got the bonus track with Hispano Americano, when he went up from Federal to TNA.
That tremendous streak transformed him into a talisman and came the nickname of The Lord of Ascents. In addition, he left his mark in the statistics: he is the fourth player with the most appearances, the ninth goalscorer and the second highest three-pointer in the history of TNA (now the Argentine League).
Mario Sepúlveda, the only Neuquén in the two Argentine titles
Achieving a promotion in a Neuquén club may have been an outstanding debt for Mario Sepúlveda. However, he made up for it with an indelible fact: he was the only one who was in the only two conquests that Neuquén had in the Argentine Basketball Championship. As a junior, he was part of the squad of the team that surprised Capital Federal (74-72) at Cenard in 1995; and in a leading role, he repeated the feat when Neuquén beat Santa Fe in the final (95-81) in the 2017 edition, played at the Ruca Che stadium in the provincial capital.
The 18 clubs that had Mario Sepúlveda
Throughout his professional career, Mario Sepúlveda wore 18 jerseys. He started in Pacífico, crossed the path to Independiente and later moved to Deportivo Roca. Then began a tour that included Obras Sanitarias, La Unión de Colón, Quimsa de Santiago del Estero, El Nacional-Monte Hermoso, Olímpico de La Banda, Unión de Sunchales, Quilmes de Mar del Plata, City of Bragado, Hispano Americano and San Jorge. of Santa Fe.
Back in the area, he wore the colors of the two teams from Plaza Huincul, Pérfora and Petrolero. He set foot on Rio Negro soil again to play for Allen’s Unión Alem Progresista and a handful of games for Del Progreso de Roca. In various breaks he played for Centro Español and there an unbreakable partnership was born. That’s why goodbye is in The Temple.