Today he will meet again in heaven with the great “Cañonero Crema” and together they will remember this episode.
Put on Gaspar Mena Galecio, the owner of the ‘Lolo’ Fernández chimpanzees, died at the age of 96 and is part of the history of the district of La Unión in Piura. He was an Alianza Lima fan, as he always said, but he will also be remembered in regional sport as he was a player and leader of the Red Star Club of La Union. He was well known in his country as many sought him out for interviews and reports because he had the shoes of the legendary cream idol “Lolo” Fernández, with whom he played his last game, and won them in a raffle.
As he related: “Around 1953 I was 24 years old and I was the Red Star Goalkeeper, in my neighborhood and at that time the newspaper La Prensa organized the raffle for the chimpanzees with which ‘Lolo’ Fernández scored 3 of the 4 goals against Alianza Lima in their farewell game from the soccer field”.
He also said: “At that time the club got 100 tickets on sale and I bought 3 at two soles each. I didn’t give it any importance and went on with my life of work and play. But coincidentally, after 8 days of the draw, which took place on October 12, when I was with my friends in a picantería, I found out about the results in the newspaper and coincidentally I had ticket 4477, winner of the chimpanzees,” he noted.
He traveled to Lima and in a simple ceremony they gave him the Great ‘Lolo’ ChimpanzeesShe, too, who hugged him personally, had to lie to him, saying he was a Universitario fan. “He kept them as relics, many wanted to buy me the chimpanzees, but I always refused. They even offered me up to 20,000 soles and a car and I didn’t sell them. I’ve owned them for 70 years and I wouldn’t sell them for anything, I think these chimpanzees are worth their weight in gold,” he told us at the time.
Today he will meet again in heaven with the great “Cañonero Crema” and together they will remember this episode.