Teachers' status continues to be the same..." Since childhood, Cruz was passionate about sports, particularly athleticism, volleyball, baseball and softball.

A year after putting together his first female softball team in 1973, he won a silver medal at the Central American Games in the Dominican Republic.

Cruz is the author of Softbol de Alto Nivel, a book about the fundamentals of strategy, exercises, and rules of the game of softball.

An achievement filled-life combined his love for sports with his desire to impulse Puerto Rico, and in particular, his town of Guaynabo, to economic development.

It was not by choice, but to make a point, that Cruz decided to join the New Progressive Party (Partido Nuevo Progresista, in Spanish).

In 1972, Cruz, then a physical education teacher, went to the Guaynabo City Hall to ask the town's mayor for a donation to buy running shoes for his track and field students who were competing in a regional event.

His first incursion into politics for the New Progressive Party as a member of Guaynabo's city council representing the Barrio Santa Rosa III in 1972.

Like his colleague Ramon Luis Rivera, Cruz became endorsed by voters of Puerto Rico's three leading parties.

The new medical center, built at a cost of $24 million, opened its doors, along with parks for special needs children and recreational areas for families.

He allocated a budget of $300,000 for the development of parks and recreation in all the barrios in Guaynabo, and contracted coaches to teach the different skills to youth in low-income areas.

Because of his work on behalf of health, the elderly, youth, and sports, in 1985 President Ronald Reagan awarded him the Private Sector Initiative Commendation in Recognition of Exemplary Community Service.

Although not ready to retire, at the time of his death, Cruz was already contemplating the idea of making room for younger leadership.

He is one of ten Puerto Ricans, including Jorge Tanco, Juan Pachot and Ivelisse Echevarria, to be inducted at that sports museum.