Who Was Roberto Clemente’s Wife Vera Clemente?

Vera Clemente was the wife of late baseball legend Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane in 1972.

Born on March 6, 1941, Vera was a Puerto Rican philanthropist, and headed the Roberto Clemente Foundation.

She had attended the University of Puerto Rico and worked in a bank in her early days as a young girl.

She owned a sports education facility in Puerto Rico and later became a Goodwill Ambassador for he MLB.

In 2003, she was at the White House to receive her husband’s posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Vera and Clemente got married in 1964 and were blessed with three sons – Roberto Jr., Luis, and Enrique.

She passed away in 2019, at age 78 years, after falling ill briefly and hospitalised at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Who Was Roberto Clemente?

Roberto Clemente was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player born on August 18, 1934.

Clemente played as a right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates of the MLB, for 18 seasons.

He spent most of his off seasons doing charity work in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The 13-season All-Star emerged as the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1966, the NL batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967.

Clemente had won the World Series twice, as well as a Gold Glove Award for 12 seasons back to back.

Death Of Roberto Clemente

Clemente died in a plane crash, while on board to Nicaragua, on December 31, 1972, at age 38.

There had been an earthquake at Nicaragua, the situation required urgent response and Clemente was traveling to deliver relief supplies to the earthquake devastated victims.

The second engine of the aircraft which Clemente boarded, had failed after take off, leading to the crash that claimed his life and that of four other people.

The bodies of the crash victims were never found. Further investigations had revealed that the plane’s engines were over-boosted and not properly maintained.

In 1973, there was a posthumous induction conducted for Clemente into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 2002, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.