Luis Arana

Luis Arana Urigüen (14 February 1874 – 7 June 1951) was a Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper who won the 1902 Copa de la Coronación with Club Bizcaya. He later became a sailor, representing his country at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Football

Luis Arana Urigüen was born on 14 February 1874 in Santander, Cantabria. He was one of the first pioneers of football in Bilbao, being one of the young sportsmen from the city's high society who at the end of 1900, formed the Bilbao Football Club, with whom he played several friendly matches against city rivals Athletic Club (now known as Athletic Bilbao) in the Hippodrome of Lamiako.

In 1902, the two rivals agreed to join the best players of each club to face the Bordeaux-based side Burdigala at Burdeos, France, which marked the first time a Bilbao team played on foreign territory. This temporary merge became known as Club Bizcaya and Arana ousted Athletic's goalkeeper to be part of the first-ever line-up of the Bizcaya team that faced Burdigala on 9 March, keeping a clean-sheet in an 0–2 away win. Together with Juan Astorquia, Alejandro de la Sota and William Dyer, he was part of the Bizcaya team that won the 1902 Copa de la Coronación, featuring in the final contributing decisively to a 2–1 win over FC Barcelona.

Sailing

As a sailor, Arana won the 1912 Sailing Copa del Rey [es] with the yacht Tonino, in Gijón. In 1920, he replaced Julio Arteche [es] as the president of Real Club Marítimo del Abra [es], a position he held for four years, until 1924, when Rogelio Renovales took over.

A few years later, he represented his country at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Later, he was president of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation between 1940 and 1945. Franco awarded him the Grand Cross of Naval Merit.

Golf

In addition to sailing and football, Arana also played golf. He won a very significant number of golf titles during the 1920s, becoming the champion of Spain in golf several times and he was succeeded as such by his sons Javier and Luis Ignacio de Arana Ybarra, thus being the father of a great dynasty of golf players. Arana was named first president of the Spanish Golf Federation [es], although his responsibility was limited to two years, precisely those between 1934 and 1936.

Others

In 1936–37, Arana was also president of the Bilbao Society [es], a private club founded as a recreational and cultural society. In addition to forming part of the precursor of Athletic Bilbao, he also helped form the Athletic Federation of Vizcaya.

Arana was a board member of several important industrial companies. Politically, he belonged to the Maurist Party and then to the Patriotic Union of Primo de Rivera. He was a friend of Alfonso XIII. In 1927 he was appointed provincial deputy by the Civil Directory of Primo de Rivera.

Arana died on 7 June 1951 in Madrid, at the age of 59.

• Copa de la Coronación: 1902