Born in Oviedo on 23 February 1879 into a genuine Iberian football dynasty, Benito Álvarez Buylla y Lozana — already a graduate of the University of Madrid — enrolled in the degree course in Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences at the University of Bologna while boarding at the Collegio di Spagna. He graduated on 10 November 1906 with an experimental thesis in Pure Chemistry entitled: “Some Attempts to Obtain Amines Using the Grignard reagent”. The president of the degree committee was Prof. Giacomo Luigi Ciamician. Buylla y Lozana would go on to become a university professor of Chemistry. A man of many talents and lifelong football fan, in 1915 he became president of Real Stadium Ovietense, which in 1926, upon merging with Real Club Deportivo Oviedo, gave rise to the present-day Real Oviedo. He died in his hometown on 8 December 1941.
Benito Álvarez Buylla y Lozana was a pioneer of football in the city, playing as a full-back for Società Sportiva Studentesca. As stated in “Il mezzo secolo del Bologna”: “Every day, a young Spaniard named Buylla, warden of the College of Spain, would arrive [at the Prati di Caprara] at a certain hour, with the magical ball tucked under his arm”.
CAPTIONS
1 - Group photo of the Felsineo FC - Ferrara FC match, 4 November 1906..
2 - Certificate of conformity of the degree certificate signed by the Spanish Minister of Instrucción publica y Bellas Artes, 1902.
3 - Degree thesis, typewritten text with chemical formulas handwritten by the author.