Career
Born in the Ocean Park section of San Juan, to a middle-class family, Papaleo is one of three siblings. Papaleo received his primary and secondary education in Colegio San Jose de Caguas and also played others sports like baseball, basketball and motorcross. His father is a coach for an elementary school, where he started playing the sport.
Papaleo, attended Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne after graduating from high school and studied Human Resources.
In the mean time, he continued playing volleyball. In 1990, Papaleo qualified to play for the which is governed by the Puerto Rican Olympic Committee.
He played Indoor Volleyball and in 1991 he made a Final Four appearance. In 1992, Papaleo qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association All-American second team
That year, he also made the Volleyball Monthly All-American third team and helped his team to another Final Four appearance.
That same year, he played in the Pre-Olympic qualifier for Puerto Rico. In 1996 He was named Avon Products.