HOOPS FOREVER

As I turned a ripe 43 last month, I can’t imagine myself still deeply immersed in the world of basketball. Not anymore as a player as my gimpy knees would not oblige to its ever demanding physical contact but as a diehard fan and follower. Without any hesitation, Basketball had become an integral part of my life. I’ve seen the best and the worst ever since I was introduced into the game I truly loved as a wide-eyed eight year old boy.

My two greatest NBA heroes were Rick Barry and Chris Mullin which incidentally made their mark as members of the Oakland-based Golden State Warriors, respectively. Barry during my pre-teen years in the 70’s and sweet-shooting Mullin during the 80’s and early 90’s. But I also do have other NBA favorite players through the years as I admire the likes of Julius “Doctor J” Erving, Bernard King, George “Iceman” Gervin, Joe Barry Carroll, Larry “Mr. Mean” Smith, Wes Unseld, Ralph Sampson, Joe Hassett, Rex Chapman, Tracy Murray, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, JJ Reddick and Vince Carter to name a few.

During my elementary and high school days when internet is still is an alien word and cable TV is totally non-existent, I would only rely on the daily broadsheets and sports weekly magazines to follow the NBA. I can still recall in my high school class that I’m the only one who can name all the NBA teams and their respective homecourts even when I’m asleep.

In the local front, I’ve witnessed the many battles during the MICAA days at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, the prestigious National Seniors Championships and the annual Dona Josefa Cup at the Loyola Center and the eventual birth of Asia’s first play-for-pay loop, the PBA at the Araneta Coliseum in 1975. I’ve seen the four PBA grand slams (Crispa 1976 & 1983, San Miguel Beer 1989 and Alaska 1996), the emergence of Manila Bank, Imperial Textile Mills (ITM), APCOR and YCO in amateur caging and the countless free-for-all fights between Toyota and Crispa in the mid 70’s.

My ultimate hero is Ramon “El Presidente” Fernandez and I considered myself a true-blooded Toyota fan. Other great pinoy cagers which caught my fancy in the PBA includes Ompong Segura, Fort Acuna, Francis Arnaiz, Abe King, Arnie Tuadles, Emer Legaspi, Abet Gutierrez, Abe Monzon, Bert Dela Rosa, Rudy Lalota, Jess Migalbin, JB Yango, Frankie Lim, Ricardo Brown, Chip Engelland (he is a naturalized pinoy then), Jojo Lastimosa, Alvin Patrimonio, Jun Papa, Gary Vargas, Itoy Esguerra, Ed Cordero, Naning Valenciano, Cho Sison, Joel Banal, Manny Victorino, Jojo De Guzman, Rudy Hines, Rudy Kutch, Arthur Herrera, Danny Florencio, Bong Alvarez, Benjie Paras, Ronnie Magsanoc and Fritz Gaston.

Among the coaches, Tim Cone is my all-time fave but not far behind were Dante Silverio and Chot Reyes.

Andy “The Dip” Fields remains as my number one PBA import but there are others whose exploits can not be easily forgotten like Byron “Snake” Jones, Bruce “Sky” King, John “Doctor I” Irving, Carlos Terry, Stan Cherry, Jim Hearns, Frank Gugliotta, George Trapp, John Q. Trapp, Perry Moss, Jeff Collins, Harry Rogers, Butch Hays, Jose Slaughter, James Lister, Jimmy Allen, Ansley Truitt, Paul Mills, James “Cowboy” Cornelius, Carl Bird, Larry Pounds, Otto Moore, Jim Zoet, Stewart Granger, Ron Anderson, Carlos Clark, Sean Chambers, Devin Davis, Byron Houston, Russell Murray, Bernard Harris, Dan Knight, Lee Haven, Howard Smith, Dean Tolson, Larry McNeil, Paul McCracken, Jeff Wilkins, Glenn Hagan, James Hardy, Donnie Ray Koonce, Ira Terell, Charlie Floyd, Norman Black, Bobby Parks, Dexter Shouse, Michael Young, David Thirdkill, Donnie Ray Koonce, Lamont Strothers, Michael Phelps, Darren Queenan, Andrew Moten, Don Collins, Kenny Fields, Lewis Lloyd, Kenny Redfield, Tony Harris, Rob Williams and Andre McKoy.

I was oozing with excitement when an NBA-Salem selection in 1974 led by the diminutive Calvin Murphy and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe played the then Teheran Asian Games-bound RP team, which also saw action against the visiting University of North Carolina Wolfpacks powered by David “Skywalker” Thompson and towering center Tom Burleson in a series of tune-up matches. Then came the barnstorming 32-man NBA squad led by Walt “Clyde” Frazier which played in a mini-PBA tournament in 1975. How about the World Basketball Championships which was done simultaneously with the ABC youth cagefest in Manila in 1978. Yugoslavia featuring Drazen Dalipagic won the World tourney at the expense of the USSR team anchored by 7-4 behemoth Vladimir Tkatchenko in a thrilling finale at the big dome. The 1979 one night stand of the Washington Bullets led by legends Elvin “Big E” Hayes, Wes Unseld and Kevin Porter, which played against a PBA selection reinforced by imports. Next came the 1980 Philippine tour of a ragtag NBA selection organized by Raymond Townsend, the only Fil-Am to play in the NBA.

I also saw the winning campaigns of the RP Nationals during the 1973 ABC at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum against the Shin Dong Pa led- South Korea team and the big upset of the RP Youth squad mentored by Ron Jacobs against China in 1982 at the big dome. 1974 also saw the first-ever international game played by the then People’s Republic of China in a friendly series in Peking (now Beijing) against the Philippine team.

Now if you think that the first ever trading cards featuring pinoy cagers was that of Purefoods in 1988, you are absolutely wrong. In 1974, Coca Cola released trading cards featuring the players of the RP National team in action during the World Basketball Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Memories, memories, memories… Basketball maybe just a game for others but it is also a religion to many.