HE may be a most polarizing figure in Philippine basketball history during his heyday. But love him or hate him, “The Big J” Robert Jaworski is one of legendary cagers the country has ever produced.
The son of a Polish father and a Filipino mother, Jaworski, who turned 71 on March 8, starred for the University of the East during the mid-sixties, catapulting the Red Warriors to several championships in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).
That early, Sonny already attracted so much national attention with his boyish charm and high-energy skills. While still in college, the wide-bodied 6-foot guard with unusually huge hands and feet was recruited to play for the tradition-steeped Yco Painters in the prestigious post-graduate, semi-professional Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) league.
Together with another blossoming UAAP star from the University of Santo Tomas, Danilo Florencio, Jaworski was selected to the Philippine national team that saw action during the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand at age 20 and the 1967 Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) tournament (later called the FIBA Asia Championship and now known as the FIBA Asia Cup), where the country whipped host South Korea to romp away with the gold medal.
The Baguio City-born Jaworski, who after a brief stint with Yco transferred to the then-Lopez-owned Meralco Reddy Kilowatts franchise in the MICAA, would also wear the national colors during the 1968 Mexico Olympics, 1970 Bangkok Asian Games, 1971 Tokyo ABC tournament, 1973 Manila ABC tournament, 1974 Tehran Asian Games, and the 1974 World Basketball Championship (known as the FIBA Basketball World Cup four decades later) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
In 1973, the Big J was picked to banner the newly-formed Komatsu Comets outfit (which was composed mostly of players from the disbanded Meralco team) following his reinstatement from an 18-month suspension by the Basketball Association of the Philippines (then the national basketball federation recognized by the International Basketball Federation or the FIBA) that was brought about by a hardcourt brawl involving him and the late Alberto (Big Boy) Reynoso against referees Jose Obias and Edilberto Cruz during the 1971 MICAA finals between the Reddy Kilowatts and the eventual titlist Crispa Redmanizers.
The Komatsu Comets were one of only six franchises in MICAA history to capture the championship in their inaugural campaign.
Under the Toyota banner, Jaworski hopped along with the Comets when the professional Philippine Basketball Association league was established in 1975. With disbandment of the Toyota franchise after nine seasons, he latched on with the Gilbey’s Gin in 1984 then became its playing coach when the club changed its name to Ginebra San Miguel a year later.
Jaworski held the dual positions with the Palanca franchise until 1998 when he gave up basketball to run for one of the 12 Philippine Senate seats at stake during the national polls that year. He ranked eighth overall to gain a six-year Senate term.
To date, Jaworski occasionally attends PBA games featuring Ginebra San Miguel but he has yet to return to the league to accept a coaching or front-office position with any of the 12 current member franchises.
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