IT’S July and expectedly, the local collegiate basketball season is off and running. Various Philippine collegiate hoop leagues have mushroomed through the years but none of them is more colorful and tradition-steeped than the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The NCAA is the oldest athletic association in the Philippines. It was established in August 1924 upon the initiative of Dr. Regino R. Ylanan, the athletic director of the University of the Philippines.
It is also far older than the United States’ own NCAA, which was founded in 1939. There were eight member schools that saw action in the inaugural season of the local NCAA.
These are Ateneo de Manila, De La Salle College, the Institute of Accounts (now known as Far Eastern University), National University, San Beda College, the University of Manila, the University of the Philippines-Manila and the University of Santo Tomas.
The NCAA tournament has been held every year since 1924. It was only interrupted temporarily during World War II (from 1942 to 1946) and during the 1962 season when the league suspended action due to on-court violence.
A riot had erupted during the 1961 finals game when the supporters of Mapua Institute of Technology alleged that one referee favored Ateneo de Manila, which took the game and the championship.
UP-Manila hosted the first three NCAA seasons and registered local collegiate basketball’s first-ever “three-peat,” winning the NCAA crown each time.
In the inaugural 1924 season, Ateneo de Manila and De La Salle College joined UP in the winners’ circle by romping away with the Midgets and Juniors championships, respectively.
San Beda College, now the winningest collegiate team in NCAA history, grabbed its maiden crown in 1927. Ateneo de Manila became the second school to register a “three-peat” when the Blue Eagles ran away with the league championship in 1931, 1932 and 1933.
San Beda was back on top in 1934. That jumpstarted a three-year title reign by a potent Red Lions unit that was bannered by 6-foot-1 center Charles (Charlie) Borck.
Born in Quiapo, Manila of a German father and a Spanish mother, Borck, who was nicknamed “The Blond Bombshell” because of his blond hair and good looks, also was a member of the 1936 Philippine Olympic team that placed fifth during the Berlin Games for the highest ranking by an Asian country in the Olympics until now.
By 1936, UP, UST and FEU had withdrawn permanently from the NCAA even as Colegio de San Juan de Letran (a 1928 entry), Jose Rizal College and Mapua Institute of Technology had joined originals Ateneo de Manila, De La Salle College and San Beda College to maintain a six-team circuit. More on the NCAA next time.
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