THE ongoing FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship in Manila is the 27th of its kind. However, it was known by a different name during its inaugural competitions in 1960 when the Philippines played host for the first time.
Until the mid-1990s, it was called the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) tournament. Like before, it also was held biennially during odd-numbered years and served as the qualifying tournament for the Summer Olympics and World Basketball
Championship (which will be known as the FIBA World Cup for the first time next year). A Filipino, Dionisio “Chito” Calvo, spearheaded the formation of the ABC in the late 1950s.
Known as the “Father of Philippine Basketball,” Calvo saw action with the national team that topped the 1925 Far Eastern Games in Manila.
He subsequently became the head coach of the first two Philippine Olympic squads that ranked fifth (the highest-ever finish by an Asian country until now) during the 1936 Berlin Games and 12th during the 1948 London Games.
Calvo would later become an organizer. He set up the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) in 1938. The semi-pro league lasted until the establishment of the professional Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in 1975.
The idea of putting up the Asian Basketball Confederation was initially brought up in August 1958 in a Tokyo hotel coffee shop by six basketball officials from various Asian countries that competed in the 3rd Asian Games held in the Japanese capital.
While basketball was part of the Asian Games calendar, Calvo and company were concerned that it had been relegated to a minor sport.Thus saw the birth of the ABC, the harbinger of the FIBA Asia Championship.
Through the efforts of Calvo, the first ABC tournament was staged from January 15-28 in 1960 in Manila. Seven countries took part in the two-week competitions.
They were Taiwan (Nationalist China), Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Malaya (now Malaysia) and the host Philippines.
Along with Pakistan, they also attended the conference at which the draft constitution of the ABC was adopted and the participating countries admitted as members.
Call it home-court advantage, the 14-man Philippine team romped away with the inaugural ABC championship in 1960. The Filipinos, who were skippered by all-time great Carlos “Caloy” Loyzaga, won all of their nine assignments at the old Rizal Memorial Coliseum, including a 99-78 shellacking of Taiwan in the titular match.
Mentored by Arturo Rius, the first ABC championship unit also included Emilio Achacoso, Kurt Bachmann, Carlos Badion, Narciso Bernardo, Loreto Carbonell, Edgardo Ocampo, Constancio Ortiz, Leonardo Del Pilar, Roberto Yburan, Nicolas Carranceja, Alfonso Marquez, Mariano Tolentino and Eduardo Lim.
Badion was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. The ABC was not officially founded until the 2nd ABC competitions in Taipei in November 1963 when representatives from nine countries ratified the ABC constitution and bylaws, and elected, among other officials, then-Philippine Senator (and 1936 PH Olympic team captain) Ambrosio Padilla as president and Calvo as secretary-general.
Even though it dropped twice in 11 games (losing to Korea, 62-59, and Taiwan, 96-81, during the preliminary rounds), the Philippines, which was again skippered by Loyzaga, retained the ABC diadem during the eight-nation 1963 tournament following a 91-77 victory over host Taiwan in the finals.