MORE on the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Hall of Fame. Aside from players Williams (Bogs) Adornado, Fortunato (Atoy) Co Jr., Francis Arnaiz, Philip Cezar, Ramon (Mon) Fernandez, Robert (Sonny) Jaworski, the other trailblazing members of the PBA Hall of Fame in 2005 were coach Virgilio (Baby) Dalupan, team owners Emerson Coseteng and Valeriano (Danny) Floro, PBA commissioners Leopoldo (Leo) Prieto and Rodrigo (Rudy) Salud, and radio and television sports announcer Jose Maria (Joe) Cantada. Coseteng, Floro and Cantada were inducted posthumously.
Until a month ago, Dalupan solely owned the all-time league record for the most number of championships with 15, turning in the trick with three franchises – Crispa (nine), Great Taste (five) and Purefoods (one) from 1975-90.
SanMig Coffee’s Tim Cone has since joined “The Maestro” as the winningest coaches in league annals after piloting his club to a 4-3 victory over sister team Petron Blaze in the Governors’ Cup finals last month for his 15th title overall.
His first 13 titles were registered with Alaska. Coseteng was the founding PBA president in 1975 from Mariwasa, a team that snared a number of championships in the old Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) league but failed to collect a single crown in the PBA.
Mariwasa-Noritake’s highest PBA finish was second place in the 1977 All-Filipino tournament. Floro, a media favorite for his jovial and charitable ways, earned 13 titles with Crispa from 1975 to 1984 – nine under the stewardship of Dalupan, three under Tomas (Tommy) Manotoc and one under Narciso Bernardo.
During the time, Crispa registered a pair of grand slams (three titles in the same season) in 1976 (Dalupan) and Manotoc (1983).
Prieto was the league’s first commissioner in 1975.
Salud was the third, having succeeded Mariano Yenko at the top PBA post. Cantada, with his smooth baritone voice, was a basketball and boxing announcer par excellence in his prime.
Cantada was a radio broadcaster (DZHP) during his younger days and owned an outstanding singing voice, often belting a tune or two during his programs.
As a lad, this Hoopster often tuned in to the radio broadcasts of the NCAA games during the mid-1960s with Cantada doing the play-by-play.
At the time, I also was into music and was particularly impressed with Cantada’s own rendition of the Grammy Award-winning song “Both Sides Now” that was originally recorded by Judy Collins (and later by Frank Sinatra, Robert Goulet and Andy Williams among other crooners).
Alas, “Smokin’ Joe” Cantada and his baritone voice are now gone (he died in 1992 at age 50). And so have Coseteng, Floro, Prieto, Salud, Yenko and Bernardo crossed the Great Divide.