Why did you retire in 1986 when back then you were still in the prime of your career?
I think it was just the right time for a number of reasons. After doing it for so long my body was not very happy having to get up and continue doing it every day. But primarily, the desire to play was no longer there. Which is really a mind thing. It was just time to move on and discover what was out there for me besides basketball.
Did you find it hard to adjust to normal life after being a basketball star and celebrity for over a decade.
I like how you phrased the question! “Normal life” hahaha. Actually you are right on. Living the life of a “celebrity” is certainly not normal. At least not for me. Mentally, I had no problems at all adjusting. In the first place, I never bit into the “celebrity” or “star” thing so in fact I relished being out of the stage lights.
That is just the person I am. Strange but true. I was never comfortable being a “celebrity.” The adjustment that needed to be done only reared it’s ugly head and became difficult when I was faced with the question: “What am I going to do now?” Remember, all I ever did up to this point was play basketball…. so I never planned for the day when it would all end. In fact, I refused to face and answer that question all throughout my career even to the point when I could see it waiting just around the corner. Call it a character defect or whatever. But it is what it is.
And the double whammy came in the fact that when I retired, I was in the United States. So yes, it was difficult in the simple fact that I could not reap the benefits of what I had sown all those years…. not that I really cared to do so anyway. So in the blink of an eye I was in a foreign land where my name was just that, a name. In other words, like every one else I had to start from scratch.
Can you share your memorable moments in basketball?
So many. That is just like asking a scuba diver in the midst of a beautiful coral reef what is his favorite fish. A few stand out. The National 1969 PRISAA High School Basketball Championship.
The region I played for Western Visayas won the national championship. It was special to me because it was the first time I played in Manila and the team was composed of a ragtag selection of high school kids from Iloilo whose idea of a celebration was riding the double deck bus up and down Roxas Boulevard with our gold medals around our necks.asian basketball
Winning the 7th Asian Basketball Championship in Manila in 1973 was very memorable too. Being chosen as the Professional Basketball Player of the Year in 1975 which was the year the PBA began. Too many to mention actually.
What keeps you busy nowadays?
Well, being that I am sort of “domesticated” nowadays I have an 8-5 job working for the State of California. The agency is called Commission on Teacher Credentialing. We are responsible for accrediting any teacher who wants to teach in the public school system in California. I have been doing this for the last 11 years or so.
I love walking my 13-year-old golden retriever everyday. I have never given up my love for reading so I do that a lot. I love to cook. My wife and I also travel every chance we get. I guess I do pretty normal things anyone would do. Now that my kids are all grown and on their own my wife and I have more time on our hands which makes it nice.
What is the biggest difference between your life then and now?
In a nutshell, now I am alive. By the grace of God, I am born again!
And I don’t mean being all religious stuff or being “holier than thou.” That I am not. To quote Paul: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my flesh.” So if you see me now, nothing has really changed physically.
Except maybe I have less hair and the creak in my bones. But in my spirit, I am totally enlightened and not because of anything I did, I do or that I deserve. Enlightened because Jesus who is the Light, lives in me and He promised that He will never leave me. End of story.