A BOUNTIFUL New Year to one and all! May the Year of the Horse (it officially starts on January 31, 2014 in the Chinese calendar) bring peace and prosperity to a country that was plagued by natural calamities like Typhoon Haiyan and man-made disasters in the year that is about to pass.
No more pork barrel or hidden funds by government officials, please. There are just too many miserable, financially-challenged Filipinos that are starving and dying with no shelter.
May the Holy Spirit dawn on them to spend their personal funds to aid the needy and proclaim that “My brother is not a pig.”
This also goes to our honorable top sports officials whose standard for success has been lowered year after year in a bid to camouflage their own failures and protect their own interests.
Remember, it’s the athletes that are the heroes here when they come triumphant. And every time our honorable sports executives play politics, it’s the men in the battle field that suffers. Tama na, sobra na.
For our final piece for the year 2013, allow me to turn back the hands of time and accompany you readers through memory lane.
It was sixty years ago in 1954, when the country was relatively peaceful and blissful and Philippine sports was enjoying its most glorious years not only in the local scene but also in the international arena.
The President of the Republic at the time was Ramon Magsaysay. “Mambo Magsaysay” was the champion of the poor, so well-loved by the masses.
Living in simplicity, he often went to Malacañang Palace in slippers and opened its gates to the public like it was “a house of the people” and entertains the poor there without any air of superiority.
Magsaysay firmly was in command and his integrity was never in question. He negotiated peace with Communist rebels, went hard on his Cabinet on corruption issues and warned his relatives not to seek any favors from him.
In words and in deeds, he treated his people like “Kayo ang boss ko” truly. Magsaysay never engaged in lip service or gimmickry, no “Raprap para sa Mahirap” baloney or “Matuwid na Landas” hypocrisy at all.
The “Idol of the Masses” brought back the people’s trust in the military and in the government. Magsaysay’s administration was considered one of the cleanest and most corruption-free.
(The Philippines then ranked second in Asia’s clean and well-governed countries.) His presidency was often referred to as the country’s Golden Years as trade and industry blossomed and Filipinos excelled in international sports.
Alas, Magsaysay was gone too soon, having died at age 49 when the aircraft “Mt. Pinatubo” that he was aboard crashed somewhere in Cebu on March 17, 1957.
In 1954, the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles made it twice in a row against the San Beda College Red Lions in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball finals even as Red Lions star Carlos (Caloy) Loyzaga sat out the season due to academic reasons.
Loyzaga, however, made it up with a pair of medal victories in international competitions that year. In 1954, the National University Bulldogs, behind future two-time Olympian hotshot Narciso Bernardo, secured the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball crown.
(Since the time, the Bulldogs have never won the UAAP title again.) The (2nd) 1954 Asian Games were held in Manila from May 1 to May 9. A total of 970 athletes from 19 Asian National Olympic Committees took part in 765 events from eight sports.
These are from Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaya, North Borneo, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of China, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Iran (which sent its officials only).
Powerhouse Japan topped the medal standings – 38 gold, 36 silver and 24 bronze for a total of 98.
Host Philippines was a far second with a 14-14-17 for an overall harvest of 45 medals. South Korea owned the third most number of gold medals at eight and romped away with 19 total medals (including six silver and five bronze medals).
Boxing produced six medals for the country – five gold and one silver. Shooting and swimming each won four gold medals and ranked first and second, respectively, in total medals.
Shooting went 4-4-4 for a dozen medals while swimming collected 11 on a tally of 4-3-4. In men’s basketball, the Philippines won its second of four straight gold medals in the Asian Games with a perfect 6-0 record, including victories over silver medalist Republic of China (34-27), bronze medalist Japan (68-40) and fourth-placer Korea (76-52) in the final round.
Our heroes were coach Herminio Silva and players Bayani Amador, Florentino Bautista, Jose Ma. Cacho, Napoleon Flores, Antonio Genato, Rafael Hechanova (team captain), Eduardo Lim, Carlos Loyzaga, Ramon Manulat, Lauro Mumar, Francisco Rabat, Ignacio Ramos, Ponciano Saldaña and Mariano Tolentino.
The Philippines has not hosted the quadrennial Asian Games since the time. In the 12-nation FIBA World Basketball Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from October 22 to November 5, 1954, the Philippines, behind the legendary Loyzaga, earned the bronze medal with a 6-3 record.
The multi-dimensional 6-foot-3 Loyzaga was “The Big Difference,” ranking third in scoring during the quadrennial tournament with a 16.4-point average (including a high of 33 points in a 67-63 triumph over Uruguay) and earning a slot on the five-man All-Tournament Team.
Other members of the PH team mentored by Herminio Silva were Antonio Genato, Mariano Tolentino, Napoleon Flores, Francisco Rabat, Florentino Bautista Jr., Rafael Barretto, Lauro Mumar (team captain), Benjamin Francisco, Ponciano Saldaña, Bayani Amador and Ramon Manulat. Those were the days, my friends, and I thought it would never end.