Marc Pingris: Master of the game of life

SEVILLE, Spain — “I pray before every game. I pray that there will be no injuries for all the players — even our opponents,” said Gilas forward Marc Pingris during a break from the FIBA games.  “This is what I do before every game.”

While watching the FIBA games in Seville, I kept an eye out for role player Marc Pingris. After all, he is a versatile 6’6” forward-center who can post up, shoot midrange jumpers and block shots.  There are many stars on the Gilas team but Marc has always been one of the players that I admire.

The San Mig Coffee star earned an invitation to join the Gilas Pilipinas players’ pool primarily because of his defensive skills. And Pingris made sure he wouldn’t let Filipinos down by letting his guard down.

“Binigyan ako ng coaching staff ng mga tapes ng mga best players ng mga kalaban namin (The coaching staff gave me tapes of the best FIBA Asia players we would be up against),” Pingris said in an interview before the games. “Pinag-aaralan ko ang mga galaw nila (I studied their moves).”

He is a big man by Filipino standards but on the international court, his size is that of an average wing player.  But with the combination of his athleticism, boundless energy and big fighting heart, Pingris can guard practically anyone —from point guard to big man.

His life outside basketball is just as colorful and interesting as his life on the court.

A life of poverty

Marc’s life story is one for the books.  It is a story that includes growing up without a father then finding him (Frenchman Jean Marc Pingris Sr.) thanks to the unwavering desire of his wife, Danica Sotto-Pingris, to have Marc experience the love of a father.  

“I grew up with my mom Erlinda and my two siblings (from another father), a brother and a sister,” shares Marc. “I grew up sleeping in the market in Pangasinan because my mom used to sell vegetables there. This is a childhood I am proud of, because it made me who I am today.”

Marc is not ashamed of where he came from. When we asked him to share his life story, he was more than willing to do so. “I know that all I have now is temporary.  I will not always be able to play basketball the way I do now,” he says. “It is important for me to always remember where I came from and to continuously thank God for the many blessings in my life.”

Marc shares that he was still in his mom’s womb when his father left Manila to go back to France in 1981. His father worked in Manila for a few years as an engineer with the government waterworks system. When Pingris’ father left, his mother went back to Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, where Marc was born.

When Danica broached the idea of finding his father to him, he was not hot about it. For Mark, there was no need to meet the man who had abandoned his pregnant mother.  

“I was told that my dad had to go to Morocco for work. But he promised my mom that once he was already established there he would get us a house so we could all join him there,” Marc shares. But, because his mother did not want to leave her parents, Marc’s family ended up staying in Pangasinan.

“Pero ang barkada ng mother ko may gusto pala sa father ko,” shares Marc.  “So ’yung mga sulat na pinapadala ng father ko di niya binibigay sa mother ko. (Turns out that one of my mom’s close friends liked my father, so she wouldn’t give the letters my father sent to my mother.) And she did the same with the letters of my mother for my father.”

The arrangement was this way because his mom lived in Pangasinan and was not familiar with the ways of Manila.  “I found out all about this  when I met my father for the first time in Switzerland in 2008,” says Marc. “He also told me that he was losing his mind wondering what happened to my mom and why she never wrote to him.”

Work in Pangasinan

“I love my mother very much,” shares Marc. “Kahit hindi malaki ang pera namin dati. She did everything she could so that we could go to school and be comfortable.”

As a boy, Pingris was often teased because his French lineage made his looks different from others in Pozorrubio. His mother has two children from a previous relationship.

Growing up, he slept in a stall in the public market, using a sack for a blanket because his mother would sell fruits early in the morning after coming from Urdaneta to load her stock. Pingris started playing basketball barefoot. 

“One day, I went home with a bleeding nose because I got hit by a basketball. Mom thought I engaged in a fistfight. It was then that my love for basketball began.”

It was difficult to explain to neighbors why Pingris looked different and he was called “kano” by everyone. Hoping to play his way out of poverty, Pingris was brought to Manila to polish his skills in basketball because he was tall. He went from FEU to PSBA to the MBA before finding his way to the PBA. Today, Pingris is considered the PBA’s top defensive player and has now played on eight championship teams.

Fast forward to 2008

It was Danica who eventually located Pingris’ father through embassy inquiries. They met in France in 2008.

“When I first got a letter from my father I showed it to my mother because I did not believe it was true,” says Marc. “But, when my mom saw it she confirmed that the man who was writing was indeed my father.”

Marc shares that he decided to go to France and meet his dad after he married Danica in 2008.

“When I first met him, I was mad. I did not feel any love for him,” says Marc. “It was only when he called me ‘my son, my son’ that I finally felt that he was my father. I broke down, and then I called him ‘Daddy.’”

Marc says that he only got the real story when he had a heart-to-heart talk with his dad, and they were both drunk.

“He told me that he kept writing to my mom but she never answered.”

For Marc, life is indeed something that he has learned to master. At the same time, he is quick to admit that he is still learning much and he is very grateful to his wife Danica, whom he says has really been his inspiration.

“I never imagined that my life would end up like this,” says Marc. “There are so many things that I am grateful for.  I never thought that what I used to watch in movies would happen to me. What I do know is that I am who I am because of all that I have been through. And I will always be the same person no matter what happens.”