Men behind selection

The task of choosing the 10 additions to the list of 40 Greatest Players in completing the cast of 50 to celebrate the PBA’s Golden Anniversary this year fell on the shoulders of 10 men. PBA commissioner Willie Marcial handpicked the 10 and personally spoke to each one in stressing the importance of the job which was far from easy.

The first set of 25 Greatest was announced during the PBA’s Silver Anniversary in 2000. The second set of 15 was honored to commemorate the league’s 40th anniversary in 2015. The third set of 10 was named at a press conference in the Cignal Customer Experience Center, Mandaluyong, last night.

The 10 members of the Selection Committee were former PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios, four-time MVP Ramon Fernandez, 1979 MVP Atoy Co, 1990 MVP Allan Caidic, five-time PBA champion coach Dante Silverio, former Manila Bulletin sports editor Ding Marcelo, two-time Palanca awardee and Sun Star sports columnist Al Mendoza, The Star sports editor Nelson Beltran, PBA TV analyst Andy Jao and The STAR sports columnist/PBA TV analyst Joaquin Henson. Barrios was unanimously voted chairman by the other Selection Committee members.

The Committee held three meetings at the PBA office to decide on the 10 additions. There was a lot of discussion, exchange of notes, dissecting data and sharing of personal experiences. Fernandez, who lives in Cebu, attended two meetings via zoom and flew in for the third session. From an initial list of 32 nominees, it was trimmed to 13 and finally, 10.

The two batches of 40 Greatest included 25 MVPs. It’s tradition that an MVP is seeded among the Greatest. The 25 MVPs were Johnny Abarrientos, Bogs Adornado, Ato Agustin, Ricardo Brown, Caidic, Philip Cezar, Co, Kenneth Duremdes, Fernandez, Abet Guidaben, Freddie Hubalde, Robert Jaworski, Vergel Meneses, Benjie Paras, Alvin Patrimonio, Jimmy Alapag, Mark Caguioa, Jay-Jay Helterbrand, Danny Ildefonso, Eric Menk, Willie Miller, Arwind Santos, Asi Taulava, Kelly Williams and James Yap.  Also in the 40 Greatest cast were Francis Arnaiz, Hector Calma, Jerry Codiñera, Bernie Fabiosa, Danny Florencio, Jojo Lastimosa, Lim Eng Beng, Samboy Lim, Ronnie Magsanoc, Manny Paner, Marlou Aquino, Jayson Castro, Chito Loyzaga, Marc Pingris and Kerby Raymundo.

The 10 additions were Nelson Asaytono, Jeff Cariaso, June Mar Fajardo, Bong Hawkins, Abe King, Danny Seigle, Scottie Thompson, Arnie Tuadles, Yoyoy Villamin and Manny Victorino. The 50 Greatest now include 27 MVPs, counting Fajardo and Thompson. The PBA directory lists 1,208 players who’ve seen action in at least one game in the league.

“We all thank the PBA, particularly commissioner Willie Marcial, for the honor and privilege of being part of the Selection Committee,” said Barrios. “Our Committee was made up of personalities from different disciplines – playing MVP level in the PBA, champion coaching an iconic PBA team, sports editors of Big Three broadsheets, veteran TV broadcasting and managing league PBA – all knowledgeable in the sport of basketball and cognizant of the affairs/games of the PBA since its founding in 1975. Individually and collectively, the Committee members spent many hours of hard work in coming up with their selection.”