Rapping with Mr. Prieto

This past week, I made three visits to the Makati Rehab Center on Herrera Street, Legazpi Village, for therapy sessions prescribed by Dr. Tyrone Reyes. Nothing serious, I was assured. An X-ray proved it. Only a muscle strain in the left side of my lower back.

I looked forward to my visits because you couldn’t find friendlier faces — Dr. Reyes’ staff is exceptional — and I often bumped into founding Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner Leo Prieto who suffered a stroke in 1995 and regularly undergoes therapy at the Rehab Center.

Mr. Prieto is now 82 and looks as stately as ever. His dignified good looks are undiminished. He reports thrice a week for rehab in Makati and once a week for occupational therapy at Cardinal Santos Hospital, also under Dr. Reyes’ care.

Dr. Reyes, who writes a popular medical column for The Star, has done wonders for Mr. Prieto. When it comes to injury diagnosis, rehab and therapy, there’s no more proficient doctor. Dr. Reyes has literally and figuratively brought life back to thousands of recovering patients, some of whom are professional athletes.

The Makati Rehab Center opened in 1989 and has three full-time physical therapists — Grace Araneta, Rachel Lagman, and Macky Salcedo — backed up by six interns. The hard-working and ever-efficient Malou Jovena takes care of appointments, schedules, files, and administration. Dr. Reyes’ clinic days are Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10am to 12 noon. He also holds clinic hours at Cardinal Santos, the Asian Hospital in Alabang, and the Sprint Fitness Center at Tektite Towers.

Mr. Prieto and I were almost bedmates twice last week. While I did traction and Mr. Prieto had his ultrasound, we opened the curtain separating our cubicles so we could chat. What a luxury. We both laid in bed, talked about our passion–basketball, what else–and underwent therapy, all at the same time.

I asked Mr. Prieto about his impression of coaches protesting calls in the PBA. He said coaches should realize it’s useless to argue with referees. When he was a coach, he never worked the referees. "Nothing will come out of it," said Mr. Prieto, who coached the Philippine team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and steered the fabled YCO club to seven straight titles. "If you constantly complain, it could affect your players — they could lose focus. I never made it a point to argue with referees — I think it’s useless."

On defense, Mr. Prieto said players today must learn to move laterally. Defense is played with the feet, not with the hands. That’s why, he continued, basketball players with a football background make good defenders, like Ed Ocampo and Eddie Pacheco. "If you know how to use your feet, you don’t get entangled when you follow your man on a crossover," he explained. "I remember Ed Ocampo guarding Shin Dong Pa of Korea. He did a good job because he knew how to move his feet on defense."

Mr. Prieto spoke about the greatest player he ever coached, Caloy Loyzaga. "He was a great player, very good in the fundamentals," said Mr. Prieto. "Caloy wasn’t a shooter. Nano Tolentino was a much better shooter — he was a jump shooter and always hit important foul shots. But Caloy was a tremendous rebounder. And he scored close to the basket. Another great player was Tony Genato who was quick and got a lot of rebounds despite his height. Tony was known for his running shot."

Loyzaga, Tolentino, and Genato were Mr. Prieto’s stalwarts during the YCO glory years in the 1960s.

Mr. Prieto said reintroducing the Asian Invitationals in the PBA this season is a welcome development. During his administration, Mr. Prieto encouraged the participation of guest foreign teams. In 1977, clubs from Brazil and Australia saw action in the PBA. In 1980, teams from the US and France came to play. In 1982, a South Korean squad joined the invitationals. In all, the PBA staged eight invitational conferences with Mr. Prieto as commissioner.

"I got the idea of an invitational tournament from Taipei where I saw how successful it was with YCO playing in a one-week competition with other teams from Asia," noted Mr. Prieto.

On the National Basketball Association (NBA), Mr. Prieto said he follows the games on TV. He remembered attending the NBA All-Star Game in Detroit in 1979 with long-time associate Rudy Salud, another former PBA commissioner. That year, the West beat the East, 134-129, as David Thompson scored 25 points. Julius Erving led the losers with 29. Among the stars who played were George Gervin, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Artis Gilmore, Rudy Tomjanovich, Pete Maravich, Elvin Hayes, Moses Malone, Bob Lanier, Calvin Murphy, and Doug Collins.

As for Red Bull guard Jimwell Torion, Mr. Prieto said he supports the decision to suspend him indefinitely for drug use. In the NBA, a player found positive for hard drugs like cocaine, crack, shabu, heroin, and steroids is banned and only eligible for reinstatement after two years. Salaries, however, are much larger in the NBA than in the PBA so banned NBA players may be able to survive a two-year wait. In Torion’s case, Mr. Prieto said when the time comes to reevaluate his situation, "personal circumstances" should be considered because a prolonged suspension may do him more harm than good.

Yesterday, I asked former Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Col. Julian Malonso to describe Mr. Prieto. Col. Malonso replied, "a real gentleman, soft-spoken, a good motivator."

Col. Malonso added:

"I always remember Leo when I comb my hair because I see that little scar in my forehead in the mirror. It was in 1946 when Leo, playing for Yellow Taxi, accidentally elbowed me in the forehead during a rebound play in an exhibition game. I was playing for UST. I was rushed to the hospital, bleeding, and the cut took four stitches to sew up. UST lost that game and our coach, Herr Silva, was so mad because during those days, we hardly lost and we would somehow manage to win most of our games, by hook or by crook. Leo’s best friend Pepe Esteva, Chito Monserrat, Simon LaO, and Eustaquio Barros were some of his Yellow Taxi teammates."

Col. Malonso said Mr. Prieto was a crack football and basketball player. Mr. Prieto played guard for the La Salle varsity that won the National Open title in 1939 and the NCAA crown in 1939-40.

Mr. Prieto’s teammates on the National Open champion team included skipper Totit Valles, former Ambassador to the Vatican and Tokyo Charlie Valdes, and former Chief Justice Ramon Avancena’s son Martin. La Salle beat FEU, 45-40, for the title.

In the NCAA title squad, Mr. Prieto’s teammates included former Wack Wack president Manolo Carmona, Bob Keesey, and actor Edu Manzano’s father Ady. La Salle’s champion teams were coached by Chito Calvo.

Now that I’m done with my therapy, I’ll surely miss the luxury of chatting with Mr. Prieto while lying in bed.