Salud to grace Foundation Week

MANILA, Philippines - Luminaries from the birth year of the Philippine Basketball Association will be the center of attraction as the league’s 35th Foundation Week celebration comes to a climactic end Sunday at the Araneta Coliseum.

Former PBA commissioner Rodrigo “Rudy” Salud, the brilliant lawyer-sportsman who served as legal counsel to founding PBA commissioner Leo Prieto in 1975 after nine ballclubs banded to form Asia’s first professional basketball league, will grace the affair along with members of the Toyota and U-Tex teams.

The man who sat at the helm of the PBA during its golden years from 1988 to 1991 is expected to be joined by commissioner Sonny Barrios and other league officials in welcoming invited pioneers led by Robert Jaworski, Ramon Fernandez, Francis Arnaiz, and Ompong from Toyota, and Danny Basilan, Egay Gomez, and Roy Deles from U-Tex, two of the four teams which played a doubleheader on opening day on April 9.

The PBA awaits confirmation of some of the players’ presence, including Fernandez, but legendary Crispa Redmanizer hotshot Fortunato Co, who played in the PBA’s maiden season, has sent word of his arrival.

Also invited is William “Bogs” Adornado, the league’s first MVP awardee.

Barrios, along with former commissioner Jun Bernardino and legal counsel Butch Cleofe, both of whom have passed away, has said often that Salud has been their “mentor” in the PBA and “big brother” on a personal level.

“Early on in my career, he impressed upon me the need for the commissioner to make decisions with competence, objectivity, and a high sense of fairness based on the PBA constitution and by-laws and playing rules,” said Barrios, named the seventh commissioner two years ago.

“You can’t go wrong, Sonny, if you approach issues that way,” Barrios recalled being told by Salud, who immortalized the line “the interest of the PBA fan is paramount.”

The one responsible for crafting not only the charter of the PBA but also that of the World Boxing Council, Salud also pointed out, Barrios said, that “I should be prepared, when necessary, to have the resolve to be firm on decisions as commissioner, especially on controversial issues, as not all decisions by the commissioner are popular.”

“He is a pillar of the PBA,” Barrios added. “The PBA is indeed fortunate to have comm. Rudy Salud as an integral part of its foundation and formative years.”