Fernandez hopes Gilas relives PHL’s Asian basketball domination

CEBU, Philippines – Forty years feel like forever for Ramon “El Presidente” Fernandez.

The Elegant Shot was still on its infancy stage when a reed-thin 6-foot-4 Fernandez was plucked out of the University of San Carlos in Cebu to join the elite team that is now known as the 1973 ABC Champion team.

For Fernandez, that title run, which led them to the 1974 World Basketball Championship in Puerto Rico, was the apex of his storied basketball career.

"Hindi ko makakalimutan yung nanalo kami ng championship dito sa atin, in front of our countrymen. Grabe yung suporta nila. Tuwing naalala ko yun, it gives me goose bumps (I will not forget the time that we won the championship here in our country, in front of our countrymen. The support was tremendous. Every time I remember it, it gives me goose bumps)," Fernandez told philstar.com on Friday in this city where he is now currently based.

"Yun naman talaga ang ambisyon ng mga gustong maglaro ng basketball noong araw – yung manalo ng championship for the country (That’s the ambition of everyone who wants to play basketball back then)," he added.

And now that the Asian cagefest returns to the country, Fernandez is hoping that the Philippines’ 40-year drought will finally end this year.

"We've always been a basketball-crazy country kaya yung suporta ng ating mga kababayan will always be there. They give you the adrenalin rush, the extra push," said Fernandez, who is hoping that the current national team – Gilas Pilipinas – will exploit to the hilt come August in the 27th FIBA Asia championship.

The daunting task to win the championship at home is far greater than what Fernandez and company experienced back then, considering the improvement of the playing field in the Asian basketball landscape. But the 59-year-old basketball legend, who hails from Maasin, Leyte, was quick to say that it should be more of an advantage rather than a distraction.

"Yung pressure maski naman sa labas [ng bansa] nandiyan yan eh," the basketball legend said. "Yung  paglalaro dito in front of your countrymen, diyan mo makikita kung gaano ka-mature, gaano kagaling ang player mag-adjust sa pressure." (The pressure is always there. Playing in front of your countrymen will reveal how matured and good the players are.)

Gilas Pilipinas is in the same situation Fernandez and company were in forty years ago. The 1973 RP team was formed out of the best basketball players in the country and was whipped into a championship team by the late Tito Eduque to make up for the bronze and silver finishes of the past national team prior to that.

Fernandez remembered Eduque as a disciplinarian.

"I must say that coach Tito (Eduque) was strict," Fernandez said. "But that helped us in our title run."

It's exactly the same type of coach that Gilas has in Chot Reyes.

Eduque housed the 1973 team in a player quarters for almost a year, away from their families and nightlife, to focus just on reclaiming the crown. It was that camaraderie and bonding off the court which became their biggest weapon in the tournament proper.

Reyes is doing the same, albeit, in shorter training camps abroad.

Fernandez recalled that they underwent similar twice-a-day training which Gilas is currently doing.

"Naalala ko pa yung practice namin nun – twice a day, physical conditioning in the early morning (6-9 am) then basketball skills training in the afternoon," Fernandez said.

Fernandez and the rest of that fabled 1973 national team went on to sweep the tournament by a whopping average winning margin of 33.7, culminating in a 90-78 win against Shin Dong Pa-led South Korea in the final game.

The team was kept intact for a year, barring them from playing for their mother clubs in the old MICAA, the forerunner of PBA, and trained extensively for the 1974 World Basketball Championships in Puerto Rico.

Despite their long preparation, they fell short finishing only 13th in the World Championships. But nevertheless, Fernandez considered that feat already a victory for the country that is vertically challenged.

"Napakasaya kahit alam naman namin na it's quite impossible for us to get into the semifinals, "Fernandez said. "Yung pag-participate na lang, I consider that already a victory. Kami nila Big Boy (Reynoso) at Naning Mariano nun ang sentro sa team. Ako na 6-4 lang binabantayan ko mga 6-10, 6-11 na players."

Fernandez recalled that Eduque and the coaching staff would still wake them up early morning to jog on the shoreline to keep them physically fit until their last game.

"Every day early in the morning about 6:30 am we'll run along the beach since Puerto Rico is a resort city. Our hotel is just near the sea. We were kept to wear our jogging pants and sweaters kahit ang init. That's how strict and serious coach Tito was," Fernandez said.

"Pero ang hindi namin makakalimutan lahat ay noong last day of the tournament, before our last game when we're called up to do our usual morning jog, pag-blow ng whistle ni Juan (Cutillas), naghubad kaming lahat at naligo sa beach at nagtawanan kaming lahat. Walang nagawa ang coaching staff kundi tumawa na lang."

But more than the fun, Fernandez said that the most important thing is being able to participate in such a tournament.

"The most valuable thing out of that experience were the learnings and improvement in our competitiveness," he pointed out

It's that experience which made Fernandez a four-time PBA MVP and a 19-time PBA champion, including winning a grand slam with San Miguel Beer in 1989.

Forty years have gone by, and that historic run is now just a part of the distant past.

Fernandez is hoping that this Gilas Pilipinas team will relive those beautiful moments before his eyes.