Chip and BFF Bobby Lim

If San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Chip Engelland calls Bobby Lim his BFF (best Filipino friend), it’s for a good reason. They go back a long way. When Engelland lived in Manila for three years up to 1985, Lim used to send the former Duke University standout with Adidas shoes from Rubberworld where he worked. Lim welcomed Engelland to his home in Talayan Village and they played endless hours of tennis on the subdivision courts. Engelland loved eating at Kamayan and that’s where Lim and his family took him when he was free to go out.

“Chip’s a down-to-earth guy,” said Lim, now 65 and working as a consultant in Vietnam where he was country manager for Puma until his retirement last year. “I was so honored that for someone with his stature, he accepted me as a friend. I mean, he’s a star and who am I? I met Chip at our Rubberworld office. I remember we produced special ID Adidas superstar, low-cut shoes for every player on the Northern Cement team. Imagine, that was in the mid-1980s and we already had ID shoes. Every player had his name printed on the side of the shoes.”

Lim earned a mechanical engineering degree at Mapua and was a huge supporter of the Cardinals basketball team that featured Freddie Hubalde, Atoy Co, Art Trajano and Eric Leano during his school days. After graduation, he worked for Rubberworld from 1974 to 1990. He moved to Puma to work in product development and was assigned to Vietnam as country manager in 2000. 

“I lived in Vietnam all those years while my wife Jackie stayed in Manila,” said Lim. “I would come home at least once a month. I retired last year but I’m still doing work in Vietnam as a consultant.” Lim’s son Raymond, 40, now heads the IT division of Puma in Manila while daughter Joan, 33, is employed in Silicon Valley. 

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“When Chip left in 1985 for a vacation, his intention was to come back to Manila but with the EDSA Revolution, the basketball association didn’t want him back,” said Lim. “We stayed in touch, exchanging Christmas cards every year. Then, in 2007, he came to Manila for a visit on the invitation of Boss Danding (Cojuangco). Chip told me he’s been invited to visit Manila by so many people but he’ll only come for Boss Danding whom he owes everything to. It was Boss Danding who gave him his break in international basketball.”

Early this month, Lim was in San Jose, California, to visit his daughter and contacted Engelland. “Chip invited me to watch a Spurs playoff game,” he said. “Chip asked me what game I wanted to watch in the Portland series, Game 2 or Game 5. I would be his guest in San Antonio. At that time, the Spurs were 1-0 in the series and I thought maybe, it won’t go to a Game 5 so I flew to San Antonio for Game 2. Chip’s assistant Eric Brest picked me up at the airport.”

Brest took Lim straight to the AT&T Center where he had a Row 11 seat and access to the VIP lounge for owners, directors and special guests. Spurs senior vice president for marketing Frank Miceli brought Lim around the facility for a tour. 

“Chip is highly respected in the Spurs organization,” said Lim. “He’s known to be hard-working, competent and dedicated. Before the game, he was on the floor in shorts warming up the Spurs shooters. Chip still plays tennis so he’s in great shape while I’ve shifted to golf. When the game started, Chip was in a suit. It was an opportunity of a lifetime for me to watch a Spurs game and Chip made it possible.”

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Lim said he was impressed with the way the Spurs took care of business in winning Game 2, 114-97. “Most teams rely on two or three players to win but the Spurs are so deep in every position,” he said. “I really like Manu (Ginobili), he plays with no fear.”  That night, the Spurs treated Lim and over 18,500 fans at the AT&T Center to a special clinic on how to play as a team. Seven Spurs scored in double figures as San Antonio posted a lofty assist-to-turnover ratio of 27:8 and hit 53.3 percent from the field and 60 percent from beyond the arc. Before the contest, Spurs general manager R. C. Buford was given the NBA’s Executive of the Year award in an on-court ceremony. Owner Peter Holt and coach Gregg Popovich were first to congratulate Buford for a job well done.

“Right after the game, Chip looked over to where I sat and gave me a thumbs up,” said Lim. “We left the stadium together in his car and went to his home. I met his wife Jessica and their two boys Press and Path. I stayed the night at Chip’s place. The next morning, he took me to the airport for my 9 a.m. flight back to San Jose. It was a short visit but very memorable.” By the way, Engelland turned 53 the day after Game 2.

“I’m so proud of Chip,” Lim said. “He’s come a long way.” Engelland was a shooting coach for players like Steve Kerr, Grant Hill and Shane Battier and was involved with the Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets before joining the Spurs in 2005. He shuns publicity, lives a low-profile lifestyle, is a wonderful family man and does his work without fanfare. Among Filipino fans, Engelland will always be remembered as the “Machine Gun” who left his heart in the Philippines.