MANILA, Philippines – Notes of mourning welled in social media following the news of Carlos "Caloy" Lozaga's fall to cardiac arrest. He was 85.
Loyzaga, arguably the greatest Filipino to ever play the game of basketball, died Wednesday around 7 a.m. at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center.
The 6-foot-3 Loyzaga commandeered various editions of the Philippine national basketball teams into the Asian Games in in the late 1950s and in the FIBA Asia championships during the early 1960s. He also played in the Olympic Games twice.
Highly regarded was Loyzaga's all-around and equally clean play that it became a subject of many memoirs and discussion by many Philippine basketball pundits. But he will always be remembered as the "Big Difference" who made an indelible mark in behalf of the country in the 1954 FIBA World Championships (now the basketball World Cup), by making the tournament's Mythical Team and securing a Bronze medal.
Loyzaga, a former San Beda Red Lion, went on to coach the University of Santo Tomas men's basketball team in the collegiate arena. He also mentored U-Tex and Tanduay during the early years of Asia's first pay-for-play league, the Philippine Basketball Association.
Check out the tributes written by local sporting stars and personalities: