PSC names Hall of Famers

Big J, Olympic medalists head cast

MANILA, Philippines — PSC chairman Butch Ramirez yesterday described the selection process of the fourth Sports Hall of Fame class as “a journey of discovery” and said it was “an enriching experience” to study the achievements of 44 nominees as he announced the coming enshrinement of 10 sports heroes.  No schedule has been set for the induction but Ramirez said the plan is to stage a hybrid ceremony of virtual and face-to-face awarding where each honoree will be given a cash gift of P200,000.

There were over 10 meetings held by the Review and Screening Committees to go over the qualifications of the nominees before the voting was conducted via zoom yesterday morning. Named to the latest batch of Hall of Famers were Paulino Alcantara (football), Eric Buhain (swimming), Dionisio Calvo (coach, basketball), Arianne Cerdeña (bowling), Robert Jaworski (basketball), Gertrudes Lozada (swimming), Elma Muros (athletics), Rogelio Onofre (athletics), Leopoldo Serrantes (boxing) and Roel Velasco (boxing). Calvo and Alcantara were chosen posthumously. Eight of the 10 were elected unanimously by the seven voters of the Screening Committee, namely, Ramirez, POC president Rep. Bambol Tolentino, GAB chairman Baham Mitra, Philippine Olympians Association president Akiko Thomson, UAAP executive director Atty. Rebo Saguisag, POC secretary-general Atty. Edwin Gastanes and National Sports Association representative Atty. Billy Sumagui.

Calvo, who passed away in 1977 at the age of 74, is the only Filipino enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame and was the coach of the Philippine team that took fifth place in the inaugural Olympic basketball tournament in Berlin in 1936. The finish remains the highest ever by an Asian team in the Olympics. Calvo also coached the national basketball squad in the 1948 Olympics where the Philippines became the first country to score at least 100 points in the competition by thrashing Iraq, 102-30. He piloted the Philippines to the gold medal in the 1951 Asian Games and was the first FIBA Asia Cup (then known as the Asian Basketball Confederation) secretary-general. Calvo is the first coach to be honored in the PSC Hall of Fame.

Alcantara died in 1964 at 67. He was born in Iloilo and led the Philippines to the silver medal in the 1917 Tokyo Far Eastern Games. The star striker was nicknamed “El Rompe Redes” (the net breaker) after he broke the net in booting in a bullet-like goal playing against France in 1922. Alcantara scored 369 goals in 357 games with the Spanish club Barcelona and the record stood for 87 years before Argentina’s Lionel Messi surpassed it in 2014.

Lozada, who turns 78 on March 17, said the induction is an honor and an early birthday present. At 13, she was the youngest Olympian in the 1956 Melbourne Games and collected a gold, six silvers and two bronzes in three Asian Games. Buhain, 50, is a two-time Olympian and won 13 gold medals in five SEA Games. Cerdeña took the gold medal in bowling, a demonstration sport, in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and won the gold in the women’s team of five in the 1986 Asian Games. Jaworski, 75, played in the 1968 Mexico Olympics and on two Philippine teams that won the FIBA Asia Cup crown in 1967 and 1973. Known as the Living Legend, the Big J is in the history books as the oldest player to see action in a pro league at 50 in 1997. Muros, 54, is a two-time Olympian and captured 15 gold medals, including eight in long jump, in the SEA Games from 1983 to 2001.

Onofre, 82, is a three-time Olympian and took the gold in the 4x100 relay in the 1962 Asian Games. He held the national record in the men’s 100 meters from 1962 to 2007.  Serrantes, 58, bagged the lightflyweight bronze medal in the 1988 Olympics and took the gold in the 1985 SEA Games while Velasco, 48, claimed the bronze, also in the lightflyweight class, in the 1992 Olympics and the silver in the 1997 World Championships.

Ramirez said he never imagined trying to traffic and steer the Hall of Fame process coming from a small town in Davao del Sur and once studying in a seminary. “This was enriching for me, listening, interacting and learning,” he said. Ramirez cited the crucial participation of the Review Committee made up of journalists Ed Andaya, Jun Lomibao, Tito Talao, Dodo Catacutan, Tessa Jazmines, Rey Bancod, Joe Antonio and Joaquin Henson.