Remembering Smokin’ Joe

Tomorrow marks the 29th death anniversary of iconic sports commentator Joe Cantada. Smokin’ Joe raised the level of professionalism in sportscasting to an art form and continues to touch the lives of everyone involved in the industry with his enduring influence. He passed away at 50 in 1992, gone too soon.

Yesterday, Noel Zarate and co-hosts Charlie Cuna and Sid Ventura celebrated Joe’s life in a two-hour tribute on their YouTube show “An Eternity of Basketball,” a phrase he coined during his coverage of the PBA games from 1982 to 1991. Joe had a way with words and his vocabulary brought color to every telecast, like using “twilight zone” to depict a critical ending or “spheroid” instead of basketball or “walk in the park” for an easy layup. Joe came up with nicknames like “The Living Legend” for Robert Jaworski and “Skywalker” for Samboy Lim.

Noel, Charlie and Sid invited PBA commissioner Willie Marcial and sportscasters Andy Jao, Sev Sarmenta and myself as guests to talk about Joe. Com Willie started out as a statistician with Vintage, the PBA’s coveror, in 1984 and Joe took him under his wings, applauding his hard work and dedication. Com Willie said he learned from Joe that “kung mahalin mo ang iyong trabaho, mamahalin ka rin ng iyong trabaho.” Com Willie never had a day off working the PBA games. While sportscasters would report for duty depending on their schedules, he was at the venue game in, game out. Thursday was special for Com Willie because that was when he would go out with Joe at night, drinking in a sidewalk bar or eating chicharon bulaklak (which Joe sometimes packed in his coat pocket) in the car or having a ball at the Faces disco. Joe saw a special quality in Com Willie and would’ve been proud of how he has turned out. Sev did his best impersonations of Joe while Andy spoke about how Joe made it enjoyable to watch the games. I mentioned that aside from sportscasting, Joe was a singer and during the program, I showed his CD entitled “Joe Cantada In 12 Rounds” which I’ve kept as a treasure, still sealed and unopened. We shared stories about Joe like when in welcoming the muses of each PBA team in a season opening ceremony on the floor, he tried to kiss Alice Dixson on the cheek but as she leaned away, Philip Cezar got the buss instead.

Joe was a radio man, too. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he did the blow-by-blow of the featherweight boxing final between Anthony Villanueva and Stanislav Stepashkin. When the 3-2 split decision was announced, Joe couldn’t believe Villanueva lost and said on the air “we wuz robbed.” In the 1975 “Thrilla In Manila,” Joe wore a barong Tagalog as the ring announcer who introduced Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier before a global TV audience at the Araneta Coliseum. Joe was bigger than life. It’s why his memory still lives on and his legacy is an inspiration.