MANILA, Philippines — Basketball legend Ramon Fernandez’s 1974 Philippine team jersey is now part of the FIBA Museum. The news was confirmed by The STAR during the Toyota Reunion held last Friday in Makati. The reception was organized by Gil Cortez, the PBA’s first Rookie of the Year, to celebrate Fernandez’s 70th birthday and serve as a homecoming for their Toyota teammate Francis Arnaiz.
When he wore that uniform, the Philippine Basketball Association’s first four-time Most Valuable Player was a member of the national team that played in the 1974 FIBA World Championship in Puerto Rico. The Nationals beat Central African Republic, 87-86 to end their campaign with a win. Under coach Tito Eduque, the team, led by Robert Jaworski, Bogs Adornado, Abet Guidaben, Manny Paner and Fernandez, came back from a 41-49 halftime deficit to carve out the victory. Four decades passed before another Philippine team would register a win at that level. In 1975, Fernandez and all of his teammates joined the newly-formed PBA, leaving the national team to be filled with college students until open basketball was declared in 1990.
After Fernandez’s teammate Samboy Lim suffered a debilitating stroke in November of 2014, El Presidente had a replica of each of his jerseys made and sold online to raise funds for Lim’s treatment. A private collector bought the 1974 jersey, which is all white in satin with a small Philippine flag just under the collar. The collector donated the jersey to the FIBA Museum during the recently-concluded FIBA Basketball World Cup. It was received by Miguel Font, Senior Associate and Historical Curator for FIBA Foundation.
In fact, the jersey was among those exhibited in a hotel in Makati during the World Cup auction of memorabilia signed by FIBA Hall of Famers like Carmelo Anthony. Now, it is part of a collection of over 40,000 artifacts gathered over decades of research. The historic uniform joins recent additions such as memorabilia from the family of FIBA Hall of Famer Caloy Loyzaga, a few items from the PBA, as well as jerseys of Jack Danielle Animam and Juan Gomez de Liaño, the first two homegrown Filipinos to play professional basketball in Europe. The FIBA Museum is located in Mies, Switzerland and has a revolving set of historical basketball artifacts on display. Fernandez’s act of selflessness for the fallen Skywalker has now resulted in his being immortalized for all time.