Sports Weekly Magazine
July 7-14, 1978
Pyke F. Jocson
Bernard Fabiosa’s greatest hardcourt virtue is his big heart, no doubt.
In a sport punctuated by guts and daring, defiance and asperity, ruggedness and stubbornness, the 5’9 Fabiosa stands several inches taller.
“I have to make up for my lack of height. Speed would be the easiest solution to this problem,” Crispa’s gritty number 15 said.
The Boholano ace, with curly tops and boyish gait, a former national youth campaigner (1974), has distinguished himself in the star-studded lineup of Crispa due mainly to a fine physique and sturdy legs that make him a hardcourt speedster of the highest degree.
Hustle is the name of his game, and a lot more!
He gets to be Coach Baby Dalupan’s answer when the team needs a push. He is a sparkplug because he has never played the game half-heartedly.
Earlier criticized in his stint with Crispa as nothing but speed, Bernard has learned how it is to be a speedster with a difference and faster than any of his contemporaries with the same playing brand.
“He now has ball control and has become an able assist man. Besides, he is one of our best receivers on fastbreak plays,” a sports analyst commented on teevee.
For two consecutive years, he has been in the PBA’s mythical second five, a recognition of his talent and contribution to Crispa for making the team what it is today.
To many who watch PBA games, Bernard’s dribble is close to spectacular. He seems to toy with the ball rather than work on it.
“Natuto akong mag-dribble sa maliit na bola. Dito ako tinuruan ng father ko,” Bernard told this writer once.
Middle of last year, Fabiosa was on a slum. There seemed to have no fire in his playing. And if ever he tried, he overdid it, and the results were far from attractive.
This conference, Fabiosa is back as the Fabulous, a moniker I gave him when he scintillated in the 1974 ABC Youth tournament. He scores. Assists. And live up to the pesky and peppery image that he is.
“It’s because he hustles a lot,” defends somebody close to the Redmanizers on the question why he gets the goat of top players from the opposing teams.
“I have done some misbehaviors in the past. Sawa na rin ako sa mga gulo-gulo. Good boy na tayo ngayon,” he said while the team was in Iloilo for a game against Tanduay.
Of course, Bernard was just being honest about the whole rugged setup.
“Minsan siyempre, tumatalab na rin ang pressure sa iyo, kaya napapasama ka sa gulo. Pero I always try hard not to be affected by it.”
One of the friendliest in the Crispa bench whose head has yet to swell, a common sickness among super cagestars, Bernard still has that little boy attitude he was already possessed of when I first did an article on him sometime back.
His playing might have changed and has improved, his outlook in life might already been influenced by the demands of the jungle city, but Bernard is still the same, likeable and easy to talk to. No airs, no put-ons.
That Bernard has mellowed is another factor in his playing.
“Wala na yung takbo ng takbo lang. Ngayon, ang pagtakbo niya, may direksiyon,” observed Augusto Castillo, an avid Crispa follower.
Fabiosa’s big leap as a supporting player in the Crispa lineup to star category is something which he himself finds surprising.
“I still have a lot to learn. Ayokong isipin na nandoon na ako. There is still more room for improvement. That’s why, I try to get pointers not only from my coach and teammates every game, but also I try to learn from the opposition,” he told me once.
No wonder, Bernard’s star is a-gleaming.
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