Sports World Magazine
August 28 – September 3, 1976
Beth Celis
Cyrus Mann has done it again! For the third time in a span of five weeks, the whimsical, unpredictable hardcourt prima donna upped and flew the coop.
His excuse?
Problems back home. Personal problems which he never seems to run out of.
Ironically, the symptoms of wanderlust appeared as soon as he got here early in July. Dazed by the long flight from the States, Mann was sedate and relaxed at least for a few hours. Then, restlessness struck. Three days after he set foot on Philippine soil, he was itching to fly back home. He had to get the luggage containing all the important vitamins prepared specially for him, he claimed, which he left accidentally at the Detroit airport.
That would’ve passed as a sound and valid excuse. But in the course of an interview with Daryl Davis (who happened to be staying in the same hotel with him), we discovered that the luggage he’d been waiting for was already in his possession hours before he boarded the plane that would take him to Detroit.
Anyway, Mann promised to be back that same week. He left Wednesday afternoon and vowed to make it by Friday, possibly to join the team on their tour of Hongkong.
Friday came and went but there was no sign of Cyrus. The Denims left for Hongkong and returned – still, no Cyrus.
Danny Floro started complaining of sleepless nights and nightmares. What if Cyrus doesn’t come back?
Floro, however, realized that all was not yet lost. There was still time to scout around for a replacement. If only Cyrus would level with him and admit outright that he wasn’t coming back at all.
But Cyrus kept promising he’d be back tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. And finally, after about what seemed like a hundred tomorrows, he did come back with a sad story to tell. His daughter of one year, he bewailed (droopy eyelids and all), was suffering from a brain tumor and had to undergo immediate surgery. This goes without saying that the unfortunate soul needed some dough. Whether he got some or not, we do not know. But several hours after the woeful narration, Cyrus was on the next flight to Honolulu, with the oath that he’d be here in a day or two.
As August 8 drew to a near, Cyrus was besieged with frantic phone calls coming from the Far East. Crispa demanded to know when and if he was coming back at all.
“Tomorrow,” was Mann’s assuring reply.
At this stage, Danny Floro had already resigned himself to the thought that Cyrus was never coming back. He started negotiating for another import and talent scouts in the States recommended a certain Lawrence Johnson. The 6’10 center of the Prairie View Athletic Club who was reputedly a very strong slotman.
Johnson was already at the airport on route to Manila when he was tagged on the sleeve and told that his services were no longer needed. He found out that Cyrus Mann, along with his wife and his kid (who seemed like she was in the pink of health), had made it after all.
Needless to say, Cyrus Mann’s arrival paralleled something like the advent of a long-awaited messiah. To many a Crispa fan, the coming of the prince of darkness made the sun shine, the birds chirp, the flowers bloom and the angels sing. Hallelujah to the savior!
If Cyrus was the great (Indianero) is indeed worthy of all these adulation and anguish (on Floro), he still has to prove it.
A few days ago, he called long distance asking again for plane tickets for himself and his wife to get back to Manila.
At this point, Danny Floro has no choice but to grant his request. But it’s about time he kept a tight rein on his mercurial import. It’s the only way to get a padnag on his toes.
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