Why Dante Quit - "To Preserve Honor, Purity of Basketball" (Sports Weekly, 1979)

Sports Weekly Magazine

December 14-21, 1979

Dante Silverio

 

 

            For years, doubts had been cast on the integrity of our basketball games, particularly in the major leagues. My involvement in the sport over the last few seasons provided me with an intimate opportunity to confirm these doubts, which, in some ways, had led me to take certain actions against some of my players.

 

            For one, I did not renew the contract of Danilo Florencio because of suspicions that he purposely did not give his best in some games. Rather than entertain these doubts, I decided to cut off my ties with him.

 

            Now comes an identical situation. Only this time, not just one, but at least three players, are the ones at the other end.

 

            Ever since I refused to use Ramon Fernandez, Abe King and Ernesto Estrada at the start of the Third Conference, I had been constantly under pressure from all quarters. Everybody interested in basketball – the fans, my co-coaches, officials, the broadcast and print media, and even some of our management people – had wanted to know the reasons behind my move.

 

            I must say once again that my action against the three was based on my belief that they did not play their best on several occasions. So rather than worry about their possible action on the court, I deemed it better to keep them out of the team.

 

 

 

            I felt that by so doing, I helped preserve the purity and honor of the sport, which, I think, are more important than just winning.

 

            Without the three players, our team has reached the final, and in the process, has come close to proving my point. However, circumstances beyond my control have denied me the opportunity to continue my personal crusade. Our management has decided to give Fernandez, King and Estrada the chance to play again because it believes our club should not be left alone to carry the fight which other teams in the PBA should be waging collectively.

 

            Management may have other reasons for taking this action.

 

            I felt, however, that involvement in sport carries a duty to the public such as keeping it above reproach. Because of the difference in my belief and that of management, I feel it would be to the best interests of all parties concerned for me to relinquish the position of coach and manager of the Toyota basketball team effective immediately.

PBA '78 First Conference First Five (Sports Weekly, 1978)

Sports Weekly Magazine 

July 28 – August 04, 1978

Pyke F. Jocson

 

No PBA Conference, especially the All Filipino, would be complete to the eyes of the thousand followers of the premier basketball league in the country without the usual MVPs and other notable awards.

 

Hence, the mythical selection is played up not only by top weekly magazines but also by those who have religiously watched majority of the games at the Big Dome.

 

For this year’s All Filipino, SPORTS WEEKLY has come out with its own version of the mythical five, a recognition of the top five players for their distinguished performance in the conference.

 

Robert Jaworski, Philip Cezar, Ramon Fernandez, Danilo Florencio, Fortunato Co.

 

                                         

 

Robert Jaworski, the Toyota superstar, is our hands down choice as the conference’s number one, a most valuable player of the first magnitude. With the recognition, the Big J easily emerges as our first choice for one of the two slots in the backcourt department over other noted guards Atoy Co, Francis Arnaiz, Lim Eng Beng and Freddie Webb.

 

Joining Big J is the Fortune Cookie, for, despite a not too revealing act in the conference, manages to cling on to second spot with a presence that has always been considered a threat, a point he enjoys over Arnaiz, who was off in the early part of the contest, Beng, who was overly-trying, and Webb, who had some inconsistent nights.

 

Then the powerhouse, the pointmakers. The forwards who sizzled with their mastery of the offense.

 

Our original list came up with five: Danilo Florencio, Jaime Manansala, Alfredo Hubalde, Adriano Papa and Philip Cezar.

 

The final choice for the wings: Florencio and Cezar.

 

And here’s why.

 

Florencio proved to be Toyota’s scoring ace, a role some doubted he could play when Dante Silverio acquired him to bolster the Tamaraws’ offense. With such a star-studded lineup at Toyota’s, Florencio managed to reaffirm his supremacy as PBA’s top winger.

 

Cezar, whose hands may not be as comparatively hot as those of Papa’s or Hubalde’s or Manansala’s, made our selection nonetheless, because he best represented the other kind of a forward, a shooting threat and a tiger in defense. The latter quality made Cezar the forward with a difference, a star all his own.

 

Without this very strong point to back him up, our choice would be the gangling greenhorn, a top Esquire in so short a time, Jimmy Manansala, who could easily make it to our next five had there been any.

 

Hubalde, last All Filipino MVP, was off and on, while the veteran Jun Papa was strongly supported by Billy Robinson.

 

In the pivot, Ramon Fernandez, the Toyota beanpole, was another hands-down choice. Other names mentioned during SWM’s deliberation were Alberto Guidaben, Jaime Taguines and Rudolf Kutch.

 

“Without Fernandez, we doubt very much if Toyota would have gone this far. Of course, there were the other stars in his team. But his holding his own against Billy Robinson in the championship round was something which just cannot be ignored.

 

Robinson was not included in the deliberation.

 

Robert Jaworski, Philip Cezar, Ramon Feranandez, Danilo Florencio, Fortunato Co.

 

Indeed,a. dream first five.

 

They represent the conference’s best.

 

****

 

JPM Note 1: The individual awards were given out after the first conference (the All Flipino) of the season) from 1975 to 1979. It was only in 1980 when the PBA decided to hand out season-ending awards.

 

JPM Note 2:  The selection was done by SWM writers. The actual Mythical Five for 1978 were Robert Jaworski, Lim Eng Beng, Freddie Hubalde, Philip Cezar and Ramon Fernandez.

 

 

Princeton Survey: Webb, Jaworski Top Sports Poll (Sports World, 1973)

Sports World Magazine

March 17-23, 1973

 

There’s just no sidestepping the issue – the Philippines may be short on tall men, but it is just as long on basketball as it was since the country placed fifth behind the United States, Canada, Mexico and Poland in the Berlin Olympics of 1936.

 

Supreme in Asia until the sixties when Japan and South Korea started gracing the winner’s circle, and never again in the Big 8 of the Olympics except in Melbourne in 1956 when the Philippines wound up seventh, this nation’s sports-minded from 14 to 30 years of age nevertheless still opt for basketball as the national game.

 

This was gleaned in a recent poll conducted for the Sports Development Foundation of the Philippines by the National Sports Development Poll (Luzon Phase) – the Philippine Princeton Poll – which showed that 778 percent of those in the 14-30 age group in Luzon have basketball as their favorite spectator sport. Likewise, the sport leads as a favorite among sports participated in, with a goodly 47 percent.

 

It comes as no surprise therefore to see the names of 10 basketball players in the top 12, the only other sport represented therein being that of professional boxing.

 

Here is how the votes went for the cage luminaries:

 

FREDDIE WEBB. Yco guard. Topped in Manila (48%), Cabanatuan (40%), Rizal (34%). Average: 28.7%.

 

ROBERT JAWORSKI. Meralco forward/guard. Topped Ilocos Norte, together with Manual Paner of San Miguel Corporation (21%) was second in Manila (28%), Rizal (25%, together with Adriano Papa, Jr., erstwhile Crispa forward), Albay (29%). Average: 25.8%.

 

ADRIANO PAPA, JR. erstwhile Crispa forward. Shared second billing with Jaworski in Rizal. Average: 18.8%.

 

DANILO FLORENCIO, erstwhile Crispa forward. Surprisingly weak in Manila (4%), he scored highest in Rizal (20%), Cabanatuan and Lipa (16% each). Average: 11.8%.

 

WILLIAM ADORNADO.  Crispa forward. As expected, topped Albay (he is a Bicolano) with 31%, had his second-best percentage in Rizal (16%). Average: 9.2%.

 

MANUEL PANER. San Miguel Corporation center. Shared top billing in Ilocos Norte with Jaworski at 21%. Average: 7.8%.

 

ALBERTO REYNOSO. Meralco center. Average 6%.

 

JAIME MARIANO. Concepcion Industries center. Fourth favorite in Manila with 20%. Average: 5.8%.

 

LAWRENCE MUMAR. Universal Textiles guard. Scored his highest in Albay with 10%. Average: 4%.

 

NARCISO BERNARDO. Mariwasa forward. Average: 3.2%.

 

 

 

(The only non-active basketball player in the list was Carlos “The Great Difference” Loyzaga who retired in the early sixties and was coach of the Olympic basketball team to Mexico in 1968; he garnered the same percentage as did Bernardo.)

 

(Gabriel “Flash” Elorde placed fourth in the poll with an average of 14.3% topping Lipa with 34% and placing third – behind Webb and Jaworski – in Cabanatuan with 24%).

 

(The other non-basketball sports figure was Ben Villaflor, then junior lightweight champion of the world – he lost the crown to Kuniaki Shibata of Japan on March 13 – who averaged 5.2 percent, scoring his best in Cabanatuan at 16% and Lipa at 12%.)

 

Spodephil conducted the poll to determine “starting points” for a constructive youth and sports development program “that would help foster the ideals and goals of the New Society – such as national discipline, civic-mindedness, fair play and even community development.”