Brownlee a good catch
THE practice of making American cagers naturalized Filipinos is not something new.
During martial law (1972-1986), we had Dennis Still, Chip Engelland and Jeff Moore as naturalized Filipinos to reinforce our Philippine basketball team.
However, the three were barred from further playing in the 1985 ABC basketball tournament in Hong Kong following an oversight in documents certifying their eligibility to play.
A Philippine delegation bungled its job of securing the three’s playing documents from the HQ’s Fiba (World Basketball Federation) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Our games in Hong Kong where Still, Engelland and Moore had played were all forfeited, sending us tumbling down the standings.
A fuming Danding Cojuangco, then the nation’s basketball godfather, almost raised hell in Hong Kong, castigating our officials for their ineptness.
I was seated next to Danding during breakfast at our HK hotel where he almost sent home one Filipino official responsible for the snafu.
Still & Co. were grounded for a while before eventually getting their eligibility papers.
I was with them when they reinforced the SMC-Northern Cement Team that participated in the then World Basketball Club Championship in Girona, Spain. Among those in the squad were Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim, Yves Dignadice, Franz Pumaren, Hector Calma and the late Alfie Almario.
In their next tournament, Still, Engelland and Moore helped power the Philippines to a grand victory in the Taiwan Jones Cup.
Then came the People Power Edsa Revolt in 1986, causing Danding to flee to the US. His self-exile sent Still, Engelland and Moore packing their bags for America.
Our next naturalized Filipinos were Marcus Douthit and Andray Blatche. Both had done their job well in the Fiba Asia Cup and Asiad, respectively, a while back. Thanks, guys.
In the House anew is a bill making Justin Brownlee, the prolific import who recently powered Barangay Ginebra to the PBA Commissioner’s Cup crown, a Filipino.
Nice one. As SMC top honcho Ramon S. Ang, Brownlee’s patron, said: “I think we will all be very happy if he’s going to be a Filipino.”
Properly seconded, Sir.