Tough to qualify
It’s not easy to be recognized by the Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame with eligibility restrictions extremely stringent so when you’re cited, the honor is considered to be at the highest level.
Tito Panlilio, an Ateneo Sports Hall of Famer himself and a member of the Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame Foundation board, said a points system is applied to determine nominees and eventually, awardees. The quantitative approach makes for an objective evaluation of who deserves to be enshrined. A minimum of 50 accumulated points gains eligibility for nomination.
An athlete who is part of a senior championship team in a major league like the NCAA or UAAP earns 25 points so two titles will add up to 50. An athlete who is part of a junior championship team in a major league picks up 15 points. An athlete who is part of an elementary championship team in a recognized league like PRADA (Private Schools Athletic Development Association) or SBP Passarelle is given less points. An athlete who wins an individual gold medal in a major senior league earns 10 points and eight in a major junior league. Points are also awarded for a silver medal finish in seniors and juniors but no points for a bronze. Additional points are given if an athlete plays on the national team with varying levels of grades for the Olympics, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games and the World Championships. No points are given to an athlete for playing in the PBA because the pro league has its own Hall of Fame.
For an athlete to be an Ateneo Sports Hall of Famer, he or she must have gained the required points 20 years before nomination. Another rule is he or she must have been a graduate. And still another rule is the athlete must have made a major impact at Ateneo so that if for instance, he or she was a gold medalist in the Asian Games but did not excel in sports for the school, he or she is ineligible for nomination. For a coach to be nominated, he or she must be at least 60 years old and five years removed from his or her achievements at Ateneo.
Panlilio said the Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame also gives special awards to those who have contributed to the development of the school’s sports program and separate achievement awards. The special and achievement awards are given on the same program where the Sports Hall of Famers are recognized. The Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1979 and awards are given every three years. So far, there have been 162 inducted into the Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame and the honor roll includes Sen. Ambrosio Padilla, Moro Lorenzo, Vic Sison, Simon LaO, Ed Ocampo, Baby Dalupan, Sen. Dick Gordon, Chito Afable, Ricky Palou, brothers Chito and Ogie Narvasa, Choy Cojuangco, brothers Chot and Jun Reyes, Frankie Rabat and his son Louie, Iggy Clavecilla, Jimmy Alabanza, Steve Watson and Fr. James Reuter.
Alabanza is the Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame Foundation chairman and Ogie Narvasa the president with Panlilio, Palou, Joey Campos, Frederick Go, Amay Zalamea and Fr. Kit Bautista as board members. Jun Dalandan of the Ateneo sports department serves as the board’s link to the school as adviser and consultant.
This year, the inductees to the Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame are Dr. Marcel Banzon for track and field, Norman Black for men’s basketball as coach, Dr. Juny Lim for high school and men’s track and field and the first female awardee Peachy Cheng Medina for track and field. To be given special awards are Paolo Trillo for men’s basketball, JM Silva for high school basketball, Joey Leviste for chess and Frederick Go for men’s and women’s badminton. Nominees for achievement awards are now being evaluated with the three-peat baseball team, Alyssa Valdes and Kiefer Ravena among the candidates. The 13th Sports Hall of Fame awards will be given out on Nov. 10 at the Faber Hall on the Loyola campus.
Banzon, 60, is an ophthalmologist who dominated the middle and long distance events in the NCAA in the mid-1970s. Black, 61, piloted the men’s basketball team to five straight UAAP crowns. Lim, 63, is an orthopaedic surgeon from Pampanga who was the king of the 110-meter high hurdles and 400-meter low hurdles in the NCAA juniors and seniors. Medina, 54, was the queen of the shot-put, discus and javelin in the UAAP in the 1980s and is the daughter of the late Uratex founder Robert Cheng who used to sponsor golf tournaments for caddies.
Trillo was the architect of the five-peat UAAP champion men’s basketball team and his role as manager was critical in building the Blue Eagles dynasty. Leviste was a popular Ateneo cheerleader in the 1960s when the Blue Babble Battalion dared to lead the charge in the stands despite an underperforming varsity. Panlilio recalled that when Leviste and Gordon were cheerleaders in 1965, Ateneo opened the NCAA men’s basketball season losing to La Salle by some 30 points with the Manotoc brothers leading the Archers.