Pamilar passes away

Ernesto “Nes” Pamilar, a multi-titled volleyball coach who won at almost every tournament he participated in, passed away Saturday due to heart failure. He was 52.

Pamilar underwent a heart bypass in November two years ago but returned to where his heart is – coaching.

He coached three teams in his return – La Salle’s men’s team, San Beda’s men’s squad and the Tacloban Fighting Warays in the Premier Volleyball League.

He sat on the bench in San Beda’s five-set defeat to San Sebastian last Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

It was a game where his team lost a 26-28 fifth set and went home heartbroken literally. It turned out his last coaching duty. “I left home early and wasn’t in the game but I called him,” said Roger Gorayeb, a close friend by Pamilar who happen to mentor San Sebastian in that outing. “I didn’t realize it will be our last conversation. He’s a true friend.”

One of Pamilar’s brightest moments came 11 years ago when he steered the Far Easter U Lady Tams, then led by Rachel Daquis, to the Season 70 UAAP crown.

Pamilar also steered the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns to a pair of titles in the defunct Shakey’s V-League, now the PVL.

The body lies in state at St. Peter’s in C3 Caloocan.