EVEN before suiting up in the MPBL, Derek Ramsay already had a taste of top-flight basketball. That came in 2004 when Ramsay was part of the Toyota Otis-Letran Knights side in the defunct Philippine Basketball League (PBL).
Ramsay’s stint in the PBL was recalled by a photo posted on Letran’s official Twitter account of the Toyota Otis team where he played alongside Letran players plus future PBA players Ronjay Enrile and Aaron Aban.
The actor-sportsman was still a model when he made it to the Toyota Otis squad on the invitation of friend Cosco Oben, a former world jungolf champion. Oben's father was the team owner of Toyota Otis.
Louie Alas, who was the coach of the team at that time, said Ramsay wanted to try out for the team and was good enough to make it the team.
“Okay naman siya. Marunong maglaro at very coachable kaya kinuha ko,” Alas recalled.
Understandably, Ramsay didn’t have a lot of playing time while playing with the core of the Letran Knights that used the PBL to hone its skills for their NCAA campaign.
Ramsay later became an actor, but he remains very much active in sports including ultimate frisbee where he was part of the national team that played in the 2012 World Ultimate and Guts Championship.
He also played football particularly beach football and nearly suited up for the Philippines in the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Asian qualifiers in 2013.
Ramsay is also an avid golfer who plays to a single handicap.
The 43-year-old recently returned to his basketball roots when he was signed by the Batangas City Athletics in the Lakan Season where he scored a basket in his MPBL debut against Caloocan.
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