FRIENDS and former teammates remembered the late Letran basketball hero Fernando ‘Dong’ Libed with fondness.
And as they paid tribute to the fallen basketball player, all of them are one in saying the 5-foot-9 guard was a heck of a talent who inexplicably never got to set foot in the PBA.
Libed was a prolific scorer who already showed promise as a junior when he won the MVP award with the Letran Squires. He eventually spent his collegiate career with the multi-titled Knights under coach Eddie Reyes.
READ: Former Letran Knights star Dong Libed dies aged 58
That early, Libed was already a cut above the rest.
“Rookie year pa lang niya starter na agad kasi hinog na siya for college ball,” recalled coach Tino Pinat, who played two seasons with Libed as part of the Letran seniors basketball team.
“Team player siya. Willing to sacrifice for the good of the team. Isa na siya sa scorers namin (as a rookie),” added Pinat, who was team captain of the Knights in 1986 when they regained the NCAA men’s basketball crown against rivals San Sebastian Stags.
Former Letran mentor Louie Alas, a contemporary of Libed and a teammate at Agfa Colors and Sta. Lucia in the defunct PABL, said he’s a prototype of another Letran legend in Samboy Lim.
“Slasher siya parang si Samboy,” he said of the Letran guard, who died last July 6 in the US at the age of 58 after a lingering illness.
“Very cool maglaro.”
Indeed, cool under pressure Libed was, and such attribute was none more typified than in the deciding Game 3 of the 1987 NCAA Finals between the defending champions Knights and a Stags side led by Bong Alvarez and Eugene Quilban.
Libed capped a dramatic comeback by the Intramuros-based squad from seven points down in the final four minutes when he buried a fadeaway basket off San Sebastian defenders Nap Hatton, Toying Teves, and Allan Delos Reyes in the dying seconds to clinch a second straight championship for the Knights before a jampacked crowd at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Long-time Letran Knights supporter Francis Marasigan didn’t get to watch Libed personally, but is witness to his legend on social media, especially among Letranites.
“The word ‘hero’ is always associated with him because that’s how they (Letranites) remember him. Thank God for Youtube and his point god teammate ‘The Wizard’ Art Ayson, I was able to witness his greatness especially in that Game 3 of the 1987 finals against San Sebastian where he sealed Letran’s fifth championship of the decade,” said Marasigan.
“I will remember him as a Letran legend and an NCAA legend as well.”
In light of his NCAA heroics, Libed’s star shone even brighter that many expected him to take the pro league by storm.
“Maugong talaga yung pangalan niya (back then). Star na siya sa amateur pa lang. Magaling naman kasi talaga,” said former Mapua player Jojo Peralta, the longtime liason of the Purefoods franchise, who played a few batches earlier than Libed in the NCAA.
“Walang tao ang hindi magsasabi na hindi siya makakarating sa PBA,” said former Letran juniors teammate and now Philippine Daily Inquirer assistant editor Musong Castillo.
While Castillo saw a semblance of the late Danny Florencio, himself a player famous for his hang time and acrobatic moves, in Libed, Pinat said the one-time juniors MVP reminds him more of the legendary ‘Skywalker’ in Lim.
“Sabi nga namin, para siyang second coming ni Samboy Lim,” added Pinat, also a close friend of Samboy.
Too bad, Libed didn’t get to live his PBA dream as personal issues got in the way later on in his career.
But one can’t put a good man down as they say, and that goodness in his person was one thing Libed will forever be remembered.
“As a friend, very generous siya and helpful,” Pinat said. “He’s always willing to extend a hand to those in need.”
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