WHEN Magnolia head coach LA Tenorio stepped into the Smart Araneta Coliseum floor in full battle gear for a crucial Philippine Cup game against TNT on Sunday night, he joined a shortlist of playing coaches in the PBA's half century of existence.
Tenorio, in fact, was only the seventh PBA player to take on a playing-coach role - a job that requires mental fortitude more than any other.
READ LA Tenorio comeback as Magnolia playing coach not just a one-off
The most famous and successful PBA playing coach was, of course, the great Robert Jaworski, who, won four championships in a dual role while helping turn the Ginebra-Anejo franchise into the most popular in the league.
Norman Black, who had a long, legendary career both as import and coach in the PBA, also played the dual role early in his stay with San Miguel, just before he won only the league's second grand slam with the Beermen in 1989.
Black won two of his 11 championships as a SMB playing coach - the first in the 1988 PBA First Conference against David Thirdkill and Tanduay and the second in the Third Conference that same season against Bobby Ray Parks and Shell.
The others are seven-time Best Import Parks with Shell, Mon Fernandez during the maiden seaon of Purefoods in the PBA, Allan Caidic late in his PBA career with Ginebra in the 1999 Third Conference, and Manny Pacquiao.
Caidic's stint as Ginebra playing-coach didn't last long, since he was picked by then Red Bull coach Yeng Guiao in the 2000 dispersal draft (Caidic didn't include himself in the Ginebra protected list) and chose to retire.
Pacquiao was listed as the head coach of Mahindra/ Kia (now Terrafirma) in its first two seasons in the PBA from 2014 to 2016, and played a few games for the team during that stretch.
Still, the eight-division world champion stands as the last PBA playing coach before Tenorio.
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