PBA pioneer and wily point guard Rene Canent died in the US on Sunday morning due to a lingering illness.
He was 80.
The PBA later on offered a minute of silence for the 5-foot-8 Canent prior to the start of Game 6 of the Commissioner's Cup semifinals between Barangay Ginebra and Rain or Shine.
A product of Jose Rizal University where he won back-to-back NCAA men’s championships in 1963 and 1964, Canent played six seasons for Tanduay, where he would form a crack backcourt with Mike Bilbao and Freddie Webb.
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Among his teammates in those Heavy Bombers teams are the late Egay Gomez and Angel Patrimonio, father of PBA legend and four-time MVP Alvin Patrimonio.
Based in Los Angeles since the 80s, Canent was also acknowledged as the first ever president of the PBA Players Association established during the time of pioneer commissioner Leo Prieto.
He was part of the Yco team from the old MICAA (Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association) that was elevated by the late Don Manolo Elizalde to form part of Tanduay’s first-ever ball club in Asia’s pioneering pro league when it debuted in 1975.
Among his teammates then were brothers Benjie and Ricardo Cleofas, Valerio ‘Botchok’ Delos Santos, David Cezar (brother of PBA great Philip Cezar), Abet Gutierrez, Martie Samson, Dave Supnet, and former Barangay Ginebra and Shell coach Rino Salazar, among others.
Canent played his entire pro career with Tanduay where he retired in 1980 before deciding to migrate to the US.
He averaged 13.8 points in 224 games in the pro league.
It was during his stint as PBAPA prexy that the group suggested to league hierarchy about sending a son or daughter of a player who suited up for more than five years to school for free.
The association later adopted another measure where players who saw action in the league for six-seven years or more, can take his master's degre also for free.
Former U-Tex and Crispa stalwart and now sports commissioner Fritz Gaston was the first to avail of such incentive.
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