RAMON Fernandez and Mansueto ‘Onyok’ Velasco lead the latest inductees into the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame.
The Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee announced the seven new members of the Hall of Fame on Monday.
Also to be enshrined are Bea Lucero-Lhuillier in gymnastics and taekwondo, Isidro Del Prado in athletics, Eduardo Pacheco in football and basketball, Cecil Mamiit in tennis, and Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta in powerlifting.
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The enshrinement ceremony will likely be held on May 20, with the venue still to be determined although PSC chairman Patrick Gregorio said they are looking at the Heroes Hall in Malacanang to stage the event with President Ferdinand R. Marcos in attendance.
“The Philippine Sports Hall of Fame is more than an honor roll of medals. It is a living ledger of greatness to honor those who have defined what it means to be Filipino in sport,” said Gregorio, who headed the selection committee along with POC president Abraham Tolentino.
“These are not just names. They are the pride and memory of a nation. The search for new enshrinees has been difficult because there are many stories of greatness in sports. Some are measured in medals. Many are not. And yet we undertake this task, because a nation that remembers its champions is a nation that continues to produce them,” said Gregorio.
The seven new enshrinees of the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame will receive P500,000 each as well as a trophy crafted by sculptur Leandro Baldemor.
The new inductees, which formed the fifth batch of members of the Hall of Fame, were chosen from 75 nominees.
“Lahat naman deserving but we had to choose,” said Tolentino.
Aside from his 19 championships in the PBA, Fernandez also had a decorated career in the national team, winning gold medals in the 1972 Asian Basketball Confederation (now FIBA Asia) Under-18 Championship and 1973 ABC Championship, and silver in the 1990 Asian Games. Recently, the PBA Finals MVP was named in honor of the four-time league MVP by the PBA Press Corps.
Velasco was the second Olympic silver medalist of the Philippines, pulling off the achievement in 1996 in Atlanta. He is also a two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist and a one-time Asian Games gold winner.
Lucero bagged two gold medals and two silver medals in the gymnastics competitions of the 1987 SEA Games gymnastics, and flourished in taekwondo by winning bronze in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 1992 Asian Taekwondo Championships.
Another two-sport star who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame was Pacheco, a gold medalist in the 1962 Asian Games and 1963 ABC Championship in basketball, and a participant in the 1954 Asian Games, and 1968 Olympic qualification tournament in football.
Del Prado was one of the best middle-distance runners the Philippines ever had, winning four gold medals in the SEA Games, two in the Asian Championships, and silver in the Asian Games, while also competing in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics.
Bursting onto the scene after a stunning win over Andre Agassi in an ATP tournament in San Jose in 1999, Fil-American Mamiit won gold medals in the 2005 SEA Games thrice, 2007 SEA Games once, and 2009 SEA Games twice. He was also a bronze medalist in the 2006 Asian Games twice.
Dumapong-Ancheta became the first Filipino medalist at the Paralympic Games, winning a bronze in 2000.
Other members of the screening/selection committee are Games and Amusements Board chairman Francisco Rivero, NSA representatives Jarryd Belo and Jose Malonzo, Ayala Foundation representative Xavier Virata, and MVP Sports Foundation president Al Panlilio.
The review/evaluation committee was composed of sports journalists Dodo Catacutan of SPIN.ph, Jun Lomibao of BusinessMirror, Ignacio Dee of Manila Standard, Al Mendoza of BusinessMirror, and Joaquin Henson of Philippine Star.
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