THE first month of 2021 has yet to reach its halfway point, but two more sportsmen passed away one after the other just this week.
Former PBA player and UP Fighting Maroon Alberto ‘Bert’ Ortiz and cycling official Moe Chulani both died due to heart ailment on Sunday.
Ortiz was 61.
Chulani was 45.
Ortiz played three seasons starting with the U-Text Wranglers under former Boston Celtics stalwart Glenn McDonald, and later with the Manhattan Shirtmakers under late great coaches Nic Jorge and Lauro Mumar.
The 6-foot guard out of University of the Philippines played a total of 83 games and had a career average of 2.5 points per game.
Messages of condolences were sent out to his family by his contemporaries and former teammates including Rudy Distrito, Ompong Segura, Virgilio Dela Cruz, former Rookies of the Year Jimmy Manansala and Gil Cortez, JB Yango, among others.
At UP, Ortiz played under coach Joe Lipa and had for teammates, now coaches Yeng Guiao and Ricky Dandan.
He had a twin brother in Fred Ortiz.
Bert was the second former PBA player to pass away in the first month of 2021.
Last week, ex-Ginebra and Purefoods stalwart Emilio ‘Nonoy’ Chuatico died in the US after a long bout with the Big C.
Chulani, meanwhile, was recently voted as board member of the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (PhilCycling) under reelected president Abraham ‘Bambol’ Tolentino.
He was also considered one of the brains behind the founding of Ronda Pilipinas, which celebrated its 10th year anniversary race last year just before the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
In basketball, he also once served as team manager of the Pasig Pirates in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA).
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