Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 12) – Philippine basketball’s ‘The Living Legend’ Robert Jaworski and track and field star Elma Muros-Posadas are among the 10 Filipino sports icons comprising the 2021 Philippine Sports Hall of Fame class.
The other inductees of this year’s Philippine Sports Hall of Fame are Olympic medalists Leopoldo Serantes, Roel Velasco, and Arianne Cerdeña; football legend Paulino Alcantara; swimmers Eric Buhain and Gertrudes Lozada; cager and booter Dionisio Calvo; and sprinter Rogelio Onofre.
“It was a journey of discovery, I’m pleased with the choices of both review and selection committees,” said Philippine Sports Commission chairman William Ramirez.
Jaworski, who turned 75 last March 8, is arguably the most iconic basketball player in the country. He led the Philippines to the 1967 and 1973 FIBA-Asia titles as a player and 1990 Asian Games silver medal as a coach.
Jaworski, a product of the University of the East, played for YCO and MERALCO teams in the defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association. In the Philippine Basketball Association, he played for Toyota for over a decade and became a player and coach for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel from 1984-1998, making him a pillar of the team’s “never say die attitude.” He is also part of the PBA’s 40 Greatest Players list and PBA Hall of Fame Class of 2005.
Muros-Posadas is one of the country’s bemedalled track and field athletes, best known for being the “long jump queen.” The Romblon native is a 15-time Southeast Asian Games medalist, two-time Asian Games bronze medalist, and a participant in the 1984 and 1996 Summer Olympics. Aside from long jump, Muros competed in other events such as heptathlon, 100m and 400m hurdles, 100m, 200m, and 400m sprint.
Boxers Serantes and Velasco represented the country in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics, respectively. Both pugs took home a bronze medal in their respective Olympic stints.
Cerdeña won the gold in bowling in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, although the feat was not counted in the medal table because it was then a demonstration sport. She is also a member of the 1990 Asian Games gold-medal winning team of five with another Filipina bowling legend Bong Coo, Catalina Solis, Cecilia Gaffud and Rebecca Watanabe.
The Iloilo-born Alcantara is best remembered for being the star of Spanish football powerhouse FC Barcelona, playing there from 1912 to 1916 and 1918 to 1927. Alcantara’s 369 goals with FC Barcelona stood for 87 years as the most goals scored by a player in the Spanish club, only to be broken by Argentinian football star Lionel Messi in 2014. He was named as Asia’s greatest football player by FIFA in 2007.
Buhain is a 12-time SEA Games gold medalist in swimming, highlighted by his five gold medal-haul in the 1991 edition in Manila. He also won two silvers and five bronzes in Southeast Asia’s biggest sports meet. Buhain served as PSC chairman during the term of former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Lozada, who belongs to a family of swimmers, represented the country at an early age. She was 13 years old when she competed in the 100-meter and 400-meter freestyle events of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Lozada is also a four-time Asian Games medalist and a participant in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Calvo is a multi-sport athlete, who donned the national colors in basketball and swimming in the 1920s. He is most remembered for coaching the Philippine men’s basketball team in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where the Filipinos finished fifth. It currently stands as the best finish by an Asian basketball squad in the Olympics. Calvo is also the coach of the basketball team sent in the 1948 London Olympics.
Onofre copped the gold in the 1962 Asian Games and saw action in the 1960, 1964, and 1968 Olympics athletics events.
The search committee for the 2021 Philippine Sports Hall of Fame class was composed of Games and Amusement Boards chair Abraham Mitra, Philippine Olympic Committee secretary-general Edwin Gastanes, PhilCycling’s Billy Sumagui, Philippine Olympians Association president Akiko Thomson Guevara, UAAP executive director Rene Saguisag Jr. and select members of the sports media.
