This basketball court in front of the old church in Mandaluyong would you believe was built in 1925. It was built by Bonifacio Javier when he was young.He became a fierce guerilla fighter during World War II and then a legendary Mayor in the 1940s and 50s till the early 60s.Boni Ave was named after him. Basketball was invented in the 1890s by a Canadian,Dr.James Naismith and arrived in the Philippines in 1913. By 1925 Mandaluyong built its first ever Basketball Court. Here in this court,were several of our countrys greatest basketball players learned how to play especially those who were born or grew up in Mandaluyong. Among them were Narciso Bernardo and Boy Roque,members of the 1962 Asian Games Gold Medal Philippine Basketball Team and played for the defunct MICAA. Others were Alex Agbay and Apollo Pablo who played for Yco. Edgardo Boy Roque played for Yco too and was the MVP of the 1962 Asian Games Basketball ,the last time the Philippines won gold. The brothers David and Philip Cezar also grew up in Mandaluyong. Old timers say,David is a better player than younger brother Philip but Philip is taller at 63 while David is 511 only.Later on Philip caught up with his brother and became better. According to stories ,Sonny Jaworski use to go here in the 1960s when he was still with UE Warriors to play Larong Kanto with Pustahan. It was here that Jaworski first experienced a major injury. A certain Santos of Mandaluyong committed a flagrant foul on Jaworski,a dose of his own medicine. Sa Tagalog,dito nakatikim si Jawo,dito siya unang Sinahod!!! Among the other players who lived with in Mandaluyong were Bernie Fabiosa,Manny Victorino,Nelson Asaytono and Vergel Meneses. Sportscaster Father-and-Son Recah and Chino Trinidad lives in the area where they grew up and Mark Caguioa of Ginebra is Chinos cousin whose mom is a Trinidad of Mandaluyong and grew up in the area too. The Mandaluyong Historical Commission will establish a marker in this 90 year old basketball court for generations to come. Unfortunately,the old courts were gone recently. According to news,the parish priest of San Felipe Neri church took and replaced the old solid steel court to the dismay of the people living in the area that garnered protest. We the Mandaluyong Historical Commission will open an inquiry to find it. The acacia tree beside it is a more than 100 year old tree ,a silent witness to the many events of the Mandaluyong,that includes the Katipunan where Bonifacio and company use to frequent Mandaluyong who has one of the largest Katipunan chapters . We will also have the tree declared. While the San Felipe Neri church was built in 1863 where recently it celebrated its 150th yr.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 05:25:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015