Sure, there maybe other noteworthy Filipino players that should be included in our Hall of Fame but lets leave that to the experts and historians for now. In terms of giving a lot of effort to national hoops' cause (notwithstanding the hefty salary from San Miguel Corp top honcho Danding Cojuangco), I rank Coach Ron near the top of the list. No doubt that even with his quirks, he brought a different perspective and revolutionized basketball play here.
It has been 2 decades but he, along with Chip Engelland, Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic and Hector Calma represented the 'team' Philippines as never been done before. Winning the Jones Cup in 85 against a US Team coached by Gene Keady, participating in Europe where they emerged crowd darlings because of skills displayed despite lack of height were truly notable moments in my basketball memory (aside from watching in an old, beat up box of a TV set). Coach Ron was passionate yet scientific. Chip (now with the Spurs) was sure deadly as a shooter. Allan, Chip's protege, was to become the best outside shooter not just here but in Asia for years to come. Samboy was our MJ (except that Samboy's competitiveness was outshone by his almost saintly humility). And Hector Calma, a true point guard who was different at that time because he played heads-up at 5'8", fundamentally sound basics (even against the great Drazen Petrovic who guarded him), the most similar of which to describe him would be Chris Paul and no one else. I could go on and on . . .
So to Coach Ron. Hang in there and congratulations!
(To Wikipedia and its contributors, a big, big thanks)
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