DANDING COJUANGCO CONGRATULATES MVP FOR HIS SUPPORT FOR BASKETBALL, MAKES SUGGESTIONS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 15 Aug 2016
San Miguel Corporation chairman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco has congratulated Manny Pangilinan for his support for the Philippine National Basketball Team but maintained that basketball "is a matter of height and if you don't have height, it's almost impossible to succeed in international competitions" such as The Olympic Games and the FIBA World Cup.
He commended Manny Pangilinan for his commitment to the national basketball team and told The Standard "at least the guy funding it now is doing his best and deserves congratulations for that."
Among Cojuangco who was Project Director for basketball during the time of President Marcos in which the San Miguel Beer national team beat the mighty United States in an epic overtime game in July 1985 with Alan "The Triggerman" Caidic and "The Skywalker" Samboy Lim along with naturalized shooting star Chip Engellnd hitting big three-point shots in the extension to win by one point which he described as a thrilling game where "let's say we got lucky."
The US squad had eight players who were subsequently drafted into the NBA.
Jacobs also coached the Youth Team led by Hector Calma that earlier beat China in the Asian Championships at the Araneta Coliseum before a huge crowd and steered the Philippines to the Asian Basketball Confederation championships beating China in Kuala Lumpur in the finals in early 1986.
He maintained that "the credit for these accomplishments must go Ron Jacobs, our coach. He mentored the boys, trained them well, he motivated them very well and the result was quite satisfying."
Cojuangco said the Gilas Cadet Program is "in the right direction" but said he thinks "the players must live abroad and get used to playing against big guys all the time."
Danding admitted "it's a hard call, not easy and it's not cheap."
He also suggested that the national team "get a good coach we can all agree to, get businessmen to support the team and get players permanently for the Olympic team" similar to the team coached by the brilliant American mentor Ron Jacobs whose passing after being in a coma for 12 years was "sad and painful."
He said Jacobs was "unfortunately short on luck and passed away in a not too nice way, being in a coma for 12 years before God took him. How very sad."
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