A TRIBUTE TO SPORTS WAR HEROES
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 13 Jun 2013
MANILA (PNA) -- Last Wednesday, June 12, the entire nation celebrated the 115th Anniversary of Philippine Independence and, as a ritual held annually on that day, we also commemorated the heroics of brave Filipinos who put their lives on the block in defense of the country.
Unknown to many, even to the country?s highest sports officials, there are 52 Filipino athletes, including nine Olympians, who, besides distinguishing themselves in athletic campaigns in the different sports capitals of the world, likewise, sacrificed their lives in the field of combat.
Of the 52, 19 carried the country?s colors in many international competitions in track and field, 10 in swimming, nine in baseball, five in basketball, three in boxing, two in football, two in tennis and one each in wrestling and shooting.
A commemorative plaque, measuring 33 x 24 inches and cast in bronze containing their names was attached and unveiled on July 17, 1951, in the wall at the Basketball Coliseum facade inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, by the now-defunct Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation president Jorge Vargas.
On hand during the ceremony honoring those athletes were officials and representatives more than 50 sports associations who attended the annual general assembly of the PAAF as well as relatives of the honored athletes. Letran athletic moderator, Rev. Fr. Martin Diez, assisted Vargas in the formal dedication.
Fifty nine years since then, however, nothing had been done by the succeeding sports hierarchies to at least recognize those athletes who rendered services to the country in search of freedom.
Hundreds of thousands, perhaps, have gone to the Coliseum watching basketball games, international tennis matches, volleyball games and even entertainment shows since that memorable day but no one even noticed that plaque, which, at first glance looks like an ordinary marker identifying the architect and other individuals responsible for the construction of the building.
A close look though would reveal that inscribed on the marker are names of the Filipino Olympic medalists Teofilo Yldefonso and Miguel White, seven other Olympians and 43 more internationalists who perished during World War II.
Majority of the honorees were either members of Philippine Scouts, the USAFFE or underground guerilla units. Three had just been honored as ?Most Outstanding Filipino Athletes of Half-A-Century ?? Yldefonso himself in swimming, Jacinto ?Jumping Jack? Ciria Cruz in basketball and Virgilio Lobregat in football.
Yldefonso. A Philippine Scout from Piddig, Ilocos Norte, who is to be remembered as the only Filipino to bring home a pair of Olympic bronze medals both in the 200-meter breaststroke, a feat he did nin 1928 in Amsterdam and 1932 in Los Angeles, died in the infamous ?Death March? from Mariveles in Bataan to the Capas Concentration Camp in Tarlac.
White from Legaspi City in Bicol, was also a bnronze medalist in the 400-meter hurdles during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, the same year Ciria Cruz, along with another basketball Olympian Amador Obordo, helped the Philippine team to a fifth place finish, up to now the highest by any Asian nation in the quadrennial conclave popularly known, too as ?The Greatest Sports Show on Earth.?
Ciria Cruz was executed by the conquering Japanese forces while performing underground works in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.
Besides Yldefonso, White, Ciria Cruz and Obordo, other Filipino Olympian victims of war were Lt. Nemesio de Guzman, also in track and field, Lt. Otoniel Gonzaga in shooting, Lt. Simplicio de Castro in boxing and Lt. Enrique Jurado and Abduraman Ali, both in swimming.
De Guzman of the Philippine Army was a member of the national delegation in the IXth Olympiad in Amsterdam in 1928, while Gonzaga and De Castro saw action in the XIth Games in Berlin in 1936. Ali swam in the Xith Olympiad in Los Angeles.
Yldefonso and White were two of the 11 Olympic medalists who were recipients of the ?Lifetime Achievement Award? each from the Sports Communicators Organization of the Philippines (SCOOP) during the 80th Anniversary of the Philippine participation in the Olympic Games.
Besides White and De Guzman, other Filipino runners, throwers and jumpers who were victims of war were Miguel Sugeco, Sgt. Doming Espanol, Lt. Jose Antonio, Mayor Emilio Bucoy, Wenceslao Bansale, Eliseo Razo, Civico Granado, Maximino Pasaporte, Albino Bangayan, Delfin Danguilan, Lt. Constantino Alambra, Moises Lucas, Felizardo Casia, Francisco Danao, Bartolome Barabad, Alejo Alvarez and Simon Santos.
Swimmers Rosendo Aguinaldo, Policasrpio Tolentino, Donato Cabading, Miguel Bartolaso, Ulka Mangona, Jakara Angkang, Bernardino Tugbo and Mauricio Guidote, perished too, as solders-athletes like Yldofonso and Ali.
Baseball players, who represented the country in many international meets, including the Far Eastern Olympic Games, were Sgt. Aquilino Jacob, Cpl. Pabalo Chu, Sgt. Gervacio Estorba, Atilano Rivera, Cacimiro Francisco, Ramon Oncinian, Toribio Oncinian, Regino Bertulfo and Cipriano Platon.
Other non-Olympic athletes who died wearing military uniforms were Carlos Canillas, Albert Murrow and Robert Keesy in basketball; Francisco Zarcal and Martin Roxas in boxing, Jose Miranda in football and Concepcion Santos-Cepeda and Juan Ladaw Jr. in tennis.
Mrs. Cepeda, a long-time singles and doubles tennis champions, incidentally, completed a Santos brother-sister siblings died during the war while also competing in their respective sports events.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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