From newsinfo.inquirer.net
Download source here

There was a time in Philippine sports when Filipino basketball players reigned supreme in Asia. In fact, Filipino players were almost at par with their American and European counterparts.

In the mid-1970s, the esteemed Gonzalo “Lito” Puyat, a longtime head of the Basketball Association of the Philippines, was elected twice as president of the powerful FIBA (International Basketball Federation), the governing body for basketball.

There were other notable achievements in the dash-and-dribble sport.

I’m pretty sure that basketball old timers fondly recall the golden years when the Philippine team, captained by Ambrosio Padilla, finished fifth in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. They also remember the good times when the Philippines, sparked by the fabled Carlos Loyzaga and wily Lauro Mumar, finished a magnificent third in the 1954 World Basketball Championship in Rio de Janeiro.

And who could forget our string of successes in the Asian Basketball Conference (now FIBA-Asia Olympic qualifier) and the Asian Games basketball competitions where the Philippines was the perennial champion?

Worth recalling too, was the extraordinary feat of the Philippine Youth Team of the 1970s for scoring an amazing streak of 32 straight victories, a record that remained unmatched up to the present.

No wonder basketball is the country’s undisputed No. 1 sport.