15 NEW ADDITIONS COMPLETE PBA’S 40 GREATEST PLAYERS
Danny Ildefonso, Willie Miller, and James Yap lead the 15 players who will be added to the elite 25 list to complete the 40 Greatest Players in PBA history.
Ildefonso, Miller, and Yap, all two-time MVPs, banner the new cast of great ones, to be joined by former MVPs Asi Taulava, Eric Menk, Kelly Williams, Jayjay Helterbrand, Jimmy Alapag, Mark Caguioa, and Arwind Santos.
Jayson Castro, Marc Pingris, Kerby Raymundo, Chito Loyzaga, and Marlou Aquino complete the 15 names to be added in the list approved by the special nomination committee chaired by legends and former Senators Robert Jaworski and Freddie Webb.
PBA chairman Patrick Gregorio, vice chairman Robert Non, Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, the chair of the Games and Amusements committee of the House of Representatives and mediamen Joaquin Henson and Barry Pascua deliberated for two hours on Monday to carefully select the 15 players.
“Forty will never be enough. We’ve had so many great PBA players since 1975,” chairman Gregorio said. “But to celebrate our 40th season, we had to do the difficult task of naming the 40 greatest PBA players – the pillars of the league. Mga idolo ng bawat Pilipino.”
The list was trimmed down after automatically electing the MVP winners. The players should also have played at least five seasons in the league, should have had a major award, and must have created a great impact on the PBA and the sport of basketball.
This criteria thrusted Castro, Pingris, Raymundo, Loyzaga, and Aquino to the final list, and left out three-year veteran and reigning league MVP June Mar Fajardo.
The 15 men will be joining Jaworski, Ramon Fernandez, Alvin Patrimonio, Bogs Adornado, Abet Guidaben, Benjie Paras, Atoy Co, Freddie Hubalde, Philip Cezar, Ricky Brown, Johnny Abarrientos, Ato Agustin, Francis Arnaiz, Allan Caidic, Hector Calma, Jerry Codinera, Kenneth Duremdes, Bernie Fabiosa, Danny Florencio, Jojo Lastimosa, Lim Eng Beng, Samboy Lim, Ronnie Magsanoc, Vergel Meneses and Manny Paner in the elite list.
All 40 PBA Greatest Players will be honored in a special event highlighting the league’s 40th anniversary in April 2015.
“We will pay tribute to these distinguished men – the 40 players who have been instrumental in shaping the PBA into what it is today,” PBA commissioner Chito Salud said. “On that special day, we will also recognize the pioneering beat reporters who covered the league when it started in 1975.” (RL)
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
