Fortune continues to favor Boycie
AS VETERAN scribe Lito Cinco puts it, “When it rains, it pours.”
Lito, who also works as a team building facilitator, was referring to the spate of good fortune that has been coming the way of Boycie Zamar, who was first touched by Lady Luck when he was appointed University of the East Red Warriors mentor in the UAAP.
UE rose from the cellar when Boycie took over and he soared simultaneously. I wrote about him in this column recently, as being San Miguel Corporation head Ramon S. Ang’s personal choice for the Ginebra coaching staff. Ang practically plucked him from the television screen.
* * *
Yesterday, I learned that Boycie was also the mutual pick of Jean Henri Lhuillier and Danny Francisco for the head coaching post of their Cebuana Lhuillier team in the PBA D-League.
Boycie is to take over the previous function of Beaujing Acot, who will concentrate on his job as Cebuana team manager.
“The core of Boycie’s Cebuana team will be culled from his UE Warriors, which he hopes he could steer to at least the UAAP Final Four this season. There will be no conflict, since the UAAP ends just before the D-League starts in October,” said Lito, who used to work for one of Jean Henri’s numerous business interests.
So how did Boycie get into Jean Henri and Danny’s stream of consciousness?
* * *
“Memory,” said Lito. “And this time, unlike in his situation with Ginebra, he has history going for him with Lhuillier, who at one time was the exclusive supporter the Philippine basketball team during the time of the BAP, when no entity could be tapped to do it. Boycie, then, was coach of the national team.”
Of course I remembered. Jean Henri, at that time, wanted to support the Philippine team in a big way, going so far as to build quarters for the players, and even searching for talents nationwide from the grassroots level.
Then came the conflict between the SBP and the BAP and after the dust had settled, nobody wanted to touch anybody that had been associated with the BAP with a 10-foot-pole. This included Boycie, who had to seek livelihood abroad—Indonesia if I’m not mistaken—for a number of years, before returning to the Philippines.
* * *
Contrary to reports that had circulated a couple of weeks ago, PBA alternate governor Pato Gregorio said he did not fly to Kuala Lumpur to attend an ABL (Asean Basketball League) team owners’ meeting.
“I didn’t go to Malaysia,” he said.
“However, I was invited by ABL CEO Anthony Macri to a lunch meeting right here in Manila, where we discussed the possibility of one of the Manny Pangilinan-owned teams joining the league,” Pato said.
“I told him I could not give an outright commitment. To start with, what product will we carry for an Asean league like the ABL? This product has to have a market in Southeast Asia. Second, the SBP right now is so preoccupied with preparations for the forthcoming Fiba Asia Championship next month, there’s no room to think about anything else.”
Pato clarified that he has not closed the door on Macri’s proposal.
“We will get back to it after the Fiba Asia,” he said.
