INQUIRER Sports

PBA COMMISSIONER Sonny Barrios is keeping his fingers crossed that the golden years of the Philippine Basketball Association will be back.

It is a good idea, but applicable it is not.

The country is cash-strapped, unlike before when times were good. Barrios needs to do a yeoman?s job in order to revive the glory days of old, when thousands trooped to the venues to see the PBA games live, watch the matches on TV and listen to the coverage on radio.

A large share of the league?s past success belonged to the era of the Toyota-Crispa rivalry, when bon vivant Dante Silverio and the dean of Filipino coaches, Virgilio ?Baby? Dalupan, called the shots for the Comets and the Redmanizers, respectively.

It was also mostly during this period when the late sportsman Leo Prieto and popular lawyer Rudy Salud served as PBA commissioners.

Basketball fans then stood in awe of the heroics of Toyota?s Sonny Jaworski, Ramon Fernandez and Francis Arnaiz and Crispa?s Atoy Co, Philip Cesar and Bogs Adornado.

Much later, other cage heroes emerged, among them Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic, Hector Calma, Benjie Paras, Jojo Lastimosa and Alvin Patrimonio.

Barrios is not in for a picnic. Nobody expects him to turn things around so quickly, especially with a roster that includes some players who are not keen on giving their best when playing in international tournaments.

?These players don?t want to get hurt and risk their career,? said a PBA diehard. ?It?s going to be difficult for Barrios to regain that lost glory.?

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The choice of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by the International Olympic Committee as venue of the 2016 Olympic Games evokes fond memories of 1954 when the Philippines?sparked by the fabled Carlos Loyzaga and Lauro Mumar?won third place in the Second World Basketball Championship.

Many Filipinos?the old-timers in particular?recalled the team did not leave on a bright note: It left without team captain Mumar, who missed the flight to Brazil when failed to show up at the Manila International Airport (now the Ninoy Aquino International Airport) at departure time.

As a result, Mumar was banned for life by officials of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation ?for failing to honor an international commitment, a conduct unbecoming of an athlete of national stature.?

Following Mumar?s suspension, Eddie Ticson, a sportswriter for the then Manila Times, wrote an exclusive story stating that Mumar, also known as ?The Fox,? should not have been suspended because Mumar?s only guilt ?was his having been born poor, unlike the other members of the basketball aristocracy.?

The old Congress, led by Manila Rep. Arsenio Lacson and Sen. Lorenzo Tañada, denounced Mumar?s suspension as ?the oppression of the oppressed by the high lords of Philippine basketball.?

Even President Ramon Magsaysay, the champion of the poor, pitied Mumar, summoning the poor boy from Bohol to Malacañang twice.

Mumar told Magsaysay: ?Ako po ay mahirap lamang (I?m just a poor guy, Mr. President),? stressing that when he played for the Philippines in the London Olympics in 1948 all he had in his pocket was $2. ?Right now, I have not even paid my apartment rent,? he added.

Worse, ?The Fox? cried, ?They suspended me without due process.?

Convinced, Magsaysay took the cudgels for the aggrieved Mumar.

In a public hearing held at the Fiesta Pavilion of the Manila Hotel, the PAAF board reversed its decision banning Mumar.

Soon after, basketball-batty fans launched a campaign to raise money for their hero?s Brazilian trip. For the record, there were more well-wishers at the airport for Mumar than when the national team itself left.