‘The Big Difference’ honored

It was good to see Philippine basketball’s “The Big Difference” Caloy Loyzaga—considered by many as the greatest Filipino cager this country has  ever produced—looking hale and ambulant, even if he needed the aid of a walker to get around.

Being some kind of a recluse lately,  after a stroke two-and-a-half years ago left him weakened and unable to speak, Loyzaga surprised a lot of people when he appeared all over  the sports pages of the leading  dailies the morning after the PSA Awards Night where he received the prestigious Lifetime  Achievement Award.

Caloy is 83 and has survived a long list of ailments and life-saving procedures, following  his retirement from active  playing and coaching.

“The very first  operation  done on  him was for a blocked  vein in his right leg. This was  followed by a gallbladder surgery and then  a quadruple  bypass, the result of eating too much beef over  a  long  period.  My father loved steak,”  said   Chito Loyzaga,  the older of Caloy’s  two  sons.  Caloy used to call  Chito “Cachito”  while  the younger Joey was referred  to as “Russo,”  probably because  he looked like a Russian.

More than a decade ago,  Caloy had a close call when  he   was found to   be  suffering  from diverticulitis,  the inflammation  of pouches that develop in  the large intestines.

“We really got scared. His illness required complicated and dangerous procedures which included surgery. It was touch  and go for dad for some time,  but he was an athlete and he  was strong, he was able to  bounce back,” the former PSC  commissioner recounted.

“However, two years ago he had a stroke in Australia, which affected his speech, among others. This time, we decided it was best for him and mom to come home to the Philippines  and stay here for good,  so we, their children, could look after them.”

Caloy was with Vicki  and  daughter-actress  Bing Loyzaga  when I bumped into him last year.  Although he was in a wheelchair and could not speak,  he appeared to be in high spirits.

He would put his pointing  finger on  his mouth every time Vicki would request me not to write that they were here  in  Manila. In  her youth, Vicki was  a very beautiful woman,  one of the most beautiful in my opinion.

Unfortunately, Chito  disclosed that Caloy’s health condition was still the  same.

“He can walk but not for long  stretches. Like if we go malling,  he uses the wheelchair. But we  do go around—like watch basketball games or eat dinner out.”

The highest point of Caloy’s  career, according to Chito,  was  in 1954 when he powered the PH team to a bronze medal finish (third place) in the Rio De Janeiro World Basketball  Championship,  the same competition that will be held in Spain this August.

Caloy was also a vital cog in the Philippine team that finished ninth place in the 1952  Helsinki Olympics and  the seventh placer in the Melbourne  Olympics.

By the way, bet you didn’t know that the Philippines still holds the highest Olympic finish in basketball among Asian  countries. We were 5th in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, with cagers like Ambrosio Padilla, Charlie Borck and Rene Ciria Cruz carrying the Philippine  colors.