After Cebu sportsman and boxing godfather Tony Aldeguer learned last May that boxer Anthony Villanueva was gravely ill, he wasted no time and sent financial assistance to the first Filipino Olympic silver medal winner.
“It’s quite sad that I learned about his tragic condition only now,” Aldeguer said, with the hope he could still offer comfort and cure to the forgotten sports hero.
The amount, which could’ve been used to bring Villanueva to the hospital, arrived a day late.
The victim of a glaring Olympic boxing robbery during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Villanueva died at home on May 13 where he had lain dying with practically no medical attention for months.
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Villanueva’s pitiful condition was reported by veteran sports columnist Joaquin Henson with the help of the Taas Noo Inc., a nonprofit organization that has been working for the uplift of sports and the recognition of old, forgotten Filipino sports heroes.
Taas Noo, which searched and found Villanueva in Laguna with the hope of inviting him to a special tribute to forgotten Filipino greats, did not expect the Olympic silver medalist to be in that hopeless condition.
“It’s unthinkable, a shame that national sports authorities had treated the man as junk,” cried the point man behind Taas Noo Inc.
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Villanueva got his due, belatedly of course, on June 12, Independence Day, during the gala night of “Pagpupugay,” a tribute to greatness in Philippine sports the past hundred years, at Resorts World Manila.
His wife, who earlier had been handed Mr. Aldeguer’s assistance, received the unique silver-chrome trophy, which also went to select legends that included Pancho Villa, Teofilo Yldefonso, Paulino Alcantara, Simeon Toribio, Miguel White, Felicisimo Ampon, Ben Arda, Gabriel Elorde, Eugene Torre, Paeng Nepomuceno, Bong Coo, Efren “Bata” Reyes, Arianne Cerdeña and Mansueto Velasco.
Carlos Loyzaga, standout of the Philippine national basketball team that won the bronze medal in 1954 World Basketball Championship in Brazil, failed to receive his trophy after he broke a leg bone two days before the awards night.
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The gala night was presented in a television special on Sunday evening over GMA News TV.
Said Ramon Avena, son of the basketball and volleyball standout Vicente Avena in the Far Eastern Olympic Games: “It’s a truly great presentation, napakaganda. Hope our national sports authorities get the message. We should never let the dedication and sacrifices of these sports immortals go to waste.”
Multi-awarded television director Bebs Alvarez, a sports specialist, called it a national sports epic: “Bravo! It’s just too bad that our government has no sense of history.”
From a plain sports fan in the suburbs: “I watched Pagpupugay, so great, so awesome, super touching could not help but cry upon learning of the sacrifices of those sports heroes.”
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“Pagpupugay,” by the way, is an ongoing program.
It didn’t end with the glorious award ceremonies.
In fact, shortly before the awards night, Taas Noo managed to locate boxer Leopoldo Serrantes, bronze medalist in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, who also happened to be sick.
Serrantes was trying to make both ends meet by raising and selling pigeons in his rustic neighborhood.
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As part of the deserved recognition, Taas Noo handed to Serrantes P50,000 in cash from businessman Dioceldo Sy of Blackwater in the PBA, which was originally intended for the awards ceremonies.
Needless to say, Taas Noo will never tire looking for areas where it could be of help, mainly to retired and forgotten athletes.
There are also plans to harness the experience and talents of several other legends before setting up sports clinics in selected localities—while the government is not looking.