VIRGILIO “Baby” Dalupan, the architect of the Philippine Basketball Association’s first Grand Slam with Crispa, the winner of a record seven straight UAAP crowns with University of the East and the yardstick to which coaching greatness was always measured, died on Wednesday night.
He was 92.
Dalupan’s coaching career spanned more than four decades, and, unofficially, the man regarded as “The Maestro” won a total of more than 50 championships, counting the 15 he gave in total to the Redmanizers, Purefoods and Great Taste.
He was also the coach of iconic PBA superstar Robert Jaworski at UE, where Dalupan steered teams to seven straight titles from 1965. Included in that streak was the championship that the Warriors shared with University of Santo Tomas in the 1967-68 season.
Overall, Dalupan gave the Warriors 12 UAAP championships.
“I mourn and grieve over the passing of a great Philippine basketball hero, my coach and mentor,” PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa, a member of the 1976 and 1977 Ateneo teams that ruled the NCAA under Dalupan, said in a statement.
As Philippine team coach, Dalupan handled the squad that placed eighth in the 1959 Fiba World Championships held in Chile. He also coached the team that participated in the 1967 Summer Universiade (fifth place), 1970 Asian Games (fifth place), 1970 Pesta Sukan (champion) and 1972 Pesta Sukan (runner-up).
Incidentally, the PBA will honor Dalupan with a “final buzzer” tribute before the start of the Barangay Ginebra-Alaska game this Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“All of us in the PBA need to honor coach Baby,” Ginebra San Miguel coach Tim Cone wrote in his Twitter account @manilacone. “We need to acknowledge how he impacted us all, how he was the father of us coaches.”
Cone is the only man to ever surpass Dalupan’s title count in the PBA with 19 and has two Grand Slams, one each with Alaska and San Mig Coffee.
“I’m so heartbroken. We lost a truly good man and the greatest coach,” Cone said in a separate tweet. “I will miss him terribly.”
Dalupan’s coaching brilliance was evident in the way Crispa dominated the PBA even with a fellow powerhouse Toyota in the field.
The Redmanizers completed the league’s first Triple Crown sweep in 1976 before disbanding at the end of the 1983 season with another Grand Slam completed by Tommy Manotoc.
Dalupan would then take his coaching wizardry to Purefoods and Great Taste and would again win championships, before calling it quits in the 1990s and leaving his stamp as the greatest PBA coach ever.
“Just got word that my inspiration, mentor, friend, The Maestro, coach Baby Dalupan passed last night,” Chot Reyes, also a multiple champion PBA coach, said over @coachot.
Dalupan’s wake will be held at Ateneo de Manila chapel starting tomorrow at 4 p.m., according to the PBA.