Beth Celis: Supportive sports mom

If upcoming young athletes and even superstars have supportive moms in the stands, the Philippine sports writing brigade had Beth Celis, who recently passed away.

She’ll probably raise those eyebrows, stare me down and holler, “Hoy, Sev Sarmenta, hindi ako nanay ng lahat. Marami diyan matanda pa sa akin! (Hey, Sev, I’m not everybody’s mom. There are others older than me!).” She always greeted me with my full name, with that twinkle in her eye that said she was happy to see you.

And yet Mama Beth, as many of the much younger cubs in press row called her, looked over us like any protective mom. She would bring us together for dinner to meet the sports newsmakers because she knew how hard it was to find material that was fresh and unencumbered by image or corporate boundaries.

We were mostly rowdy boys and a few of the female sportswriters would join us occasionally. But we were always at our best behavior while being fun and buoyant under Beth’s watch.

As Sports Communicators Organization of the Philippines (SCOOP) president, she was constantly working to keep the organization active and vibrant. Once, we did our version of a press gridiron where we impersonated Tim Cone, Chot Reyes, Go Teng Kok and other sports personalities and played out comic versions of juicy sports stories. We even rehearsed this acting bit and Beth had the loudest laugh during the run-throughs and at the final performance during a SCOOP awards night.

Beth was one of the best in posting blind items but she could also write critical pieces about those who violated rules and public trust. Her columns and stories would travel through several publications and her faithful readers followed her everywhere. She was also a cool TV segment host when she hosted Time Out with Beth Celis in the old Vintage PBA coverage. Her feature showed players, coaches and teams away from the hard court, a delightful break from all the serious sports news.

It wasn’t an age thing really because Beth Celis was more like an older sister to many of us. But she cared for us like a mother and ate (older sister) did. We’re a little lost now with our sports mom gone but she led us well and we’ll recover soon but never stop missing her.