Abet Guidaben’s heartache

Two-time PBA Most Valuable Player Abet Guidaben’s career took the long route from Mambajao, Camiguin to the heights of Philippine basketball. At first, he hated the game and, as luck would have it, played in a high school in Davao that had no basketball. But it was also a very boring life for a teen, and he found his way to the University of San Jose-Recoletos in Cebu where, broad-shouldered and 6’5”, the game found him.

Playing in the national inter-collegiate championship brought him attention, and he was recruited by Crispa. Upon their invitation, he joined the MICAA team, and also represented the country in the 1974 FIBA World Championship in Puerto Rico. Then, the Philippine Basketball Association was born, and Crispa joined, reluctantly at first. Then, they dominated the league early, winning 13 of the PBA’s first 22 championships.

“We were a balanced team,” recalls Abet in an exclusive interview with The STAR and IBC’s DWAN 1206 AM. “Philip (Cezar), Atoy (Co), Freddie (Hubalde), Bernie (Fabiosa) and I really had it. We were very tough to beat.”

But when an oil crisis hit the Philippines, raising gasoline prices by as much as 400 percent, the fabled rivalry between Crispa and Toyota dissolved, as both franchises were forced to leave the league. Guidaben, who had won his first MVP Award in 1983, found himself with Tanduay Rhum the following year. In 1987, he won his second trophy, this time with the powerhouse San Miguel Beer. In 1988, the Beermen had just won the PBA Reinforced Conference on the back of an impressive performance by Bobby Parks (Parks’ first) and Guidaben under coach Norman Black. Then, suddenly, Guidaben found himself traded to the Purefoods Hotdogs, and watched helplessly as his shot at a third MVP evaporated.

“I don’t understand. I didn’t do anything wrong,” says a perplexed Guidaben, now 73. “Why couldn’t they have waited until after the third conference. I was playing well. I still feel very, very bad about it.”

Fernandez won MVP that year, and SMB won a Grand Slam the next season. Thirty-eight years later, Guidaben still feels hurt by what he felt was an injustice done to him.

“We had just won a championship,” he explains. “I was playing well. I had no problem with the team. Why was I traded?”

To this day, it is hard to convince Abet Guidaben that, in the face of his mighty contributions to Philippine basketball, he has done more than his share. He still feels that, if things had been different, he could have done more.

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This week’s episode of Masters of the Game features the life and career of Eric Menk. Catch it on IBC 13 at 5:15 p.m., with a replay on Sunday at the same time.