Clarifying the GOAT question

This column said Monday that June Mar Fajardo is already the greatest PBA player of all time, and many who have been following the PBA concur. However, some have sought greater clarification on who is the most influential player or person in league history. Apparently, there is a percolating desire to expand the conversation beyond the confines of the PBA. That is also a very colorful discussion, with a broader scope. Records are made to be broken, as those who set them will no longer be able to add on to them. But influence, particularly from the pioneering generation, goes beyond playing in one league.

Besides, talking about influence escapes the boundaries of numbers. When the three-second area was widened due to the overwhelming dominance of George Mikan, it impacted the entire game, everywhere. When Darryl Dawkins was smashing backboards, the shift to snap-back rims was accelerated. Bernard King propelled the NBA to determine that it was humanly impossible to attempt a shot in under three-tenths of a second. Jerry West is the only player ever to be declared Finals MVP from a losing team. That is influence. There is also the matter of accomplishments in international competitions like the Olympics. That automatically makes it unfair for June Mar, since the country has not qualified for the Olympics since the 1970’s.

So, where do we start? If you look at our basketball history, it really begins in the Far Eastern Games, when the Philippines was champion in 1934. Members of that team became the core of our first Olympic team in Berlin two years later. Ambrosio Padilla, that team’s captain, went on to become the president of the precursor of the Philippine Olympic Committee, founder of FIBA Asia, and a Philippine senator. So he was in a position to influence the game and sports in general.

Then, there is Caloy Loyzaga, the most accomplished player of the pre-PBA era. Loyzaga was proclaimed one of the best players in the world. He was a fixture in the NCAA, and his accomplishments inspired succeeding generations. He made a cameo in the PBA well into retirement. He was the standard for Filipino basketball greatness. But we cannot factor in his influence in the pro and open basketball era. 

This brings us to the latter Olympians’ era. Dozens of players on that list are candidates for influencing the game. But people hardly talk about those who did not make the transition to pro ball. That further limits the discussion to a couple dozen legends.

First, we have to give thanks to all those who played for the national team, and transitioned from the MICAA to the PBA. Pro basketball was unexplored territory. But it was an escape from the tyranny of the BAP. So how many players have truly influenced the game in a lasting fashion from that intrepid batch? Really, only a few. Who changed how the game is governed, how it looks?

There are a handful who were prohibited from being on the same team, a testament to their talent and will. But until open basketball was declared in 1989, that was their world. They were insular, but gave the Filipinos a staple to cling to in troubled times. That cannot be discounted. 

And the exceedingly rare would include Robert Jaworski, who coached the first-ever all-pro team in international amateur competition in 1990. He later became the logo of the PBA, something no one else has been. Whatever happens next, he and the legends of that era have also etched an indelible record in the game.