Thanks for the memories

Pilipinas Shell celebrated 11 years in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) by throwing a thanksgiving dinner party at the Manila Golf Club in Makati last Friday for those who’ve supported, been involved in or covered the team since its pro debut in 1985.

Former Shell chairmen Cesar Buenaventura and Oscar Reyes were around to toast the franchise that won four PBA championships in 1990, 1992, 1998 and 1999.

Shell’s external affairs head and former representative in the PBA Board of Governors Bobby Kanapi welcomed the guests in the company’s behalf. His assistant Vicky Araneta coordinated the event.

From Shell’s pioneer lineup in 1985, three alumni showed up — Aldo Perez, Bogs Adornado and Leo Austria who was Rookie of the Year that season. For the record, the first-ever Shell team was called the Azodrin and its players included La Salle cager Jun-Jun Cabatu’s father Sonny, Philip Cezar, Bernie Fabiosa, Bay Cristobal, Dennis Abbatuan, Romy Ang, Jaime Javier, former Parañaque mayor Joey Marquez’ brother Totoy and Rey Lazaro. The coach was Freddie Webb with Frederick Gonzales as assistant.

Through the years, Shell enlisted the services of coaches Ed Ocampo, Joe Lipa, Dante Silverio, Bobby Parks, Arlene Rodriguez, Rino Salazar, Chito Narvasa, Perry Ronquillo, John Moran and finally Austria.

Rodriguez piloted Shell to its first title in 1990. Then came Salazar’s turn two years later. Ronquillo was credited for delivering Shell’s championships in 1998 and 1999.

Austria steered the Turbo Chargers to third place in the last Fiesta Conference.

The PBA’s only chairman and commissioner Rey Marquez — who represented Shell in the Board — attended the affair. So did former commissioner Jun Bernardino and present commissioner Noli Eala. Board representatives Rene Pardo of Purefoods and Joaqui Trillo of Alaska joined in the festivities.

Broadcaster Ed Picson showed up proudly wearing a Letran jacket. He came from the Araneta Coliseum where Letran, his alma mater, had just dethroned Philippine Christian University (PCU) for the NCAA men’s seniors cage crown. Incidentally, Pardo is a distinguished PCU alumnus.

Narvasa, the Basketball Coaches Association of the Philippines president, was there as former Shell mentor.

Among the players — past and present — in the audience were Mike Hrabak, Billy Mamaril, Ronald Tubid, Rich Alvarez, Tony de la Cruz, Carlo Sharma, Chris Jackson, Jun Marzan, Adonis Sta. Maria, Rainier Sison, Benjie Paras, Ronnie Magsanoc, Eric Altamirano and Ed Cordero.

De la Cruz, a Catholic, led the invocation and thanked the Lord for all His blessings.

Buenaventura sat beside Eala for dinner and recounted that Tommy Manotoc approached him to offer the Crispa franchise for sale to Shell in 1985. The sale price was P300,000. Buenaventura said the deal to buy the Crispa franchise was consummated in the same venue where the thanksgiving was held — the Manila Golf Club.

* * *

Federation Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) secretary-general Patrick Baumann will meet Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Jose Cojuangco Jr. at the world governing body’s headquarters in Geneva on Friday morning.

Cojuangco will be accompanied by POC chairman Robert Aventajado and legal counsel Emigdio Tanjuatco. They will explain why the POC General Assembly expelled the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) as the National Sports Association (NSA) for hoops and why the Philippine Basketball Federation (PBF) was subsequently recognized as its replacement.

The meeting was arranged by International Olympic Committee (IOC) representative in the Philippines Frank Elizalde.

The POC delegation hopes to convince Baumann to lift the country’s suspension from participating in FIBA-sanctioned events, including the Southeast Asian Games, and recognize the PBF instead of the BAP as its country affiliate. It will also try to find out if the Philippines could be given a wild card ticket to play at the World Championships in Saitama, Japan, next year once the suspension is lifted.

Baumann, 38, succeeded Borislav Stankovic as FIBA secretary-general in January 2003. He joined FIBA in 1994 and was appointed deputy secretary-general a year later. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Chicago, a Master’s degree in Sports Administration from the University of Lyon and a law degree from the University of Lausanne.

Fluent in five languages, Baumann was a player, coach and referee in Switzerland and Italy. He was recently named to the IOC 15-man committee overseeing the preparations for the 2012 London Olympics.

* * *

Former DePaul University coach Pat Kennedy likened Red Bull import Quemont Greer to Bobby Simmons, the four-year pro who was named Most Improved Player in the National Basketball Association last season for lifting his scoring clip from 7.8 the previous year to 16.4 points a game. Simmons recently signed a five-year $47 Million contract to play for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Like Simmons, Greer played for DePaul.

Greer averaged 19 points, 10 rebounds and three assists playing for Vincent High School in Milwaukee and Berkshire Academy in Homestead, Florida before enrolling at DePaul in 2001. He hit at only a 6.9 clip as a DePaul freshman but posted 25 points, including 5-of-7 treys, against Temple and 22 against Murray State.

As a sophomore in 2002-03, Greer scored 9.4 points a game and started 19 of 26 outings, splitting time between small and power forward. The next season, DePaul registered a 22-10 mark, its most wins in a year since 1987-88. Greer averaged 12.6 points and 7.4 rebounds.

Greer wound up his varsity career with flying colors. At the end of his senior campaign, he was named to the All-Conference USA first team, only the second DePaul player to be honored after Quentin Richardson. Greer also set a school record by notching eight 20-point games in a row and a Conference USA mark for bagging three straight Player of the Week awards. He also scored his career-high 32 points against the University of Illinois at Chicago last season.

Greer is one of two fresh college graduates playing in the PBA this coming conference. The other is Purefoods’ Marquin Chandler of San Jose State. They square off in the league’s opening game this Sunday.