Tracing Spoelstra’s roots

A phonecall from Liga Pilipinas president Noli Eala’s brother Dr. Juvy triggered a tracking process that led to unraveling the Filipino roots of newly appointed Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Dr. Juvy said his San Pablo City colleague Dr. Andy Dimayuga is Spoelstra’s first cousin and could reveal details of the NBA’s first Fil-Am coach’s Filipino heritage.

Before long, Dr. Andy was on the line. His late mother Fe’s younger sister Elisa Caridad or Baling is Spoelstra’s mother.

“I’ve only met Erik once – when he was three years old,” recalled Dr. Andy. “That was during Erik’s only trip to the Philippines. I was in elementary school and looked after him. Five years ago, when I was on a fellowship in New York, I e-mailed Erik. He replied but because of work, we couldn’t get together.”

In all, Spoelstra has 13 Filipino first cousins on his mother’s side.

“Of course, we’re all very excited that someone in our family is now an NBA head coach,” said Dr. Andy. “That makes Miami our favorite NBA team from now on.”

Dr. Andy’s mother Fe passed away in 1989 and his father Leandro Sr. two years later. Spoelstra’s mother Baling, 67, graduated from the University of the Philippines with a journalism degree in 1964 and taught at Mindanao State University in Marawi City before leaving for the US to marry Jon Spoelstra, an American of Irish-Dutch descent.

Baling has one other sister Esperanza who lives in Naga and two brothers Tony and Cecilio, a surgeon at the Philippine Heart Center.

Dr. Andy referred me to his uncle Tony whom he said would be able to give more details about Spoelstra’s life.

A call to Tony proved productive. Tony lived in the US from 1990 to 2001 with his wife and four children and was often in touch with Spoelstra.

“I remember when Erik played for the University of Portland, he came to Madison, where we lived, to play the University of Wisconsin whose star player was Mike Finley,” said Tony. ”After the game, Erik was over at our house.”

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Tony, 65, said he knows Erik to be hard-working.

“After graduation, he worked as a stockman at Nike in Beaverton which is close to where they lived in Portland,” said Tony. “His work ethic is exemplary. In every thing he does, he goes the extra mile. He won’t hesitate to sacrifice to do a good job. When he was a video coordinator for the Heat, he often spent nights in the office and slept in a couch. When he was a kid, he used to cut grass around the neighborhood and did odd jobs. To be hard-working is a family trait.”

Tony said Spoelstra’s parents met in Manila.

“Erik’s mother stayed in a dorm while she was a student at UP and one of her dormmates was an American,” related Tony. “One day, her American friend introduced her to an American tourist who was in town on vacation. That tourist was Jon. When Jon went back to the US, they continued to correspond. After a few years, Jon invited Baling to the US and sent a round-trip ticket. At first, my father wouldn’t agree to let Baling go. But in the end, Baling got his blessings. Anyway, it was a round-trip ticket so if the relationship didn’t work out, she could always come home.”

As it turned out, they got married. Their children are Erik and Monica who’s involved in advertising and graphic design. Tony said Monica was involved in creating the logo for the European basketball league.

“Erik loves Filipino food like pansit and adobo,” said Tony. “When I would visit Baling in Portland, I cooked for Erik. My children still live in the US and Erik is very close to them. One of my children is with the US military in Iraq.”

Tony said Erik’s father was a big influence in his passion for sports. He was a long-time executive with NBA teams in Portland, Denver and New Jersey and is a sports broadcaster. His grandfather Watson was a Detroit Tigers beat writer.

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“I think coach (Pat) Riley noticed how hard Erik works and how well he relates with the players,” said Tony.“From what I know, he was being groomed to be head coach since two or three years ago. It’s a pressure-laden job. I’m confident Erik will do well as head coach.”

Tony said Spoelstra is a bachelor. “I don’t know if he has plans to get married soon,” he went on. “But he’s always so busy. He wants to visit the Philippines again and see his relatives. The problem is he only has two to three weeks of vacation a year and that’s not too much. Now that he’s the head coach, he’s working double time during the offseason to rebuild the team.”

Tony now lives in Los Baños where his wife does research work for UP. His late father Martin was a UP Los Baños professor who specialized in microbiology.

In an e-mail to The STAR, Spoelstra said:“I am thrilled to become the league’s first Filipino-American head coach. I am very proud of my heritage so this is a great honor. I don’t have any immediate plans to visit the Philippines yet but only because I will be so busy planning for this first year. Obviously, this first year is extremely important and I have a lot of preparation to do. I’d love to spend more time in the Philippines sometime  in  the  future.”