The inspiring Lakay

URDANETA, Pangasinan – The National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) games are loud in the background at the Danny Ildefonso court along the highway here, behind the gasoline station which also sits on the property he owns. Lakay himself is overseeing the conduct of the games. The covered concrete court was built by the two-time PBA Most Valuable Player with his own resources, just the tip of the iceberg of his giving back to the community he came from, a province often forgotten by the national government.

Ildefonso grew up just walking distance from here, a free and carefree son of farmers, tending his parents’ carabaos and cows, roaming the fields, helping them plant. One day, he saw a UAAP game on television, and decided it was what he wanted to do. Their house also overlooked the neighborhood basketball court, making it easy for him to watch games.

“My father was against it. He said I would go nowhere playing basketball,” Ildefonso laughingly told this writer as we sat in a field he owned. “I would sometimes forget our carabaos and have to go looking for them at night. He would get mad and, when he’d had something to drink, he would spank me with a long section of bamboo.”

However, an inextinguishable passion had been lit inside him. Soon, he was 6’2” and playing as an “import” in other leagues in other Pangasinan communities. He told an older friend, who happened to be an alumnus of National University. With Danny’s older brother, they made the trip to Manila. It was a shocking revelation to the 16-year old. Everyone was older, bigger and played with a system. They only received P10 per practice, and Danny had to hang onto jeeps almost all the way from Project 3 in Quezon City to España in Manila. He was soon discouraged, and homesick, and left.

Inevitably, he grew another few inches, and his skill and intensity took him to commercial leagues, and the national team. Thanks to the unceasing support of coaches like Dong Vergeire, he helped win the gold medal in basketball in the 1997 Southeast Asian Games. And even though he had signed with the Pangasinan Presidents of the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association, he was coveted by San Miguel Beer head coach Ron Jacobs and assistant Jong Uichico. He became a Beerman.

“Even though Nelson Asaytono was still there, the writing was on the wall. He was the next guy,” recalls Siot Tangquingcen, a Chinese league rival, teammate and coach of Danny I. “He would bulk up to guard imports, then slim down to run the floor better and protect his knees. His work ethic was tremendous.”

After two MVPs and eight championships, Lakay realized he wasn’t getting minutes anymore, and didn’t want to be a burden to anyone. He retired, and focused on building businesses. From bottling to contract growing, to buying land to other businesses, he and his wife Ren did it all, growing what he had earned as a player into a substantial business empire, all based in Urdaneta and its environs. They had one more wish to fulfill. How would they (subtly) get their children to choose basketball, as well? That comical story and more on Monday.