inboundpass.com - Covering Philippine college basketball / UAAP, NCAA, PCC

First of two parts

In 2004, I, together with our current columnists Mike Abasolo and Sid Ventura, as well as our former columnist Kim Lesaca, was a writer for the now-defunct website www.uaapgames.com. One of my thrusts then was to make the current UAAP fans more familiar with the players and occurrences in the UAAP from yesteryear. I spoke to several former players/stars and inquired whether they were willing to allow me to write about them, their careers and their current lives. Most declined. But one was very enthusiastic and tremendously helpful – former Ateneo Blue Eagles center Danny Francisco. Thus, with due permission from Danny, and with the blessing of my colleagues here on our site, I am republishing the article I wrote, which consists of two parts. Danny helped me update it a little. In reading this, do take note that Danny gave most of his views during UAAP Season 67, just before the Ateneo Blue Eagles had a playoff game against De La Salle University on 14 September 2004 and before DLSU finally eliminated Ateneo on 19 September 2004.

In the late 1980s, Ateneo de Manila University was a dominant team in the UAAP Seniors’ basketball tournament. In 1987 and 1988, the Blue Eagles stamped their legacy by winning back-to-back titles against the Jerry Codiñera-led University of the East Warriors and the Dindo Pumaren-led De La Salle Green Archers, respectively. In the middle of the successful equation that Ateneo had at the time, was a character who was truly a center of attention, towering at the hub of the Ateneo huddle. At six feet and six inches tall, Daniel Tirona Francisco, “Danny”, as he is more familiarly known, had a unique viewpoint, which not many, especially during that time, enjoyed.

Touted as the next Ramon Fernandez, who was then already a three-time Most Valuable Player of the Philippine Basketball Association and working on his fourth, even bigger things were in store for this towering package. Not only was his height an obvious advantage, but his ball-handling and shooting skills were exceptional, even unheard of in Philippine hoops history, from a man of such stature. Sixteen years (now twenty-one) after the back-to-back, the time is right to pay homage to one of the “forefathers”, so to speak, of the current Blue Eagles. Hereunder is a look at the life of Danny Francisco.

Born as the youngest in a brood of eight children on 21 April 1969, Danny had a lot of competition growing up, trying to fight his way up the pecking order in the Francisco household. As a boy, Danny initially took to swimming as a competitive sport, and actually competed at different age group levels. However, by the time he was in the third grade at Ateneo, the sports interest of Danny shifted to basketball, the sport wherein he would excel and which would bring him personal and team glory in the not-so-distant future.

Quickly assimilating himself into the rigors of basketball, Danny was on different Ateneo Grade School teams that competed in the popular tournaments such as PRADA and PAYA. Already he was a budding center, lacking in beef and brawn, but making up for it with determination and persistence.

Basketball success continued for Danny in High School, playing for the Blue Eaglets. The buzz around basketball circles at the time was that two potentially legendary centers were developing at about the same time – Danny and Venancio “Benjie” Paras of the San Beda Red Cubs, who was playing under UAAP Season 67 Commissioner Ato Badolato. While Benjie was out-muscling any other high school player that stepped in his path and slamming the ball through the basket on every play, Danny was knocking down lefty jumpers, spinning for hoops inside and making nifty passes to open teammates. Opening day of the MMBL tournament in 1985 at the Loyola Gym showcased the two centers against each other. Truly, the possible future pillars of Philippine basketball were the main attraction that afternoon.

The Ateneo High School career of Danny ended on a high note. In the 1986 UAAP season, the Blue Eaglets, guided by the steady hand of Chot Reyes, coach of Coca-Cola in the PBA in 2004, and now Talk N Text, and led by Danny in the middle, completed an amazing feat as they swept all fourteen of their games and were crowned outright champions of the Juniors’ tournament.

Observers of the UAAP Seniors’ tournament at the time could not help but get excited for the next season. Benjie Paras, who had gone on to play for the University of the Philippines Maroons a year earlier, had brought UP all the way to the Seniors’ tournament title as a freshman, over the league’s resident premier center, Jerry Codiñera of UE. Could Danny do the same? Codiñera was still around. Far Eastern University had the late Jack Tanuan as their man in the middle, the University of Santo Tomas had the late Gido Babilonia and La Salle had Dickie Bachmann and Joey Santamaria, all of whom would go on to play in the PBA. Truly, this was the time of the big men in a big man’s game. And now, Danny Francisco, erstwhile highly-regarded high school player was joining the fray as a member of the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

The year 1987 was a challenging one for Danny. The veteran UAAP centers pounded on him, testing him to see if the high school phenom could hack it in a men’s tournament. With the help of all his teammates, Danny held his ground and was impressive, albeit not dominant. The entire team, though, was a dominant force, with reliable starters and alternates at each position and a veteran coach in Cris Calilan. Ateneo would roll to the title against formidable UE, with Danny as a main contributor. Danny had ended his Juniors’ career and started his Seniors’ career on championship teams – a smooth transition indeed.

The following year, the Blue Eagles looked even more formidable. Danny calls the 1988 team “possibly the most complete (UAAP) team of all time.” Former Blue Eagle Fritz Gaston had taken the coaching reins from Calilan. Helping Danny out at center was future number one pick in the PBA Draft, Alex Araneta. At the forward slots were enforcer Seph Canlas and former La Salle Greenhills High School star Eric Reyes. Dr. Jet Nieto (yes, he is now a doctor) filled up the basket at the shooting guard spot and Jun Reyes, who was an Alaska Milk Assistant Coach in 2004, manned the point, with perennial PBA all-star Olsen Racela as the reliable back-up. The other steady players on the roster were utility men Gene Afable, Mel Basa, Albert Mendoza, Raymond Morales and Rico Santiago. From top to bottom, the team was stacked.

The 1988 pre-season prediction was that either Ateneo or La Salle would emerge as champion, although UP, UE and the University of Santo Tomas had something to say about that. But this prediction stirred the long-slumbering Ateneo-La Salle rivalry, and as the season progressed, the newly-awakened rivalry grew more intense as the two teams were on a collision course.

True enough, after hurdling all obstacles in their way and guided by Destiny, La Salle and Ateneo met in the finals of the 1988 UAAP season. The title-clinching game was truly a classic. Nip and tuck almost all the way, the big men of La Salle (Bachmann, Santamaria, George Peralta and freshman Zandro Limpot) battled Danny and the Ateneo frontline underneath, while Pumaren and Jun Reyes provided a splendid match-up at the one guard spot. Pumaren did all he could to keep La Salle in the game, but at the end, the powerful Blue Eagle team snatched the victory, capped by a slam dunk by Danny in the last few seconds of the game. In a dominant performance, Danny ended the game with fourteen points and twenty-four rebounds. The back-to-back was in the bag.

In 1989, Danny donned the national colors as the starting center of the Philippine Youth Team to the Asian Basketball Conference Youth Championships. Other notable players on the team were Racela, Limpot, Vergel Meneses, Victor Pablo, EJ Feihl, Johnedel Cardel, Romulo Orillosa, Jojo Lim, Joey Guanio and Mar Anthony Magada. China was bannered that year by the young Ma Jian and Song Li Gang. Although the Philippine team failed to win the crown, finishing third, Danny gave Ma Jian headaches. The possibilities for Danny seemed endless as he made a strong showing and even ended the tournament in the game for third place with a buzzer-beating heave from half court.

During the UAAP off-season in 1989, following his experience with the National Team, Danny had a short stint with Magnolia Ice Cream in the PABL (now PBL). Shortly thereafter, however, the life and basketball career of Danny would suffer a severe blow.

To be continued.

Posted in Columns, The Right Call