EL PRESIDENTE RAMON FERNANDEZ

EL PRESIDENTE RAMON FERNANDEZ

Ramon Fernandez is the most media exposed Maasinhon because he is considered as the greatest professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).  He won four Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards and a record of 19 PBA titles.  He is the epitome of a sporty Maasin City, the home of champions.

Born in Maasin on October 3, 1953, he started his collegiate basketball career at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.  There was a controversy as to his telling the media that he was from Beverly Hills in Cebu City where he stayed in his sister Helen Fernandez Yusingco’s residence.  He explained later that he did that because he was aspiring for the national team and there was discrimination at that time on players coming from the provinces.  He corrected it later and in all media reports his birthplace is always being referred to as Maasin, Southern Leyte.    

Because of his towering height at 6'4" with exceptional hoops skills, Fernandez became a member of several national teams. These include the 1972 Asian Youth Championships were they became champions, the 1973 Asian Basketball Confederation also a champion team, the 1974 World Basketball Championships in Puerto Rico, the 1974 Asian Games in Iran and the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing where they finished silver medalist to the champion China.

In 1975, when the PBA was born to become the first Asian basketball pro league, Fernandez joined the Toyota Comets team under coach Dante Silverio with teammates Robert Jaworski, Francis Arnaiz, Arnie Tuadles, Danny Florencio, Abe King, and fellow Maasinhon Joaquin "Dodong" Rojas.  They harvested nine titles from 1975-1983 and Fernandez won the 1982 PBA Most Valuable Player award.  He was a main participant in the fabled Toyota-Crispa rivalry in the PBA.

Toyota was disbanded in 1984 and it fuelled the media warfare with Jaworski.  He joined Beer Hausen Brewmasters together with other former Toyota teammates.  He was a one-man wrecking crew at Beer Hausen, winning the 1984 MVP award. 
 Amidst controversies he was traded at the middle of the 1985 to Tanduay in exchange for Abet Guidaben.

In Tanduay, Fernandez joined former Crispa rivals Freddie Hubalde and Padim Israel, J.B. Yango, Willie Generalao, Onchie dela Cruz since the Redmanizers had disbanded.  With imports Rob Williams, Andre McKoy and David Thirdkill, Fernandez led the Rhum Masters to three PBA titles and won his third MVP award in 1986.

Tanduay disbanded but the franchise was bought by the Purefoods and the team had its PBA debut in the 1988 season. Fernandez became playing coach, his first coaching job, of a team composed of top rookies Jerry Codiñera, Jojo Lastimosa, Glen Capacio and later Alvin Patrimonio.  In the 1988 Open Conference, he led Purefoods to a finals stint on its first tournament in the PBA and placed runner-up to San Miguel Beer in a hotly contested finals.  But because of coaching pressure which took a toll on his game, he relinquished his coaching position to his assistant Cris Calilan. 

But then again Fernandez was put to controversy and was benched during the All-Filipino Finals against Añejo Rhum. The said incident ignited another swap with Abet Gudaben with his transferring to San Miguel Beermen and Guidaben to Purefoods.  He then led the Beermen to the 1988 Reinforced Conference title and eventually winning his fourth MVP Award, becoming the first player to win four MVP awards and the only player to do so with four different teams.

In 1989, San Miguel Beer scored a historic Grand Slam making Fernandez a member of the third Triple Crown in the PBA next to the two by Crispa Redmanizers in 1976 and 1983.  It was a fitting commencement for the centennial year of San Miguel Corporation in 1990.  El Presidente was on for his fifth unprecedented MVP award because of the Grand Slam and his lead in the statistical points, but Benjie Paras won the voting as a sentimental first Rookie of the Year and MVP awardee in the history of the PBA.  

The 1989 All-Star Game was the time when Fernandez ended his feud with arch-rival Jaworski.  El Presidente sank an undergoal stab off a Jaworski inbound pass to lead the Veterans team to a 132-130 win in the dying seconds of the game over the Rookie-Sophomores team in a hotly contested All-Star Game.  Baby Dalupan, the coach of the Veterans, called both players to do a momentous handshake at the center of the court
 demonstrating the end of their grudge.

In 1990, Fernandez was taken in as a member of the Philippine basketball team that won a silver medal in the Beijing Asian Games losing only to eventual gold medalist China.  He was also considered in the national team for the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, but declined due to an injury.  The year 1994 was also his last year in the PBA as he announced his retirement at the end of the season.  He wanted to retire while still at the pinnacle of his playing career. 

Fernandez won his MVP awards in even numbered years in 1982, 1984, 1986, and 1988.  He is considered as the best center in the history of the PBA.  But he is the only player who can play all five positions on the court which is very strange for a
 6-foot-5-inch tall player. 

He was elected the first president of the PBA
 Players’ Association, thus the moniker El Presidente.  He had a signature shot called the “elegant shot” a one-handed running jump shot, his most powerful offensive threat.  His best year was 1984 while playing for Beer Hausen, with only five assists short of averaging triple-doubles in scores, rebounds and assists.  He had an astounding 27 point-15-rebound-9.9 assist feat, unparalleled as the most dominating in PBA history.    

When the Metropolitan Basketball Association was organized in 1998, he became its first commissioner.  He was also appointed as Commissioner of the Collegiate Champions League in 2003.  He also became the Commissioner of the United Regional Basketball League in 2004.
In the 25th anniversary of the PBA in 2000, Fernandez was named as one of the PBA's 25 Greatest Players.  In 2003, El Presidente played with the Toyota Tamaraws in the Crispa-Toyota Reunion Game. The climax of the event was the
 pass of Fernandez to Jaworski, who scored a three-pointer to preserve Toyota’s 65-61 win over their arch rivals, Crispa Redmanizers.  It was the reverse of the Jaworski to Fernandez assist during the 1989 All-Star Game. 

Fernandez was also inducted to the prestigious PBA Hall of Fame.  He played in the Greatest Game, a reunion game of the several members of the PBA’s 25 Greatest Players, on May 30, 2005 when they lost to the TM Greats team 96-92.

In all the teams he had played in the PBA, Fernandez led all of them to the finals.  He won nine championships with Toyota, led Beer Hausen to a title-series loss to Great Taste in 1984, led Tanduay to win three PBA crowns, led Purefoods to the finals in 1988, and won seven titles with San Miguel.

Fernandez is the only player in the PBA history who could actually play all five positions, the point guard, off-guard, forward, power-forward and center spots.  His excellent dribbling skill is surprising for a center during his time.  He also mastered unnatural passing abilities, perimeter shots, and unstoppable high or low post drives.

He won a barangay kagawad post at Ayala Alabang Village.  He had an unsuccessful stint for senator in 1995 under the Nationalist People’s Coalition.  He also ran for party list representative in 2004 under the Samahang Mangangalakal sa Ikauunlad ng Lokal na Ekonomiya or SMILE, but they were not able to muster the needed percentage in the party list votes.    

Fernandez accompanied retired PBA players under the San Miguel-sponsored All Star game twice in Maasin in 2002, during the Southern Leyte Anniversary and during the Maasin fiesta.  Among the players who came were Samboy Lim, Ato Agustin. Chito Loyzaga, Bonel Balingit, Hector Calma, and Bernie Fabiosa.