9. JOHNNY JOSE, World-Class Tennis Prodigy, active 1949-1964

JOHNNY JOSE, Hall of Fame, Philippine Davis Cupper, Asian Games Medalist

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JUAN MARIA  J. JOSE or Johnny Jose (b. 8 Aug. 1938) was the son of Guillermo Jose and Encarnacion Ybañez Johnson, a former Miss Rizal who competed in the Manila Carnival Queen 1927 . Guillermo was named as the consort of the eventual winner, Luisa Marasigan, but it was with Encarnacion that he fell in love, and eventually got married with.

Guillermo was a tennis aficionado  so he encouraged his son Johnny to take up the sports. Jose started his sports career at 7 and won his first tennis title, the National Elementary Singles, at 9. He retained this title until 1951 when he copped the National Secondary titles. In high school at La Salle, Johnny, along with his older brothers, Guillermo and Emilio, were tennis standouts, who made regular winning appearances at the N.C.A.A. tennis tournaments.

In 1952, the 14 year old Jose played in England, Spain and France (under the sponsorship of well-known sportsman, Manolo Elizalde), and came home with the Junior Singles Championship of Kent, England by defeating India’s Ramanathan Krishnan, now rated as one of the top players of the world. The following year, he played in Japan and won both  the All-Japan Singles Title and Junior Doubles Championships.

In 1955, at age 17, Jose was rated as no. 3 man in Philippine tennis. He later made his debut at the Forest Hills, New York in the U.S. Open Championship. In the same year, he was named to the Philippine Davis Cup Team and remained a member of this team for 5 years (1955-1960). Jose was barely 18 when he graduated to the senior ranks, copped several collegiate titles, then went to the US where he and Gregory Grant won the Junior Doubles trophy.

In 1956, Jose teamed up with Ampon to win three major doubles titles: the PTA Open, the Metropolitan, and the National. In the same year, they won the Saigon Doubles title. A year later, Jose was honored as “Athlete of the Year” by De La Salle College, also won the PTA Open Singles title. 1957 became doubly memorable when he scored a major upset in the South Australian Championships by ousting Belgium’s no. 1 Davis cupper, Philippe Washer.

At his debut at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Johnny Jose bagged his first medal with a Bronze in the men’s singles, completing a 1-2-3 all-Filipino podium finish (Raymundo Deyro and Felicisimo Ampon took Gold and Silver, respectively).

Jose retained his No. 3 position during 1958-1959 and 1959-1960, then jumped to the no. 1 ranking when he won the national singles championship by defeating England’s top ranking player, Mike Sangster. This year (1961), he copped the Malayan Open (singles and doubles), the Malayan Interport Team, and the Singapore Open (doubles).

In 1961, Johny Jose was elected outstanding young man in sports for 1961 not only for the international prestige he has won for the Philippines but also for the fine sportsmanship and gentlemanly deportment off and on the tennis courts.

 Jose made it to his second Asian Games outing held in Jakarta in 1962. Here, he finally secured a Gold medal, trouncing Japan’s Atsushi Miyagi in a hotly-contested final match. This would be the last time that a Filipino would claim a tennis Gold in the Asiad. Jose also won Silver with partner Raymundo Deyro in the doubles, against Japan’s Myagi and M. Fujii,

 At age 26, Jose made a final appearance in the sport at the 1964 Davis Cup Eastern Inter-Zonal Championships and then retired. Johnny, a La Salle chemical engineering graduate, had also worked as head of  the laboratory control department of the Elizalde Iron and Steel Co. He also became a tennis coach, mentoring young tennis stars like the Castillejo sisters, and the women’s tennis national team.

He was inducted into his alma mater’s Lasallian Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, and was honored with a Davis Cup Commitment Award Trophy in 2013, for their long years of Philippine representation at the premiere tennis tournament. In 2016, Johnny Jose was inducted into the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame.

He passed away on October 23, 2018 at St. Luke’s Hospital. He is survived by his wife Olivia and 5 children Ina, Juanchit, Annalisa, Fatima, and basketball coach Mon Jose.

SOURCES:

“TOYM”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 26 Aug. 1961, Cover

“Johnny Jose, Malayan Open Singles Champ”. Mirror Magazine, 26 Nov. 1960, p. 30

Screen grab from: Juan "Johnny" Jose BNP Paribes Commitment Award Recipient PHILTA 2013”, uploaded by Davis Cup Philippines, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z9IbuYscEc

Medal Record: wikipedia