In the 1920s, with the athletic programs introduced by the U.S. in the school curriculum in full blast, scores of fine Filipino sprinters were discovered and trained to become national athletes who found fame in meets, here and abroad. Old sports fans still recall names such as Fortunato Catalon, Juan Taduran, Pedro Yatar, German Candari, and David Nepomuceno. But one name stands out for making waves in the world athletics scene despite a short career: ANSELMO P. GONZAGA, popularly referred to as Cainta’s Speed Marvel or the Cainta Flash.
Although he was a celebrate athlete in his time and had a long career, there are scanty accounts of Gonzaga’s early life. He was born on 21 April 1906, the son of Andres Gonzaga and Juana Pineda. He had at least one known sibling, Rosa Gonzaga. The Gonzagas were from Cainta, Rizal, where many of the natives have dark complexions due to its large Indian populace that intermarried with the locals. Anselmo, himself, was swarthy-skinned, but this may also be a result of his outdoor training runs.
How he came to be a student of Silliman University in Dumaguete is not known, but it was here that the Gonzaga’s reputation as an outstanding runner was first heard of. The Far East Games Championships was already an established Asian regional event by the 1920s, with active participation from sports clubs and varsity school teams from all over the country.
Visayan schools regularly sent their best athletes to the Carnival fair athletic tournaments which were used as qualifying tryouts for the Far East Games . The collegian Gonzaga made news when he set a new Philippine record of 10.5 seconds, a time that was the 4th best in the world in 1927.
1928 would bring to Gonzaga, his most exciting and memorable games yet in his career, for he not only qualified for the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, but was also selected to be the flag bearer of the 8-man Philippine delegation (4 athletes, 4 officials) during the parade of nations held in the Netherlands. Entered in the 100 m. and 200 m. events, Gonzaga struggled to find his form that made him the Philippines’ top sprinter.
The international runners were grouped to run in 16 heats;
the 2 fastest would then advance to the
quarterfinals. Gonzaga was in Heat #16, where he placed a strong second
to Bob McAllister. Gonzaga moved on to the 6 Quarterfinal series,
each with 5 or 6 qualifiers. This time, he could only finish 4th of 5
runners, that was topped by American Frank
C. Wykoff who clocked 10 and 4/5 or 10.8 secs. Gonzaga was thus
eliminated. The 100 m. gold eventually went to Percy Williams of Canada
with a time of 10.8 secs. (Gonzaga’s best was 10.5 secs.).
In the 200 meter race, Gonzaga ran in the 5th of 15 qualifying heats. He placed 3rd with a time of 22.7 secs, behind the American champion Charlie Paddock and Mario Gomez, thus did not advance to the next round. Canada’s Percy Williams completed a golden double by winning the 200 m. finals, with 21.8 secs. (Note: In 1980, at age 92, Williams committed suicide by shooting himself.)
Gonzaga returned home inspire by his valuable Olympic experience—he forged on to do even better. In February of 1929, he and his college mates from Silliman (Carlos Raymond, Manuel Astida, and a certain Mamerto), shattered the Philippine mile relay record. The next year, he ran in a demonstration race against visiting German world record middle-distance runner, Dr. Otto Peltzer. In the run-up to the 1930 Far Eastern Games, he set a personal best during the national open of 21.5 secs. for the 200 m. run.
As always, he was fielded in the 100 m. and 200 m. sprints when the games unfolded in Tokyo. In his favorite 100 m., he was outran by Japan’s ace runner, Takayoshi Yoshioka, whom he had beaten in the longer 200 m. race 3 years ago. As if that was no fluke, Yoshioka also won the 200 m. race, leaving Gonzaga with a Silver medal. As a consolation, Gonzaga would win 2 more Silvers in the Team events—the 4 x 200 m. relay (with German Candari, David Nepomuceno, Constantino Alhambra) and the 4 x 400 relay (with Candari, Miguel White, Alhambra).
In the years following the Far East Games, Gonzaga was said to have won his last double title in the sprint at the national championships in 1932. In early1934, he was expected to make a comeback at the National Open Track and Field Meet, as newspapers reported he was doing well in his favorite 100 m. event.
Indeed, in March 1934 , Gonzaga was listed among 77 athletes quartered in La Salle College for the open tryouts that will determine the members of the Philippine team to compete in the Far East Games to be held in Manila. Though he made the trials, he made a poor showing at the tune-up games conducted at the Rizal Memorial Field on April 28.
Picked to shine in the century dash, the Cainta Flash disappointed the fans by finishing fifth in the tevent, soundly beaten by Rafael de Leon. He only placed third in the 200-meter dash. The results of the test events proved to be ominous, as when the 1934 Far East Games went underway, Gonzaga was unplaced in all his events. The Philippines romped off with the overall championship, a fitting finale to the last of the fabled “Oriental Olympics”.
The veteran Gonzaga retired at age 28, but would return to the track every now and then as a sports official, referee or field event judge. He was, by then married to Aquilina Buenviaje, and in 1936, had a son, Jaime.
The cancellation of the 1938 Far East Olympics schedule in Japan was a portent of a coming global war. Suddenly, the friendly sporting rivalry between Japan and the Philippines, a U.S. ally, escalated into an armed conflict that spread to the Far East. When Japan invaded the Philippines, a guerilla movement--Hunter’s ROTC—was formed in 1942, and Anselmo Gonzaga became an officer of the Cainta chapter. To this day, he is honored as one of those credited in the liberation of Cainta.
Nothing more was heard about him in the next 4 decades, but U.S. immigration records show that he and his family migrated to the U.S. on 9 Oct. 1985, and settled in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was already 79 years old at that time. That was the last we heard of the great Cainta Flash, who, for one brief shining moment, animated the world of Philippine sports.
SOURCES:
Photo, 1934 FEG Athletics
team: The Tribune, 9 May 1934,
Official Olympic Report
Program, 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, LA 84 Digital Collection
Various Tribune
issues: Jan, 24, 1934, p. 7; 24 March 1934;
29 April 1934, page 26
Far East Championships: http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/fec.htm
Ancelmo P. Gonzaga,
mentioned in the Record of Jaime B. Gonzaga (Ancelmo P. Gonzaga's Son)Vital,
Philippines Marriages, 1723-1957: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HBV8-676Z
Ika-78 Anibersaryo ng
Cainta Liberation,uploaded by Atty. And Mayor Elen Nieto: https://www.facebook.com/elen.nieto.7/videos/867441764513397/
Thank you, Alex!!!
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