33. Teen Boxer ANTHONY N. VILLANUEVA, The Country’s 1st Olympic Silver Medalist, 1964

The 19 year old boxer who became a household name in 1964 with his unprecedented and historic triumph at the Tokyo Olympics was born Anthony N. Villanueva (b. 18 March 1945)  to parents Flora Narvaez and Jose “Cely” Villanueva, an Olympian bronze medalist in bantamweight boxing at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

 His pugilist father influenced his interest in boxing. As a 5 year old, his father gifted him with small barbells and boxing gloves which became Anthony’s favorite “toys”. At age 17, the clean-cut Villanueva enrolled at the Far Eastern University which had an outstanding college boxing program. Boxing aficionado and businessman Eugenio Puyat saw his potential and supported him, such that by 1962, at age 17, the teen became a national sensation when he won the Bantamweight title at the National Open Championships. 

This led to his being drafted to the national boxing pool, and 2 years later, he qualified as part of the Philippine boxing squad to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics along with welterweight Manfredo Alipala, flyweight Dominador Calumarde, bantamweight Arnulfo Torrevillas, lightweight Rodolfo Arpon and light middleweight Felix Ocampo, under coach Aling Enriquez.

It was an exciting time for the young Villanueva as he embarked on his quest for Olympic boxing gold. He was just 19, the same age as his father when he had won his bantamweight bronze in Los Angeles, 32 years earlier. Before he left, Anthony vowed to break his father’s 3^rd place finish which had remained unbroken for more than 2 decades.

Almost golden.

The 40-man Philippine delegation prepared for action as shortly after the games opened on 10 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan—the first Olympics to be held in Asia. The Boxing events went underway on October 13 at the Kora Kuen Ice Palace with 32 boxers in the featherweight division, from 32 countries. Villanueva won his opening bout against Italy’s Giovanni Girgenti on points, and moved on to dispose of Tunisia’s Tasser Ben Hasssen 4-1, but wounding his right eyebrow in the process.

The Quarterfinals round saw him flooring Poland’s Pyotr Gutman thrice, winning the bout by RSC ( Referee Stops Contest). In what everybody thought was to be a tough Semifinal round against the much-heralded George Brown of the U.S., Villanueva—despite fighting with cut brows—defeated the favorite with a 4-1 upset decision. Villanueva thus guaranteed himself a silver medal, thus fulfilling his fearless prediction of surpassing his father’s feat.

Of that very controversial Finals against Russia’s Stanislav Stepashkin held on Oct. 23, reporter Hal Drake of the U.S. paper ‘Stars and Stripes’ recounts: “He (Villanueva) was rated little chance in his bout with Stepashkin, who has shoulders like a medieval axman and a punch like a thrown brick. The Russian had easily disposed of every opponent.

At the bell, Villanueva rushed Stepashkin and reddened his nose with a beautiful series of stabbing rights. He hooked the right twice and made Stepashkin hold. He brought fans to their feet by staggering the Soviet boxer with a left to the head.

In the second round the two mixed it up in close, with hooks. In one flurry, the bandage came off Villanueva's eye in a smear of blood and the claret gushed from his nose. But that right was arcing over and still landing; Stepashkin was getting one, and sometimes more, for everyone he landed.

Villanueva's opponent must have been a hazy figure in a red blur during the final round, but he still met the Russian punch for punch. The blood covered all of Villanueva's face and streaked his opponent's arms after clinches. But the Russian finished that last round with his left eye cut, his right eye: half closed, his nose and one ear streaming blood. “

But when the judges’ scores were announced, the audience were in disbelief. The Italian judge Aniello, Khalife of Lebanon and Vuellaty of Tunisia scored it for the Russian while Maghraby of Egypt had it 59-58 for Villanueva and Nussgen of Germany saw it even at 59-all. A roar of protest went up when British referee R.H. Gittins raised Stepashkin's hand, with the 3-1-1 verdict.

Nat Fleischer, founder/editor of Ring Magazine said, “I have seen highway robbery before but not anything as bare-faced as this.”.  Peter Wilson of the London Daily News could only agree, called it “one of the worst decisions I have seen in the Olympics.” Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, who was at the ringside in Tokyo, recalled, “He won convincingly. The editor of Ring Magazine who was in front of us, was already congratulating us. But when the decision was announced, there was a howl.”

The crowd of 7,000 chanted Villanueva’s name to show their support for the big-hearted Filipino boxer who fought to the finish. It was said that fans jeered as the Soviet national anthem was played, while Villanueva shed tears.

Homecoming and silver linings

Nevertheless, Villanueva came home to a hero’s welcome—for achieving the highest-placed finish for a Filipino athlete in Philippine Olympic history. He was mobbed by people at his motorcade that crowded the Pasay-Manila-Quezon route. His school honored him with a Tamaraw Gold Medallion given by then Far Eastern University Vice-President Alfredo M. Reyes.

With his schoolboy looks, Villanueva was squired by movie producers, which he accepted on the prodding of his father. He starred in at least 5 action movies, including the boxing-inspired “Pamatay: Kaliwa't Kanan” (1964)  with Nida Blanca, for which he was paid a whopping Php 100,000. He also starred in “The Salonga Brothers” (1965) with Joseph Estrada, "Fighting Fists" (1971) with Roberto Gonzales, and "Ang Berdugo at ang Kamao." Later, his professional fees dwindled from between P2,000 to P7,000 per film.

Advertisers also sought out the acclaimed star major boxer, who signed up with two clients. 1966,Villanueva did an ad for La Tondeña Natural Rum. He also appeared in a Terylene fabric ad that was part of a campaign series featuring active men in heroic James Bond-like roles, attired in dashing, but durable Terylene suits.

As he lost his amateur status due to his lucrative acting career, Villanueva turned professional in 1965, debuting in a fund-raising event called “Fiesta Fistiana” at the Araneta Coliseum, matched against the Japanese, Shigeo Nirasawa. He would hang his boxing gloves after only 5 luster-less bouts, which ended in 1 win, 3 losses and 1 no-contest. His last fight was in 1975, against Australian Ross Eadie, which he lost via TKO.

Forsaken dreams, forgotten champion.

When his boxing and acting days were over, Villanueva became a boxing coach much like his father, until 1976, when he decided to go find his future in the U.S. By then, he was married with 2 kids, Avery (named after International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage) and Agatha. There, he took on a variety of jobs—as a Mexican restaurant cook, and as a security guard at a Staten Island hospital and at the Philippine Consulate in New York. 

A 1988 coaching stint in the Philippines proved unproductive, so he returned to the U.S. after failing to find a stable job. He would father another son, Jose Giovanni with his  second wife in 1996. A short while later, Villanueva permanently come home to the Philippines to stay with his third partner Liezel Beldia  with whom he shares son Joey Rembrandt. They took up residence in Kamuning, Quezon City,

Beginning in 1999, he suffered a series of strokes that left him incapacitated. He had hoped to return to the U.S. to fix his citizenship papers and then set up a gym business. To help defray the cost of his hospitalization, he offered his Olympic Medal for sale for 1 million pesos. Bedridden, he died in his sleep, penniless and almost forgotten  on 13 May 2014, in Cabuyao, Laguna, at age 69. Manny Pacquiao hailed him as  "original Filipino boxing icon who should never be forgotten by the nation."

Anthony N. Villanueva lived to see himself inducted in the Philippines Sports Hall of Fame for bringing the first historic Olympic silver for the country. It would take Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco another 32 years to duplicate his silver medal feat at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he placed 2^nd behind Bulgarias' Daniel Petrov, in the light-flyweight division.

SOURCES:

“He vowed to break his father’s record, “ Sunday Times Magazine, 8 November, 1964,

“Golden reception for a silver medalist,” Sunday Times Magazine”, 15 November 1964, p. 28

Anthony N. Villanueva, wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Villanueva

Games of the XVIII Olympiad, Tokyo 1964 : the official report of the Organizing Committee, LA Digital Library, https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll8/id/27912/

Hal Drake, Frazier chases German for boxing gold, Stars and Stripes, Oct. 25, 1964 medal, https://www.stripes.com/news/1964-10-25/frazier-chases-german-for-boxing-gold-medal-1894367.html1

Joaquin Henson, “Villanueva selling Olympic Medal for 1 Million”, Philippine Star, 6 January 2000,  https://www.philstar.com/sports/2000/01/06/97733/villanueva-selling-olympic-medal-p1-million

Joaquin Henson, “Forgotten hero at death’s door”. The Philippine Star , 11 May 2014,https://www.philstar.com/sports/2014/05/11/1321865/forgotten-hero-deaths-door

Joaquin Henson, “Olympic hero interred today”, Philboxing.com, 18 May 2014, http://m.philboxing.com/news/story-95534.html

ABS-CBN, ‘Villanueva’s death puts spotlight on poor, retired athletes”, https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/15/14/villanuevas-death-puts-spotlight-poor-retired-athletes

Movie Poster, “Sports Heroes Turned Movie Stars, Video 48, https://video48.blogspot.com/2007/02/sports-heroes-turned-movie-stars-1.html

Far Eastern University FB page, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=987760150052219&id=100064547295619&set=a.631930875635150&locale=ko_KR

 Isa Munang Patalastas, blogspot. "Is That Who I think He Is?: Anthony Villanueva for La Tondena Rum and Terylene. isamunangpatalastas.blogspot.com

32. Small Wonder: ROSALINDA YUMOL, All-Distance Running Champion

The tremendous success of the athletes of Southern Tagalog Athletic Association (STAA) in the Bureau of Public Schools-Interscholastic Athletics Association (BPISAA), owes much to the sports training program initiated by Rizal Gov. Isidro Rodriguez.

Every year, Rizal sports officials  go out on scouting campaigns in provincial and regional meets looking for potential additions to their deep athletic talent pool. One of the most outstanding athletes ever to emerge from this initiative was the discovery of a 12-year old running prodigy,  ROSALINDA F. YUMOL in 1961.

The diminutive Yumol was born of humble beginnings on 25 April 1949 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, one of 10 children of Andres Yumol and Wenifreda Fuertes. The large brood included brothers Andres (+), Albert (+), Fortuno, Arnel,  and sisters Ethelrida, Luzviminda, Erlinda, Esther, Sherlin and Mary May.

She spent her early schooling at the Puerto Princesa Elementary School, where her running talent became apparent when she began representing her school in meets. At age 12, she could beat older and taller girls in sprints and middle distance running. Her track victories caught the attention of Rizal governor Rodriguez, who promised to sponsor her college schooling after her graduation from Palawan National High School in 1967.

Thereafter, she was recruited and became a ward of the province, given a scholarship at the Rizal Memorial Sports Academy, with a focus on Physical Education, while living and training in the same sports complex. She graduated from Rizal College in 1969.

Yumol amazed her coaches for her exceptional speed and endurance; her size did not seem to matter, outrunning girls in races across all distances—sprints (100m./200 m./400 m.) and distance events (800m. and up). She also added the relays to her specialties, teaming up with brilliant runners like Amelita Alanes, Lucila Salao, and Aida Mantawel who towered above her.

At the Bureau of Public Schools-Interscholastic Athletics Association Games (BPISAA) held from 11-17 April 1972 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, Yumol became a national sensation when she won the 400 meter and 800 meter distance run. Thought considered for the Olympic women’s track 4 x 100 relay team with Salao, Mantawel and Alanes, it was runner Carmen Torres who was picked instead to complete the quartet. The Philippine team was disqualified in the first heat in Munich.

Eventually, in 1973, Yumol was included in the 4 x 400 m. relay line-up to run in the inaugural Asian Athletics Championships held from 18-23 Nov. at the Rodriguez Sports Center in Marikina, Rizal, Philippines. Before the hometown crowd, the tiny Yumol ran the race of her life, and together with her team mates Mantawel, Alanes and Torres,  bagged the Gold with an exceptional time of 3:48.9 mins, way ahead of the Singapore (3:50. 1) and Taipei (3:57.8) teams.  The same group added a Bronze for the Philippines in the 4x100m relay event with a clocking of 47.7 secs. 

From 1970 to 1980, Yumol enlisted in the Philippine Army and achieved the rank of Technical Sergeant, while running for national track team. She also forayed to Marathon running, becoming the first Filipina to compete in international marathons including Boston, Hawaii, Vancouver, Jakarta, Singapore, Hongkong, Korea, Japan, and Saudi Arabia.

In the mid 1980s, she came to the U.S.  to observe the 1984 Olympic trials and decided to remain here. By the 1990s, she moved to the West Coast where she worked in the medical field for 20 years as a Certified Nursing Assistant at the OB/Gyne Department of St. Mary’s Medical Center-Long Beach. It was about that time, in 1997, that she met David Brandow, who also worked in the medical field, who dabbled in diving on the side. They were married in 1999, and Yumol gained 2 stepchildren, Bryan Brando and Jamie Russell. Her sons from a previous relationship were Joy Ross Santiago, and Seagfred Yumol. Yumol finally became a U.S. citizen in 2006 and held a Filipino-American dual citizenship.

Upon her retirement in 2015, Yumol enjoyed her domestic life and indulged in her passion for gardening, often creating flower arrangements to the cemetery to honor loved ones who have passed away. She was a prayer group member with El Shaddai.

Yumol finally had the time to holiday in Canada, but what she looked forward most was her regular  Philippine visits. In 2018, she and her husband spent New Year’s Day in the Philippines. Sadly, it would be her last. On 25 May 2018, Rosalinda Yumol-Brandow--the tiny runner who was a titan on the tartan track--passed away in Lakewood, California, at age 69.

SOURCES:

Athletics Podium: https://athleticspodium.com/athlete/46591/rosalinda-yumol

Luyben Dilday Mortuary: Rosalinda Yumol-Brando Obituary, https://www.luybendilday.com/obituary/6541720

“The Speed that Thrills”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 7 May 1972

FB Page, Rosalinda Yumol-Brandow

31. Ageless Shooting Star: MARTIN M. GISON, The Only 5-Time Filipino Olympian

One of our greatest shooting sports legends was the marksman MARTIN MAURICIO GISON. (b.14 March 1914) who had a long, sterling shooting career that began in his college days at the University of the Philippines, to 5 Olympic stagings and 3 Asian Games editions.

Growing up in his home province in Iloilo, the young Martin loved playing with his “tirador”, aiming and slinging his shot at any target he could find-- a fruit hanging from a tree, an empty can, or even pesky, stray animals. He earned a reputation as a sure shot, foreshadowing his future as a world-class shooter.

As a University of the Philippines R.O.T.C. cadet in the mid 1930s, Gison  joined the U.P. Shooting Team, and quickly built a reputation as an elite marksman in rifle and pistol events. The team was often fielded in inter-ROTC Rifle competitions and in events organized by the National Rifle and Pistol Association  of the Philippines under Judge Delfin Jaranilla.

In June 1935 alone, he won 2 titles, claiming the All-Around Rifle Championship in the first week of the month, by scoring 466 out of 500. Three weeks later, on June 23, Gison added another outdoor championship title in the .22 Pistol category (20 rounds at 25 yards slow-fire and 25 rounds 50 yards slow-fire), with a score of 458 out of 500, edging favorites Felix Cortes and Capt. G. Lugtu.

These victories paved the way for Gison’s inclusion in the 1936 Philippine Olympic Team that went to Berlin in August. Against the world’s sharpest marksmen, he started strong in 5-way tie for 2^nd place  in the Small-bore .22 Rimfire Rifle, Prone event. After the countback that decided the winner, he dropped to 4^th , edged for the Bronze by the Polish Wladislaw Karas, who had an identical score of 297. Still, it was the closest podium finish ever by a Filipino shooter. However, Gison was not able to hold his form in the target pistol and revolver events, where he was also entered. 

His U.P. team mate, Otoniel Gonzaga, failed to advance in his events. Nevertheless, the Olympics proved to be an enriching experience to the young sport shooter and his modest accomplishment, so close to winning a medal in Berlin,  was reported in major newspapers back home.

At the 1937 U.P. Athletic Commencement and Physical Education Day, the U.P. varsity athlete and Olympian received his major letters for his rifle and pistol achievements, along with his certificate and sweater, at the Rizal Tennis Stadium.

In 1938, Gison became the coach of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Shooting Team. He was also selected by the P.A.A.F affiliated National Rifle and Pistol Association to be one of the country’s representatives to an international shooting tilt in July 3, against Saigon sharpshooters from the Federation Cochinchinois de Tir et Preparation Militaire.

Gison joined the USAFFE (Unites States Armed Forces in the Far East) and was stationed in Camp Murphy (later Camp Aguinaldo). One of his last tournaments before the war was the 1940 Philippine Army-Philippine Constabulary Meet at the Pureza ranges of N.R.P.A. using .45 caliber service pistols or revolvers, which his team won.

At the height of the war, Lt.  Gison was among those captured in 1942 by the Japanese imperial forces. He survived the infamous Bataan Death March, and on 25 Dec. 1942, he, along with 238 former USAFFE servicemen, took their oath of loyalty before the Director General to support the New Philippines under the Japanese empire. When the country was liberated, Gison started anew by going back to sport shooting.

In 1948, he qualified for the much-delayed Olympics in London that were supposed to have been hosted by Japan in 1940.  He came in 25th in the Free Pistol, 50 m.; 40^th in the Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 m. , and 43^rd in his pet event, the Small-Bore Rifle, Prone, 50 m. 

 Gison had mixed results at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, improving his standing to 32^nd place in the Free Pistol, 50m., but skidded down to 36^th place in the Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 m.. He placed a creditable 13^th in the Small-Bore Rifle, Prone, 50 m.

The 1950s saw Gison at his peak, as in-between Olympics, he participated in the Asian Games that were first instituted in India in 1951. At the 2nd Asian Games in Manila held in 1954, he bagged a complete set of medals of every color:  Gold for the Rapid Fire Pistol, 25m.; a pair of Silvers for the Free Rifle, 3 positions, 300 m., and the Free Rifle, 3 positions, 50 m.. and Bronze for the Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 m.

The Melbourne Olympics followed in 1956, where Gison qualified in 2 events. He placed 13^th in a new event, Free Rifle, 3 Positions, 300 m., and 22^nd in the Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 m. Two years after, the 3^rd Asian Games in Tokyo saw him winning a Bronze in the Rifle, Prone, 50 m.

Defying age, Gison, at 50 years old, qualified for his 5^th Olympics at the 1964 Tokyo Games, along with 8 other Filipino marksmen. In his swan song, he finished in 48^th place in the Small-Bore, 3 Positions, 50 m.

 Martin Mauricio Guison may not have medalled in his shooting events but he holds an extraordinary record that has never been matched—for making the most number of appearances at the Olympics—5 times—from 1936 to 1964, spanning 28 years. No other Filipino athlete has ever come close to this feat, a lesson on achieving greatness, through perseverance, endurance, and the will to win.

SOURCES:

The Tribune, various issues: 5 June, 25 June, 5 Sep. (1935), 27 April, 11 Aug. (1936); 27 Feb.(1937); 19 July (1938); 20 Jul. (1940); 25 Dec. (1942).

Photo of M. Gison with Letran Shooting Team, Colegio de Letran College Yearbook, 1938

Main Photo: Olympedia

Records, Martin Gison, Wikipedia.com