by Jose Quirino, STM, 16 Aug. 1964, p. 30-32
Last April 15, CARLO MATUTE LOYZAGA, Asia’s exponent of the dash and dribble game, retired from the basketball scene after taking part in 12 international cag competitions since 1951. Just about everybody who knows something about basketball, including the superstar’s former detractors, said something about Philippine basketball not being the same again without the Great Difference.
Caloy’s retirement was the end of a long journey. The journey spanned 15 years of of spectacular performance on the mahogany court—here and abroad. In those 15 years King Caloy made 12 Philippine teams. He was the spark plug of the local quintet in all four Asian Games (1951, New Delhi; 1954, Manila; 1958, Tokyo; and 1962, Jakarta) where the Philippines maintained its supremacy as Asia’s cage champions.
In 1962, The Manila Times conducted a poll among
basketball experts to chose the country’s greatest basketeer of all time. Four
of the jurors—Lou Salvador, himself an outstanding cager of yesteryear
(he holds the record of 116 points in one game), handily picked Loyzaga.
Only one chose Jacinto Ciria Cruz, yesteryear’s “Jumping Jack”.
Says Tony Siddayao of the Times: “There is no basis for comparing Loyzaga with the greats of the past. Unlike baseball and several other sports, basketball has undergone revolutionary changes over the last 2 generations and individual merits can only be measured in relation to the period they belong.
Loyzaga Day
Probably the greatest accolade ever rendered to a
Philippine athlete occurred last July 7 when the Manila
Industrial-Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) observed a “Carlos
Loyzaga Day.” A special award was presented to the Great Difference
on that day by Atty. Jose G. Syjuco, MICAA president, amidst impressive
rites held at the Rizal Memorial Basketball Coliseum, scene of many a Loyzaga
triumph.
“It was one of the greatest moments of my life when I received the award, “Caloy told us sheepishly during a recent interview. He cited four unforgettable moments in his life, namely:
1. When
he was hailed as a conquering hero of the RP cage Team from the 1954
World Cage Tournament from Brazil.
2. The
day he joined YCO basketball team in 1954, just after that year’s
national open tournament and just before the Brazil cage war.
3. The
day he got married to Victoria Cuerva in 1957.
4. The
day his first child (Joaquin Loyzaga II, named after Caloy’s
father) was born at the Lourdes Hospital on Aug. 28, 1958, just one day
before Caloy’s 28th birthday.
Caloy was born in Intramuros, Manila on
Aug. 29, 1930, the third among 4 children of the late Joaquin Loyzaga,
one of the best football players of the Bohemian Athletic Club,
and the former Carmen Matute. Caloy’s father died in 1935 when Caloy
was just five.
The other Loyzagas are: Nieves (now Mrs. Carlos Merlo), 39; Joaquin Jr. 37, now working as a chemist in Sydney, Australia; and Eduardo, 31, who is also in Sydney.“Late this year, I shall take my family to Sydney to visit the folks,” Caloy disclosed.
Loyzaga’s immediate family include his wife, Victoria,
and their 3 children, Joaquin II, 5; Ernesto 2; and Carmen,
1.
Caloy underwent early schooling at De La Salle grade school and his secondary education at San Beda College. One semester before he could finish his commerce degree at San Beda, he quit schooling to concentrate his talents on basketball.
Loyzaga’s long journey as a basketball superstar
started in 1947 when he was a spindly-legged, 130 pound six-footer who was
called “Mr. Toothpick” by his friends.
“You’ll never amount to anything on the basketball
court,” said one cynic to Loyzaga when the former saw the latter’s
maiden attempts to shoot the ball at the basket. But Loyzaga persisted
in practicing on the mahogany. Besides, somebody had told him that one way of
improving his frail physique was to play basketball.
The first quintet which Caloy joined was the Tervalac team. Surprisingly enough, he led his team in the scoring parade. Mr. Toothpick was turning inot a valuable cage asset.
In the course of his basketball career, Loyzaga
has earned several sobriquets including such terms as The Great Difference
or The Big Difference (popularized by sportscaster Willie Hernandez),
High Pockets,King Caloy, Stupendous Spire and El Leon.
After leading the Tervalac team at the Intergovernmental Playground Championship in 1947, Caloy powered the same quintet to an unbelievable victory over the star-studded Black and White team which was then coached by Gabby Fajardo.
It was in 1951 when he became a member of the Philippine team for the first time and distinguished himself in the 1st Asian Games in New Delhi. That same year, he led the San Beda Red Lions to the NCAA gonfalon. In fact, he led the Lions to four NCAA titles and one national title in 1952. All told, Caloy has earned 25 gold medals since his first participation in the Asian Games in 1951.
Says The Mirror’s Augusto Villanueva: “A strong rebounder, heavy court general, and a brilliant scorer, Loyzaga was the sparkplug of every team he played for the moment he graduated from the junior ranks in 1949.”
It was Loyzaga who powered th the YCO Redshirts in an unprecedented seven straight National Championships (1954-1960) and five MICAA cage crowns. Moreover, Loyzaga has won the title of Mr. Basketball for three times and Athlete of the Year one time.
In the 1954 World Cage Tournament in Brazil, where the Philippines placed third, Loyzaga was chosen one of the 10 best cagers in the world by sportswriters who covered the games. What’s more, he was the only Filipino who scored over 100 points (his total for the tournament, in fact was, 147).
What lies ahead
What lies ahead for this superstar? “I have no complaints,” he told us. “Life has been good to me. Despite my injuries, I feel fine—as long as I’m not playing on the hardcourt.”
Caloy lives with his family in a comfortable bungalow at Baesa, Quezon City. “I used to raise lovebirds but I abandoned this hobby because the birds kept multiplying and I had to keep adding rooms to our house,” he laughed.
Caloy is now a successful underwriter with the Metropolitan Insurance Co., and a trouble shooter at Elizalde International. But more than the visible signs of prosperity which spell success for the former toothpick, and more than the many medals won in international competitions, Caloy Loyzaga has finally found himself.
The last time talked to Caloy, we noted that he had attained genuine humility, he only genuine yardstick for real greatness. Caloy Loyzaga’s long journey has, indeed, ended.
***********
After Carlos Loyzaga announced his retirement in 1964, he embarked on a coaching career (he had been a playing coach for YCO until 1964), mentoring the UST Glowing Goldies (1964-1966) in the UAAP and the Manila Bankers in the MICAA. He was the coach of the Philippine Team which captured the 1967 Asian Basketball Conference Championship. In 1968, Loyzaga was the coach of the national team that saw action in the basketball events of the Mexico Olympics. In the Phil. Basketball Association Games, he handled the U/Tex (1975-76) and Tanduay Distillery (1977-79) cage teams.
Loyzaga also forayed into government service, an elected member of the Manila Municipal Board (3rd district) and was in office from 1967-75.
1999 Philippine National Basketball Hall of Fame
2000 Philippine Sportswriters Association Athletes of the
20th Century award
2016 Philippine Olympic Committee Presidential Olympism
Award
2023 FIBA HALL OF FAME
On June 2, 2023, CARLOS “Caloy” LOYZAGA became the first Filipino player to be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame, an auxiliary lead-up to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, co-hosetd by the Philippines.
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