In 1955 CARLOS
M. LOYZAGA ended his years as a San Beda Red Lion, after giving his
college the prestigious Zamora Cup, given to 3-time winners of the NCAA
cage tournament. It was a feat he helped accomplished in 1951, 1952 and in
1955, where he earned the monicker “the great difference”. The year before retiring from San Beda, Loyzaga had signed up with the multi-titled Filipino basketball team -- YCO Athletic
Club--where he continued his dominance and find success in the country’s premiere basketball
tournaments of the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association
(MICAA).
Highlighting Loyzaga’s decade of dominance are the following achievements, convincing reasons why he deserves to be called “the greatest Filipino basketball player of all time”.
Loyzaga rose to become its YCO's most famous player. As an YCO Painter, he got to compete in the National Open Cage Championships that year, with Loyzaga helping capture the team’s 3rd consecutive triumph. The National Open, one of the 3 “cage diadems” in basketball, was open to all private and public athletic clubs and top collegiate teams from around the country.
The National Open went underway from 21-23 Jan., with 23 teams contesting the crown. In his appearance as an YCO Painter, Loyzaga helped clinch the title by defeating the 1955 MICAA champions 7-Up that had dethroned the YCOans that year with a final score of 78- 69. Mapua placed 3rd, with UST in 4th . They would defend their National Open title in 1957 and in the next 3 more years.
At the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) tournament held later that year from June 3 to July 11, 1956, the YCO Painters and the 7-Up Bottlers found themselves again tangling for the top title after hurdling 2 rounds--along with PAL, San Miguel Beer, Heacock’s, and Yellow Taxi.
In the
first round, YCO soundly beat the defending champions 7-Up, 72-63.
The crucial 2nd round, held
on the Jul. 11, was won in dramatic fashion. At the sound of the buzzer to
signal the end of the playing time, both teams were tied 56 all. The game went
on a 5 minute overtime, with YCO dealing 7-Up team their final
blow 63-58. In individual scoring, Loyzaga came in 4th, making 138 points in 9 games, or an average
of 15.33 points per game, after PAL’s Leo Schweiger (23.86 ave.), SMB’s
Rafael Barretto (16.90), and 7-Up’s
Adriano Mora (15.70).
In 1956, Loyzaga once more donned the country’s tri-colors to represent the country at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. He had participated in his first Olympics in 1952 at Helsinki, where the Philippines placed 9th, a meritable performance that thrilled Filipinos back home. But in Melbourne, the Philippine team improved on their record by clinching 7th place out of 15 country participants.
Loyzaga could have played in his 3rd
Olympics in Rome had he not sustain a broken wrist in an accident.
He was so bent in joining his team mates
that he cried and begged his
coach to grant him permission to play for the Philippines, which his
coach, understandably, could not give.
The Philippine winning streak at the much-followed basketball games at the Asiad continued with Loyzaga at the helm of the team. He had powered the team to its first Gold at the very 1st Asian Games in New Delhi in 1951, followed by a second golden performance at the 1954 Asian Games before a jubilant home crowd.
But in 1958, the Philippines found a new competition other than Japan; Loyzaga and his team mates had to contend with another basketball power, Nationalist China. The Filipinos had easily disposed Thailand (97-40), Malaya (110-60), Korea (99-85) and Singapore (93-55) in their first 4 games. But in their next fight against China, the Filipino were defeated (88-93). In turn, Japan defeated Nationalist China in a game that went overtime 87-85. The Philippines came back when they beat Japan convincingly 90-83.
When all the wins and losses were tallied, the Philippines, China and Japan were tied with 4 games won and 1 loss each. The point margin system was applied in all the 5 games to determine the placements—with the Philippines as the clear winner, followed by Nationalist China, and Japan
The Philippine
golden triumph continued in the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, when
they routed perennial foe Japan, 103-67 before a record crowd of 20,000. After Japan led with 6 points in the first 2 and a half minutes of
play, the Filipinos rallied, taking the halftime with a 12 point lead,
40-28—and never looked back. Skipper Loyzaga was one of the top shooters
in the finals with 15 points, while Narciso Bernardo topscored with 23
points, Eduardo Pacheco with 22, and Eddie Cruz contributing 19
big points.
2-TIME FIBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYER (1959, 1954)
Four years after winning the FIBA World Championship Bronze in Brazil, Loyzaga had a second crack at another basketball world cup title when he was named to the team that went to Chile, the host for the games.The Philippines was in Group C that included powerhouse Bulgaria, Puerto Rico and Uruguay. The Philippines managed to beat Uruguay (68-59), before losing to Bulgaria (85-61) and Puerto Rico (76-63).
· The
1962 Philippine
International Invitational Basketball Tournament
Instead, a FIBA-authorized Philippine International Invitational Basketball Tournament was held here in 1962, with 7 country participants: Australia, Nationalist China, Spain, Puerto Rico, Canada, U.S. The demoralized Filipino led by Loyzaga could only placed 5th, beating Australia and China, and losing the rest of their games. The U.S. won the invitationals, with Canada, pulling a surprise in 2nd place, followed by Puerto Rico.
2-TIME
FIBA ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP CHAMPION (1963, 1960)
Also formerly known as the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Championship, the biennial continental tournament was meant to determine Asia’s best in basketball. The tournament served also as a qualifying event for the FIBA World Cup Championship and the Olympic Games. Loyzaga captained the team that placed 1st in the inaugural Asia championship held in Manila in 1960, with Republic of China and Japan, in 2nd and 3rd places, respectively.
In 1963,
at the FIBA Asia Championship in Taiwan (ROC), the Philippines
scored a back-to-back victory, placing first again, followed by the Republic
of China and South Korea. Since 2017, the championship has
been renamed FIBA Asia Cup, with FIBA Oceania teams included. Played
every 4 years, it has ceases to be a qualifying event for both the World Cup
and the Olympics.
“Progress in Local Sports”, PROGRESS Philippines, 1955 Edition
Perez de Tagle, E. “Mighty Yco Keeps Open Cage Diadem for Third Straight Year”, The Filipino Athlete, The Official Publication of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation, Feb. 1956
“Philippine Basketball Deglamorized”, Philippine Free Press, 1962
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