From Track to Tennis, Volleyball to Basketball, Hurdling to Swimming, He Excelled in All.
The
sporting career of NIÑO T. RAMIREZ from the mid-1930s to early 40s was
nothing short of spectacular. The gifted boy from Bohol pursued all
kinds of sports---track and field, aquatics, tennis, volleyball and basketball
–where, at his peak, exceled in all. Yet, not many remember this great,
all-around Olympian, and his unparalled contribution to Philippine
sports during the peacetime years.
Born on 16 January 1912, much of his early life in the province remains undocumented. What we do know of his beginnings was that he competed for three schools in Manila who prized him for his athletic talents. University of Santo Tomas was the first to take note of Ramirez’s outstanding sprinting, hurdling and jumping ability. Offered a scholarship, he also joined the varsity basketball, volleyball and tennis teams who successfully represented the school in major interscholastic meets. He earned a reputation as a versatile athlete who can do all, play all.
For his outstanding all-around performance, Ramirez was accorded major letters at the Annual Santo Tomas Athletic Commencement Exercise on 10 March 1934, at the school gymnasium A Roll of Honor Varsity Cup was presented to his Track Team Capt. Primitivo Martinez, along with trackmates Rafael de Leon, Antonio Salcedo, Ben Oswald, Rodolfo Arguelles, Nino Ramirez, Indalecio Ilago.
Coach Pedro Ablan, in charge of selecting members to the national track and field team, organized the athletes in groups. Surprisingly, Ramirez was considered only for the Hop, Skip and Jump event, along with Paulino dela Cruz, Jose Olores, and Amado Pascual. There was a separate group for the Running Broad Jump where dela Cruz and Olores were also shortlisted. On May 4, the members of the Far East Games Philippine Team were announced in the newspapers. Ramirez made his school proud by qualifying in the tryouts, and made it to his one and only appearance at the 1934 Far East Championship Games hosted by Manila at the Rizal Memorial Field from May 16-20.
Just a few months later, on October 27, 1934, the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation sponsored the American -P.I. dual track and field meet billed at the Jose Rizal Memorial Field to expose local athletes to international levels of competitive athletic events. A total of 111 athletes were entered, including Ramirez, who competed in the Interscholastic Championship, as there were no broad jumpers from the American team.
It was
in the “Big 3” Tournament held on
the 13th of January 1935 that Ramirez made headline news.
Participants were drawn from 3 major schools, National University,
University of the Philippines, and University of Santo Tomas that seceded from NCAA to form their own
league in 1932. Representing UST, Ramirez competed in the Running Broad Jump
and established a new Philippine distance record of 23 feet 2.5 inches (7.07
m.), obliterating the 22 ft. 11 in. national record of U.P.’s R.
Evangelista .
As an icing on the cake, the UST Basketball Team, of which Ramirez was also a member, copped the 1935 “Big 3” Varsity Basketball Title and National Varsity Championships.
Ramirez was given several accolades that year at the 1935 Santo Tomas Athletic Commencement Exercise held in March. He and national tennis ace Leonardo Gavia won runners-up honors to Primitivo Martinez who was named UST’s Most Valuable Athlete. Ramirez was also awarded several“diplomas de honor” for his achievement in Track and Field (new national record holder for Broad Jump), Varsity Basketball (Big 3 and National Champion), Tennis (All-Comers Tennis Champion), and Volleyball (Big 3 and national Champion).
It was back to serious business in 1936—an Olympic Year. Since the end of 1934, the P.A.A.F. had been planning the tryouts for the 11th Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, even entertaining the thought sending women athletes and swimmers. A series of qualifying races were held; the final track and field tryouts were scheduled so late on May 2.
On that
day, Ramirez poured it on to win the Running Broad Jump,
shattering the existing Oriental record of 24 ft., 10 13/16 in. owned by the Japanese C.
Nambu, resetting it to 25 ft., 1 inch (7.6454 m.). When the
list of track and field Olympians was finally released, only 5 names
were picked: Veteran high jumper Simeon Toribio (P.A.A.F.); hurdlers Miguel White (Mapua) and Teodoro
Malasig (U.P.) sprinters Antonio Salcedo (U.S.T.), and Nemesio de
Guzman (U.P.); and broad jumper Niño Ramirez (U.S.T.). The Philippine
Olympic team barely had 2 months to prepare (including sailing time), as
the Berlin Games were scheduled to open on 1 August 1936.
Niño Ramirez left together with coach Serafin Aquino, and the rest of the national delegation on Saturday, March 30, for Hongkong on board U.S.S. President Taft. They arrived on Monday where they had scheduled tune-up competitions with the Chinese. The next day, June 1, they boarded ss. Jean Laborde for France, arriving in Berlin 2 ½ weeks before the opening of the games on August 1.
Forty
nine nations were represented in the 11th Olympiad, and Ramirez
was originally listed in both the 110 m. Hurdles and Broad Jump ,
but he only competed in the latter, his pet event. Ramirez thus, became
the first Filipino to compete in the men’s long jump, which unfolded in
the mid-morning of Tuesday, August 4. Coming into the field, he had a newly-registered
best jump of 7.6454 m. to his credit, accomplished in the Olympic
try-outs.
For the qualifying round, each jumper had three attempts to reach the required distance of 7.15 meters. Unfortunately, Ramirez faltered and failed in all his attempts to jump this distance, and was thus eliminated in the first round, together with the Japanese Harada.
Nevertheless,
it was a great experience for Ramirez to have participated in the
historic event that resulted in Jesse Owens’s dramatic victory over German
Luz Long in “Hitler’s Olympics” which was meant to showcase superior
Nazi power. Third was the 1934
FEG champ, Naoto Tajima (Japan).
For Ramirez, there was still a lot to celebrate in 1936. A personal milestone was his graduation from the University of Santo Tomas where he earned an Associate in Arts certificate. Wishing to pursue a bachelor’s degree, he moved to Ateneo in 1937, where he resumed his illustrious athletic career. In 1938, Ramirez was in the Ateneo team that participated in the 1st Inter-Collegiate Track and Field Meet held from Feb. 26-27 at the Rizal Track-Football Stadium. The best cinder path stars of NCAA champion Mapua Institute, Silliman University, National University, Jose Rizal College, San Beda College, La Salle College and even visiting American track stars like A. E. Olsen, R. M. Stanley, Le Roy Kirkpatrick, Sam Stolver, contested the first-ever intercollegiate title.
The next month, the 3-year old University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) held a weekend track meet from Feb. 8-9 , where the 29-year-old Ramirez repeated his winning jump, stamping his supremacy in the field event. This was to be the last known competitive meet that Ramirez entered before the onset of World War II in the Philippines in December,
The War all but put an end to the brilliant careers of our sporting heroes, some killed in the war swimmer Yldefonso, hurdler White and vaulter Sujeco . His school contemporaries, sprinter de Guzman and cager Ciria Cruz suffered the same fate. Many others—like Niño Ramirez--- faded into the background, receding from the sports pages to spend their lives in anonymity and quiet.
Which is why, there are very few extant pictures of Ramirez; what his life was like in the 50s and even the date of his passing remain unknown. It was only in January 1978 that his name cropped up as part of the 20 outstanding Thomasian athletes inducted into the UST Sports Hall of Fame at the school gymnasium.
Then, in 2008, when Henry Dagmil qualified for the long jump in the Beijing Olympics, media dug up old records and finally remembered the pioneering exploit of Niño Ramirez, the first Filipino long jumper to make an appearance at the Berlin Games. Though it took 72 years ago for another Filipino to follow in his hallowed footsteps, it was still a magnificent feat to honor his legacy.
SOURCES:
Photo:
At Big 3 Track, Field Meet, The Tribune, 13 Jan. 1935, p. 30
Photo: Del
Torneo de la Big 3, La Vanguardia, 15 Jan. 1935
Olympic
tryouts, Trackmen and Swimmers to compete tomorrow, The Tribune, 20 May 1932, p.7
Santo
Tomas Athletic Commencement on Today, The Tribune, 10 Mar. 1934, p. 11
Six
Teams Compete in Sto. Tomas Basketball League, Opening Nov. 11, The Tribune, 9 Nov. 1934, p.11
El
Equipo Olimpico de Pista y Campo, La Vanguardia, 15 May 1936, p. 6
Inter-Collegiate
Track Meet, Saturday, Sunday, The Tribune, 25 Feb. 1938, p. 6
1941
UAAP Track Meet Over Weekend, The Tribune, 19 January 1941
National
Decathlon Title Goes to Bob Russell, The Tribune, 28 January 1941
Far East
Championships, GBR Athletics, http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/fec.htm
The
Graphic Magazine, 1936
1936
Official Report of the Xi Olympics, Berlin, Germany, LA84 Digital Collection
