48. EDGARDO “ED” L. OCAMPO: From Mr. Football to Mr. Basketball and Three Olympics

The country’s no. 1 sports—basketball—has produced outstanding hardcourt heroes from Pampanga through the years—names like Gerry Cruz, Hector Calma, Ato Agustin, Ponciano Saldana, Jojo Duncil come to mind. But one young Kapampangan stands out for being a legend in his own time, winning honors for the Philippines and for himself in not one, but two sports—football and basketball. It is in the latter discipline that he came to international prominence, earning the title of “Mr. Basketball of 1960” at age 22. His name: Edgardo L. Ocampo.

EDGARDO or "Ed" Luciano OCAMPO, born on 5 October 1938, was one of four children of the “father of modern Philippine Architecture”, the acclaimed Fernando Hizon Ocampo (San Fernando) and the renown Pampanga beauty, Lourdes Magdangal Luciano (Magalang). His siblings included Fernando Jr., also an architect, Oscar, his football team mate at Ateneo and sister Maria Pilar.

Basketball and football caught the young Ocampo’s fancy almost at the same time while enrolled at the Ateneo Grade School. He tried out for the school’s midget basketball team but did not pass the height requirement. Instead, he made it to the football squad where his brilliance in the field became much apparent. By age 17, Ed was acclaimed by sportswriters as “Mr. Football”. Ed qualified for the Philippine National Football team that toured Korea and Spain in 1956.

But in that same year, Ed broke his clavicle during a rough game, promoting doctors to advise him to take off from the sports for half a year. But even before those six months were up, Ed was back in school, joining the basketball tryout for the school’s NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) team. This time, he made it after several Blue Eagles dropped out from the squad. Ed first played in the second round of the 1957 NCAA series.

At 5 feet 9 inches with a stocky built, Ed was certainly not considered tall enough in the sports where “height is might”. But his stamina,power, speed and quick reflexes made him the man to watch on the court. He managed to captain the Blue Eagles to two NCAA championships in 1957 and 1958.

One of his most memorable stints as a basketball collegian was when the Blue Eagles played against the tough Keh Nan team from China in the World Boy Scouts Jamboree benefit at the Rizal Coliseum. The Chinese dribblers were stunned when they saw Ocampo bounce his chest on the floor, intercept a pass and score on the same play. Six thousand roaring fans rose to their feet to give him a standing ovation.

Ed was recruited by YCO where he played as a guard, becoming a key figure in the team’s 1960 victory in the MICAA (Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association), the top basketball league in the 60s. It was Ed who limited Narciso Bernardo of Ysmael Steel—then considered as the country’s best forward—to just 9 measly points in a critical game. For his performance, he was dubbed as “Mr. Basketball” in 1960.

At the peak of his career, young Ocampo was a member of the national basketball team 4 times, played in the world championship in Chile, competed in the Asian Basketball Conference and competed in 3 Olympics (1960-1968-1972). At the 1960 Olympiad in Rome, the Philippines placed a creditable 11th place. Newspaper accounts glowed at how “Ocampo played magnificently, with brilliant reprising and rebounding”.

What has also earned his fans’ admiration is his sportsmanship on and off court. Not even once in any game did he figure in a brawl. That is a feat in itself considering the nature of the fast and furious game. When his playing years ended, he turned to coaching, guiding the San Miguel Beermen, the Toyota Tamaraws and the Pepsi Bottlers of the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association). As coach, he led his teams to 4 championships.

Ed Ocampo was married to the former Maria Lourdes Trinidad. Pampanga’s basketball legend and Hall of Famer passed away on 29 July 1999 at age 54. He was inducted into the Ateneo Hall of Fame (1982), National Basketball Hall of Fame (1999), and the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Hall of Fame in 2013.

SOURCES:

Iron Man of Basketball, The Sunday Times Magazine, Vol. XVI No. 23, 15 Jan. 1961

Ed Ocampos' Views on Shackling Shin. The Sunday Times Magazine, 4 Dec. 1970, p. 37

Edgardo L. Ocampo:Basketball Olympian. Views from the Pampang. https://viewsfromthepampang.blogspot.com/2010/12/227-edgardo-ed-l-ocampo-basketball.html

Eduardo Ocampo. Legends and Heroes of Philippine Basketball. By Christian Bocobo and Beth Celis. p. 110

The Greatest Basketball Team Ever? istoryadista.net. https://www.istoryadista.net/2012/09/the-greatest-philippine-basketball-team.html

47. JOSEPHINE “Big Jo” DE LA VIÑA and Her Still-Unbroken 54-Year-Old Discus Throw Record.

The discus throw record of Josephine De La Viña has stood for 54 years, without a doubt, the most enduring record in Philippine sports history. It is for this reason that “Big Jo” is regarded as the best thrower that the country has ever produced, and at her peak, ranked 13^th best discus thrower in the Olympics. She was born on 20 April 1946, the eldest child of American-Mexican Norman and Carolina de La Viña of New Lucena (now, Sta. Barbara) Cebu.

De La Viña recalls that hers was not an athletic family. Her father used to be a professional bowler, and that was it. For some reason, she became attracted to softball, her first sport, which she played as a student of Labangon Elementary School. But her affair with the Grecian discus began when she enrolled at the Cebu Institute of Technology High School that was renowned for producing the most successful women athletes of the Philippines—the likes of Asia’s track queen Inocencia Solis, hurdler-sprinter Francisca Sañopal, javelin thrower Vivencia Subido, and broad jumper Visitacion Badana. From throwing balls,  Josephine discovered her natural flair in the throwing events of discus, javelin and shot put. She caught the eye of Dean Amancio Alcordo and Vicente Tigas, who put her on a scholarship and began training her right away.

The hefty teen, who would grow to an intimidating height of 6 feet, with a weight of 180 lbs,  earned a Bronze at her first ever international competition–the 1st Asian Track and Field Championship in Tokyo–with a heave of 37.39 meters. At the 1963 National Open Track and Field competitions at the Rizal Stadium. She set the audience gasping with an incredible heave of 41. 987 m (137 ft. 9 inches) in the women’s discus throw.

At age 18, she was named to the National  Olympic team, where she put on a show by improving her throw to 42.27 meters at the Tokyo Games in 1964, good enough for 18^th place. De La Viña got even better when she joined the 1965 National Open Championships in Manila, registering a remarkable 158 feet, 9 inches (48.387 m.), topping the Asian mark of Japanese Chizoko Tanaka (150 feet, 7 inches, or 45.89 m.)

The next year, De La Viña was the proud flag bearer at the 5th Asian Games in Bangkok (1966) . Competing against favored Japanese amazons, “Big Jo” held her own and threw the discus to an Asian record-shattering 47.58 meters (156 ft. 1 ¼ inches)—which was not even her best throw–to give the Philippines its first Gold. She had been averaging 162 feet in practices, which would have been enough to place her among the top 6 in the world Olympics.

The civil engineering student would go on to participate in two more Olympic quests in Mexico (1968), where she would improve her ranking to 15^th  of the world’s best. De La Viña was also entered in the Shot Put event, but did not start, opting to focus on her pet event, the Discus.

She went into deep training in the U.S. in between the Olympic years under coach Bob Lawson, and it was there that Big Jo set a personal best and a new Philippine record that would—to this day—remain unsurpassed.  At the 1971 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships that took place on 10 July at the Memorial Stadium on the campus of Bakersfield College in Bakersfield, California, De La Viña threw the discus to an astounding 54.71 meters (179 feet, 5 inches) defeating USA’s Carol Jean Moseke L. Frost, the 1967 Pan American Games gold medalist, and 1968 Olympian.

No other Filipina thrower has come near to this record; in fact, the second-best throw also belongs to De La Viña at 53.92 meters, achieved during the qualifying rounds of the Munich Olympics. She almost qualified for the finals, landing in 13^th place, but only 12 athletes moved forward to contest the medals.

To date, after 54 years, De La Viña is the only Filipina to reach--and exceed--the 50 meter mark in the Discus Throw event. For perspective, Dorie Cortejo’s silver medal heave of 45.26 m.  at the 1989 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games is over 9 meters behind De La Viña’s best. “Big Jo” passed away on 4 November  2011in Iloilo, leaving behind an unbroken record that is expected to endure for many more years, earning her a special place in the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

SOURCES:

The Philippine Athlete, P.A.A.F. Official Publication, 1966

“Josephine de la Viña”, olympedia, https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/74514

Quintana, Buddy. “A Most Charming Champion”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 1967

“Josephine de la Viña, Aiming for a Medal”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 13 Oct. 1968 (Cover)

43. PH Olympian HEDY GARCIA: The Teenage Girl Who Swam Across the Laguna Lake

The day after Christmas in 1965, a long-distance swimming competition was organized by Dr. Clodualdo Manas, manager of the Nonino Swimming Club of Laguna, involving crossing the Laguna Lake. From the starting point of barrio Pipindan,  Binangonan, to the coastline of barrio Cuyab in San Pedro Laguna, the total distance was about 18 kilometers.

Dubbed as Swimathon 1965, the local challenge was reminiscent of the English Channel swim contest where athletes swam across the Channel unaided by an escort. The event attracted 22 participants—from former Olympians to a 10-year-old boy swimmer. The race started on the Pipindan shore at 7:30 a.m. on a clear Dec.26 morning, after the water temperature was checked.

By 12:30 p.m. 16 of the original 22 starters had given up, including 10 year old Noli Manas, fished out from the water by a motorboat. The remaining swimmers plodded on, stroke after stroke.

First to make it to the finish line after five hours and five minutes was high school student Loreto Garcia, a UAAP champion swimmer from Far Eastern University, with a time of 5 hours, 5.5 minutes . But what caught the crowd’s attention was the second placer—15-year-old high school girl,  Hedvig “Hedy” Garcia, who timed in at 5 hours, 40 minutes and 8 seconds.

So impressive was her time that Hedy trounced two former male Olympians: Bana Sailani, who failed to finish, and the Tokyo Olympian Rolando Landrito of the Philippine Air Force (6:17.0 hrs.). She was also way ahead of 31 year old long distance swimmer Ricardo Cuenca (5:43.2 hrs.) who would set an endurance record of 47 hrs. swimming from Nasugbu to Manila Bay in 1969.

Hedy. who stands only 5 feet 2.5 inches tall, was an amateur swimmer from Far Eastern University. She was born on 8 Feb. 1950 in Pakil, to a sports-loving family. Her fantastic Laguna feat was just part of her intensive training that led her to improve her times---and a slot in the Philippine swimming team. Less than a year later, she was sent to the 1966 Asian Games from Bangkok, and won a team Silver, by placing second in the 4 x 100 m. Medley relay swim team that included Rosalina Abreu, Helen Elliott, and Gertrudes Lozada.

By the time the Olympic year came along, Hedy was the holder of 8 Philippine bests in 100 m., 200 m. backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly records, The breaststroke and the individual medley became her specialties.  

She went on to qualify for a place in the Philippine Olympic swimming team--the youngest member at 18-- that competed in the 1968 Mexico Olympics. The talented swimmer swam in four events: 100 m. free (7th in her heat), 200 m. breaststroke (4th), and both the 200 m. (3rd)  and 400 m. individual medley (7th).

Hedy made it as well to her 2^nd Asian Games, and returned to Bangkok, Thailand in 1970 to claim a team Bronze Medal in the 4 x 100 m. Medley relay event, along with Luz Arzaga, Susan Papa, and Luz Laciste.

 After retiring from competitive swimming, Hedy turned to coaching, mentoring the University of the Philippines Women’s Varsity Swimming Team from 1978-1984. She continues to live in her hometown of Pakil, Laguna.

SOURCES:

Benjamin Afuang, Photos by Ben Santos, “The Long Swim Across Laguna Lake”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 9 January 1966 issue, 24-27.

Olympedia, https://www.olympedia.org/lists/114/manual?page=6

Philippines at the 1966 Asian Games, Wikimedia.com

Philippines at the 1970 Asian Games, Wikimedia.com

10. LOLITA R. LAGROSAS: The Philippines’ All-Around Iron Woman (active 1958-1970)

Before Elma Muros, no other female athlete was as well-rounded as LOLITA R. LAGROSAS  whose track career spanned over two decades, involving three major sports disciplines—High Jump, Broad Jump (now Long Jump) and Pentathlon.  On the side, she even played Basketball for the National Women’s Team!

Born in Naawan, Misamis Oriental on 24 August 1938,  her versatile athletic skills in provincial meets—she was an excellent jumper, hurdler, sprinter and thrower-- paved the way for her relocation to Manila, where Far Eastern University gave her a scholarship.

In her prime, the five foot four and a half, 113 lb.  Lagrosas went through 5 hours of training every day. This served her very well indeed, as she gained attention when, at age 20, she snagged a Silver in her favorite favorite High Jump at the 1958 Tokyo Asiad, behind the Japanese entry.

In 1965, right after winning Gold for High Jump and Long Jump at the National Open at Roxas City, she went to Taipei and copped 3 Gold Medals in her 3 events, and was adjudged “Most Outstanding Athlete” in the Nationalist China-Philippines dual meet. A few days after returning to Manila, Lagrosas had to fly back to Taipei to serve as a guard to the Philippine basketball team at the Asian basketball championship.

In the next Asian Games she appeared in, she earned 2 more medals for High Jump: 1966 Bangkok (Silver) and 1970 Bangkok (Bronze). Also at the 1966 and 1970 Bangkok Asiads, this Filipina Iron Woman won a pair of Bronzes in Pentathlon, the counterpart of the Men’s Decathlon, which involved completing 5 gruelling events for points: High Jump, Shotput, Hurdles, Long Jump and 200 m. dash, contested in 2 days.

Lagrosas was also a two-time Olympian, having competed in the jumping and pentathlon events at the 1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico Olympics.  Her personal bests: High Jump – 1.69 m. (1966); Long Jump– 5.71m. (1970); Pentathlon – 4131 points (1968, accomplished at the Mexico Olympiad, putting her in 25^th place in a field of 33 ). After retiring from the sports, Lagrosas and served as a long time Head Coach of the track and field team of De La Salle University.

SOURCES:

List of Philippines Asian Games Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Asian_Games_medal_table

“Bumper of Bronzes”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 1 Jan. 1967, p. 20-23

“Long Distance to Fame”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 13 Oct. 1968, p. 18

“Stars in Sports”, The Sunday Rimes Magazine, 1 Jan. 1969, p 28

“Meet the Athletes”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 6 Dec. 1970, p. 6-7

6. From Boys Town to the 1968 Mexico Olympics: Gymnast NORMAN V. HENSON

NORMAN VENZON HENSON overcame a difficult childhood to become a world
class Philippine Olympian, thanks to Boys Town's gymnastic program. 1968.

Norman Venzon Henson’s Olympic story is an inspiring one, that began with a troubled childhood in Arayat, a stay at Manila Boys Town where he discovered gymnastics, and his eventual salvation by the sport that would propel him to the top and earn him a place in the world’s premiere sporting competition.

Born on 3 Mar. 1950 to parents Domingo Henson and Leonora Venzon, the young Henson grew up in the sleepy barrio of Mesulu, in the foothills of Arayat town. He grew up in comfortable surroundings; his father was a member of the landed Henson brothers who owned vast farmlands and many businesses including operating a major bus line.

One would expect a Henson son to walk the straight and narrow path, but for some reason, Norman Henson would stray from that road, and at a very you age, fell into the company of wayward boys his age that would cause a rift between him and his parents. So the young Henson did the unthinkable—he ran away from home. The delinquent child who was not even in his teens, was found by his distraught parents after some time, but he kept running away, beyond their control.

In the end, Henson was taken by his parents to Manila Boys Town, a place for  voluntarily surrendered children, orphans, vagrants and teens. Boys Town was to build a reputation as a reformatory school for errant boys because of its sports and education programs. Ran by priests headed by Fr. Jose A. Mirasol, Boys Town proved to be safe haven where boys could discover and develop their  sense of self-worth and belonging.

One sport discipline that the institution was known for was gymnastics. By 1960, under Fr. Mirasol, Boys Town had produced competitive gymnasts that were good enough to compete at the national level, and before long, they were winning championships.

As a ward of Boys Town, Henson enrolled in the sport, and before long, he was hooked in gymnastics, having found an enjoyable outlet for his energy, at last.  At just 5 feet 3 and a half inches tall, and weighing 128 pounds, Henson’s physique was perfect for the sport. Slowly, he learned to build his strength by chinning bars, and learned to leap, tumble, flip and somersault. By so doing, Henson also learned to build his character, self-discipline, and his spirit of sportsmanship.

In 1962, to promote the sport, the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) was organized, headed by Julian Malonzo as its first President. Sotero A. Tejada—who would be acknowledged as the Father of Philippine Gymnastics---was elected Secretary-Treasurer, while Boys Town coach, Fr. Mirasol became Chairman of the Men’s Technical Committee.

The first National Competition was launched in 1963 by the GAP, open to secondary public schools. Gymnastics then was already a staple sport at the UAAP. Norman Henson was named to the Boys Town Team, along with Ernesto Beren and Julian Indon. The trio of teens created a sensation when they swept all their events in their age division.

Philippine gymnastics got a major boost when, in the same year, GAP applied for international affiliation with the Fêdêration Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), the world governing body for that sport. Sec. Sotero Tejada not only got a membership, but also convinced the world federation to allow Filipino gymnasts to compete in the next year’s Olympics to be held in Asia for the first time. And so, in 1964, 3 Filipino gymnasts made history by competing at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics—a first for the Philippines: the FEU champion Evelyn Magluyan, Fortunato Payao, and Demetrio Pastrana.

Norman could have easily qualified with his superb gymnastic skills, but at 14, he was too young to compete in the Olympics.  Although  enrolled at the Gregorio Perfecto High School in Tondo, he continued to step up his training. In 1967, Norman and his teammates—Ernesto Beren, Raul de Belen and Rolando Mirasol—were invited to compete in Copenhagen, Denmark which was hosting the International School Games—the Hapniad, as it was called-- held in connection with the city’s 800th anniversary. It was an exciting time for Henson as it was his first time to journey to Europe. When it was his turn to take his place on the gymnasium mat, Henson mesmerized the crowd with a Floor Exercise routine that garnered him the Gold Medal, besting gymnasts from ten countries.

Finally, the Olympic year arrived in 1968 and, at age 18, Norman V. Henson, with his Boys Town team mate Ernesto Beren, were named to the 2-man Philippine National Team to compete in Mexico City, Mexico. It was a year of many firsts-- the 19th edition of the Olympics was the first Olympic Games to be staged in Latin America, held from October 12-27, the first to be held in a Spanish-speaking nation. For the Philippines, it marked the first time that a Filipino sat in the gymnastics judging panel, in the person of Sec. Sotero A. Tejada, and only the second time that the country sent its male gymnasts to the quadrennial event.

Of his star athlete, Sec. Tejada opined,” Norman Henson is expected to make a good showing in the floor exercises and rings”. At the National Auditorium, with 117 of the world’s best gymnasts participating, 14 different artistic gymnastics events were contested, eight for men and six for women. Henson saw action in the Men’s Rings, Parallel Bars, Horse Vault, Floor Exercises and Individual All-Around. The valiant duo gave their best, but at the end of their routines, their scores put them in the last 2 places of their qualifying events.

The gymnastics competition in the Mexico would be the last Philippine participation in the sports, with the institution of qualifying world cup events by the gymnastics federation. No Filipino gymnast has managed to survive the stringent standards—until the young Carlos Yulo came into the scene at the Tokyo 2020 games, 55 years later,

Post-Mexico, Henson continued to be active in competition. He practically trained and lived at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, which would be the venue of the 1971 National Open Gymnastics Championship held from April 29-May 1, 1971. This time, he was narrowly beaten in the All-Around by rising star Rolando Albuera. He would devote his time in the sport that he loved, and became a trainor and coach of many budding gymnasts in the 1980s, including members of the Philippine National Gymnastic Team. He, himself, was married to Teresita Jose, a former gymnast from the University of the East, whom he met back in high school. They would have 4 children: Norman Jr., Ethelson, Jacqueline and Pauline.

His coaching career was hampered by a series of strokes, and he would pass away in April 2014. Henson may not have won an Olympic medal,  but he certainly gained something of greater value from gymnastics, making a complete turnaround of an early life that was threatening to go awry.  The redemptive power of sports put him back on track, enabling Norman Venzon Henson to win decisively, in the game of Life.

SOURCES:

Special Thanks to: ETHELSON J. HENSON, son of Norman Henson, for additional information about his father.

About GAP: http://philippinegymnastics.org/about-gap/

Manila Boys Town Complex: https://www.coursehero.com/file/p613gnt/Manila-Boystown-Complex-is-a-government-owned-institution-and-facility-is/

Boys Town Regrets Over Lost Glory: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2006/06/14/341837/boys-town-regrets-over-lost-glory

Sunday Times Magazine, “Well Balanced: Ph Gymansts in the Olympics”, Oct. 13, 1968. P. 34