49. Partner-Perfect: PATRICIA B. INGAYO, All-Around Tennis Ace (active mid 1950s-1971)

The versatile tennis player PATRICIA Bengson INGAYO (b. 14 Apr. 1937/d.11 Jul. 2013) possessed such depth of skills that allowed her to play and win medals in Singles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles and Team events. At the peak of her performance, she medalled consecutively in 3 Asian Games campaigns in all tennis events, and figured in the finals of several editions of the Philippines Open International Championships, founded in 1918 (later known as PHILTA International Championships).

Patricia Yngayo was born in Ermita, Manila,  the daughter of Lope Yngayo, and his wife, Salud G. Bengson who were married on 9 Jan 1935. Originally from Cebu, Yngayo went to the University of the Philippines and played school tennis. He became a national and Metropolitan tennis champion who played in the Davis Cup with Guillermo Aragon against Austria in May 1928. He later became a coach and trained the Philippine Davis Cup team. Lope Yngayo was certainly an influence for Patricia to take up the sports of tennis, and her early competitions revolved around tennis tournaments organized by community clubs.

1958 was the turning point of Yngayo’s tennis career when, in the finals of the Philippine International Open Tennis Championships, she barged into the Women’s Single’s event and placed second to the great Desideria Ampon—who would be, for the next years, her one and only greatest rival. In the next years --1959, 1960, 1966, 1969, 1971—Ampon would relegate Yngayo to a runner-up finish, except in 1970 where American Ceci Martinez beat her in the finals. Yngayo never won the top women’s singles title in this Manila-based tournament.

Yngayo and Ampon were named as the Philippine delegates to the women’s tennis competition at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan. She and Ampon made it to the Women’s Doubles---and bagged the Silver, won by Japan’s  Sachiko Kamo and Reiko Miyagi. In the Mixed Doubles, she and partner Miguel Dungo reached the finals and claimed the Silver medal. It was in the Doubles Events that Yngayo was most successful in the Asian Games, winning medals in succession in Tokyo, Jakarta and Bangkok through her perfect partnership with Desi Ampon.

In the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, Yngayo finally annexed an individual medal to her collection, winning Bronze in the Women’s Singles, shared with compatriot Desi Ampon, after 2 Japanese—Akiko Fukui and Reiko Miyagi—who won Gold and Silver, respectively.  The Yngayo-Ampon tandem were also triumphant in the Women’s Doubles and the Team Event, taking home the Bronze.

Her final 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand yielded 2 precious Silvers in the Women’s Doubles (with Desi Ampon) and Mixed Doubles (with Federico Deyro), and Bronze in the Women’s Team. In all, Yngayo—in tandem with Ampon, Dungo and Deyro—amassed 8 medals—4 Silvers and 3 Bronzes in the quadrennial games. Add to that her individual Bronze in the Women’s Singles—and that makes her the most productive Filipina tennis player in the Asian Games to date.

The bemedalled Patricia Yngayo may not have won an individual tennis title or an individual tennis gold in her lifetime, but as they say, victory is not just about coming home with Golds. It is also about coming back stronger, rebounding with resilience in the relentless pursuit of excellence. In her competitive years, Yngayo demonstrated all that, and more—proving her status as one of the few all-around women tennisters of the country. The accomplished tennis ace passed away at age 76, after a lingering illness.

SOURCES:

The Philippine Athlete, official publication of the P.A.A.F. October issue

Photo of Patricia Yngayo: Chino Trinidad + FB page

Lope Yngayo: https://mail.db4tennis.com/players/male/lope-yngayo

Asian Games Tennis medal winners Tokyo1958

 https://www.olympiandatabase.com/index.php?id=318659&L=1

Tennis at the 1962 Asian Games, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_at_the_1962_Asian_Games

Philippines at the 1966 Asian Games, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines_at_the_1966_Asian_Games

Photos of Miguel Dungo, Federico Deyro: https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LCXZ-18F/federico-deyro-1928-2006

20. DESIDERIA AMPON: The Filipina Tennis Trailblazer (active 1941-1971)

The most celebrated Filipina tennis player known for her long and successful career on the hard court is the multi-titled DESIDERIA “Desi” AMPON of Manila (b. 19 Sep. 1924). She was the daughter of Felix M. Ampon and Josefa R. Hermoso. At her peak, she was crowned the women’s singles  champion at the International Philippines Championships,  a record 11 times.

Desi Ampon truly was destined to be a tennis star; her father was a tennis pro and a coach. Her older brother, Felicisimo Ampon, reigned as the country’s No. 1 male tennis player of all times, who has made triumphant appearances at the Davis Cup, French Open, and in the Asian Games.

She started her career in local competitions at a time when the sport was being played by a handful of Filipinas. Minda Ochoa, one of the earliest female champions, helped popularize the sport but she retired in the late 30s. Even her return to the scene in 1950 failed to spark renewed interest in tennis.

Ampon began making waves in Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA)-sanctioned matches and by 1941, she ranked 5^th behind leader Liberty Solisa. Soon, sports watchers kept their eye on this other petite Ampon as her rise in rankings continued. She continued playing in city playgrounds like the Dapitan court, often practicing against her sister Petronila.

In 1950, she teamed up with Felicisimo to reach the finals of the Philippine tennis mixed doubles, defeating Sumant Misra-Mrs. Checkett, 6-2, 7-5. They finished as runner up to Spaniard Pedro Masip and the Argentinian Mary Weiss.

But Ampon’s full potential was still to be realized, and that came auspiciously in 1955, when she finally won her first National Title in the women’s singles. 1956 was again, another sterling year, winning 3 titles in that year's National Open Tennis Championships: Singles, Women's Doubles (with Lourdes Ang) and Mixed Doubles (with brother Felicisimo Ampon).

In the next 3 years, she would earn 2 more titles, capped by her representation of the Philippines in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan—the first time that Tennis became an official medal event.

Sixty tennis players from 15 nations contested the medals at the Games with  Japan winning 3 Golds , followed by the Philippines with 2, but with more medal finishes (10 medals vs. Japan’s 4). Desideria Ampon snagged the Silver in the Women’s Singles behind Japan’s Sachiko Kamo, and another Silver, in Women’s Doubles (with Patricia Yngayo), won by the Japanese tandem of Sachiko Kamo and Reiko Miyagi.

With brother Felicisimo Ampon, Desideria grabbed a Bronze medal in the Mixed Doubles, behind another Philippine team, Raymundo Deyro and Patricia Yngayo). In all, she came home with 3 medals—not bad at all for her Asian Games debut.

 As a prelude to the next 1962 Asian Games, she entered the 1961 Malaya Open Lawn Tennis Tournament in Kuala Lumpur. She was pitted against Japan’s national champion. Reiko Miyagi but lost out to place 2^nd. But she came back strong in the Mixed Doubles, teaming up with brother Felicisimo to vanquish Japan’s Miyagi and Hitoshi Hiroshe 6-3, 9-7.

In Jakarta, she continued to achieve milestones by surpassing her previous Asian Games medal output, winning 4 Bronzes:  Women’s Singles (shared with Patricia Yngayo), Women’s Doubles (with Yngayo) , Women’s Team, and Women’s Mixed Doubles (with Miguel Dungo).

In her last Asian Games in Bangkok 1966, she added 2 medals to her collection: Silver, in Women’s Doubles (with Yngayo), and Bronze, Women’s Team. In all, she amassed 9 medals from 3 Asian Games, tying with Indonesian Yayuk Basuki, who achieved that number in 4 editions.

Meanwhile, her run as a Philippine champion continued unabated after 1958, as she captured the 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, and 1971 national tennis crowns, as well—an unprecedented eleven titles in all.

There is very little we know of Desideria Ampon upon her retirement after 3 decades of tennis playing. But what we do remember is the important legacy she left behind, that paved the way for generations of Filipinas to take up the sport, and excel like her—the likes of Marissa Sanchez, Jennifer Saberon, Dyan Castillejo, Francesca La’O, and now, Alex Eala. the highest-ranked Filipino female singles player in WTA Tour history,

SOURCES:

PROGRESS REPORT Magazine, 1955 issue

“Malayan Singles Champion” MIRROR Magazine, 26 Aug. 1961, p. 31

Tennis Forum, https://www.tennisforum.com/threads/biographies-of-female-tennis-players.497314/page-267?post_id=81956633#post-81956633

9. JOHNNY JOSE, World-Class Tennis Prodigy, active 1949-1964

JOHNNY JOSE, Hall of Fame, Philippine Davis Cupper, Asian Games Medalist

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JUAN MARIA  J. JOSE or Johnny Jose (b. 8 Aug. 1938) was the son of Guillermo Jose and Encarnacion Ybañez Johnson, a former Miss Rizal who competed in the Manila Carnival Queen 1927 . Guillermo was named as the consort of the eventual winner, Luisa Marasigan, but it was with Encarnacion that he fell in love, and eventually got married with.

Guillermo was a tennis aficionado  so he encouraged his son Johnny to take up the sports. Jose started his sports career at 7 and won his first tennis title, the National Elementary Singles, at 9. He retained this title until 1951 when he copped the National Secondary titles. In high school at La Salle, Johnny, along with his older brothers, Guillermo and Emilio, were tennis standouts, who made regular winning appearances at the N.C.A.A. tennis tournaments.

In 1952, the 14 year old Jose played in England, Spain and France (under the sponsorship of well-known sportsman, Manolo Elizalde), and came home with the Junior Singles Championship of Kent, England by defeating India’s Ramanathan Krishnan, now rated as one of the top players of the world. The following year, he played in Japan and won both  the All-Japan Singles Title and Junior Doubles Championships.

In 1955, at age 17, Jose was rated as no. 3 man in Philippine tennis. He later made his debut at the Forest Hills, New York in the U.S. Open Championship. In the same year, he was named to the Philippine Davis Cup Team and remained a member of this team for 5 years (1955-1960). Jose was barely 18 when he graduated to the senior ranks, copped several collegiate titles, then went to the US where he and Gregory Grant won the Junior Doubles trophy.

In 1956, Jose teamed up with Ampon to win three major doubles titles: the PTA Open, the Metropolitan, and the National. In the same year, they won the Saigon Doubles title. A year later, Jose was honored as “Athlete of the Year” by De La Salle College, also won the PTA Open Singles title. 1957 became doubly memorable when he scored a major upset in the South Australian Championships by ousting Belgium’s no. 1 Davis cupper, Philippe Washer.

At his debut at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Johnny Jose bagged his first medal with a Bronze in the men’s singles, completing a 1-2-3 all-Filipino podium finish (Raymundo Deyro and Felicisimo Ampon took Gold and Silver, respectively).

Jose retained his No. 3 position during 1958-1959 and 1959-1960, then jumped to the no. 1 ranking when he won the national singles championship by defeating England’s top ranking player, Mike Sangster. This year (1961), he copped the Malayan Open (singles and doubles), the Malayan Interport Team, and the Singapore Open (doubles).

In 1961, Johny Jose was elected outstanding young man in sports for 1961 not only for the international prestige he has won for the Philippines but also for the fine sportsmanship and gentlemanly deportment off and on the tennis courts.

 Jose made it to his second Asian Games outing held in Jakarta in 1962. Here, he finally secured a Gold medal, trouncing Japan’s Atsushi Miyagi in a hotly-contested final match. This would be the last time that a Filipino would claim a tennis Gold in the Asiad. Jose also won Silver with partner Raymundo Deyro in the doubles, against Japan’s Myagi and M. Fujii,

 At age 26, Jose made a final appearance in the sport at the 1964 Davis Cup Eastern Inter-Zonal Championships and then retired. Johnny, a La Salle chemical engineering graduate, had also worked as head of  the laboratory control department of the Elizalde Iron and Steel Co. He also became a tennis coach, mentoring young tennis stars like the Castillejo sisters, and the women’s tennis national team.

He was inducted into his alma mater’s Lasallian Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, and was honored with a Davis Cup Commitment Award Trophy in 2013, for their long years of Philippine representation at the premiere tennis tournament. In 2016, Johnny Jose was inducted into the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame.

He passed away on October 23, 2018 at St. Luke’s Hospital. He is survived by his wife Olivia and 5 children Ina, Juanchit, Annalisa, Fatima, and basketball coach Mon Jose.

SOURCES:

“TOYM”, The Sunday Times Magazine, 26 Aug. 1961, Cover

“Johnny Jose, Malayan Open Singles Champ”. Mirror Magazine, 26 Nov. 1960, p. 30

Screen grab from: Juan "Johnny" Jose BNP Paribes Commitment Award Recipient PHILTA 2013”, uploaded by Davis Cup Philippines, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z9IbuYscEc

Medal Record: wikipedia