In the annals of Philippine sports history, one name
stands out for his multifarious roles in advancing and supporting the cause of
national sports: DR. REGINO R. YLANAN—a premiere student athlete, a
bemedalled international track star, a medical doctor, educator, coach, and
venerable sports official and administrator.
His life legacy includes winning the first gold medals for
the Philippines at the Far East Games (1913) , heading the University of the
Philippines P.E. Dept. (1921), co-founding the Philippine Amateur
Athletic Federation (PAAF, 1924) as well as the National Collegiate
Athletic Association in the Philippines (NCAA, 1924), and coaching the first Filipino Olympian David
Nepomuceno in Paris (1924). Four years later, in Amsterdam, he was back as
physician of the Philippine Olympic team. It was also during his term as
PAAF secretary-treasurer that the Rizal Memorial Stadium was completed (1936).
He started carving his name in sports early. Born on 7
Sep. 1889 in Bogo City, Cebu to Sen. Pedro Rodriguez and Francisca
Ylanan, Regino developed an early passion for sports in athletics
and baseball. In Cebu High School, he was the captain of the baseball
team that became a 3-time interscholastic champion (1910, 1912, 1913) that
played in the Manila Carnival games.
After high school, he enrolled at the College of
Medicine & Surgery (C.M.S.), University of the Philippines where
he further honed his athletic skills. His younger brother and fellow athlete Catalino,
was also a student there. The brothers became members of both the crack U.P.
Varsity Baseball Team and the C.M.S. Baseball Team which became
school champions in 1914-1915. The two were also in the varsity and college Basketball
Teams.
On their own, Regino was both a member of the C.M.S. and
the U.P. Varsity Track teams in 1916. Catalino was a Varsity
Track member the year before, in 1915.
The older Ylanan came into national prominence at
the inaugural Far Eastern Championship Games held in Manila in
1913, participated in by 6 countries. The 24 year old athlete parlayed his
baseball-throwing skill by winning Gold
in Discus (28.28 meters), Shotput (10.76 meters) and Pentathlon.
In the 2nd edition of the games played in Shanghai
in 1915, Regino was back, this time with his brother Catalino, as
among the 6 representatives of the school. Regino defended his Shotput
title with a heave of 10.91 meters for a back-to-back Gold, plus a Bronze
in Pentathlon. Catalino won the team Gold for basketball.
In 1916, Regino resumed playing baseball,
captaining the varsity team to win that year’s P.A.A.F. Baseball Championship. The two
brothers would return to the 1917 Far Eastern Games in Tokyo,
their last participation in the games. In Japan, Catalino claimed his
second basketball gold, while the Philippine
Baseball team, in which Regino was fielded as a catcher, lost
the Gold to Japan.
Upon his return, Ylanan finished his medical
studies in 1918 and became a surgeon at the Philippine General Hospital.
With his heart still in sports, he accepted a government offer to go to
the Springfield College, Massachusetts
for a course in physical education, which he finished in 1920. This led to a
job at his alma mater as head of the U.P. Physical Education Department.
A highlight of his career in sports administration was
representing the Philippines at the 1924 Paris Olympics and to accompany
star sprinter David Nepomuceno, the first Filipino Olympic delegate. He
would attend two more Olympics, in Amsterdam (1928) and Berlin
(1936), to witness the first medals won by Filipinos in swimming and athletics.
In 1927 he was named National Athletic Director
and Secretary-Treasurer for the Philippine Amateur Athletic
Federation, the forerunner of the Philippine Olympic Committee. The
last Far East Games was held in Manila in 1934, and from thereon,
with 2 looming wars in the horizon (2nd Sino-Japanese War
that began in Manchuria, World War II) , interest in regional sports
went into a decline.
But Ylanan carried on, authoring and promoting books
on basketball and baseball, as part of
his advocacies. He was on his way to
finishing “The History and Development of Physical Education and Sports in
the Philippines”, when he was felled by a heart attack on23 August 1963. He was about to turn 74. Wife Carmen
Wilson-Ylanan, who was one of the early women basketball players in the
country, finished writing his opus that finally saw print in 1965
In 1999, the Sports Association of the Philippines
acclaimed Regino Ylanan as a “Sports Leader of the Millennnium”,
along with Ambrosio Padilla, Gonzalo Puyat, and Florencio Campomanes. It was a fitting honor or his life-long
service to promote a culture of excellence in sports, not just for physical
health but also for nation-building. For many, Dr. Regino R. Ylanan was truly
both a pillar and Father of Philippine Sports.
SOURCES:
Regino Ylanan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regino_Ylanan
CultureEd Philippines,
Sagisag Kultura: Regino Ylanan: https://philippineculturaleducation.com.ph/ylanan-regino/
1915, 1916 University of
the Philippines Yearbooks
Athletic Handbook for the
Philippine Public Schools, Bureau of Education, Manila, 1904. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/acp1028.1913.040/29?rgn=full+text&view=image&q1=Regino+Ylanan
The Games of the VIII
Olympiad: Official Report, (part 1, page 89). la84foundation.org. French
Olympic Committee
Iñigo, Manolo R.
(2001-09-07). Ylanan Legacy a Tough Act to Follow. Philippine Daily Inquirer,
pg. A22. Retrieved on 2015-01-12.
