WHO is the best basketball player that the Philippines has ever produced?
Would he be the tallest? The most athletic? The most versatile who can play positions 1-2-3-4-5?
It’s been 50 years or so already. But if you ask historians and scholars of Philippine basketball, they’ll still come up with one name and one name only.
Caloy Loyzaga. Aka The Big Difference.
In the words of revered sports columnist-editor Manolo Iñigo: “In his prime, Loyzaga was called the “Big Difference” because his absence from his team could mean defeat and he could turn defeat into victory with his presence.
In the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) cage wars for the coveted Zamora Trophy in the 1950s, San Beda lost its title bid when Loyzaga did not see action due to scholastic reasons. But when Loyzaga returned to play for the Red Lions, San Beda retired the Zamora Trophy by winning the championships three times in 1951, 1952 and 1955.
(The Crispulo Zamora Trophy was a trophy awarded by the NCAA in the 1950s to the first team that would win three consecutive championships—which San Beda did because of Caloy Loyzaga.)
“Excelling as a shooter, rebounder and center, Loyzaga led the powerhouse Yco Painters to several Manila Industrial Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) championships and a record 10 straight victories in the National Open.”
Of course the biggest thing that Caloy is most remembered for is how he led the Philippine team to a best ever third-place finish in the Second World Basketball Championship in Rio de Janeiro in 1954.
Caloy was also a consistent Olympian who played in Helsinki in 1952 and Melbourne in 1956. He drove the Philippines to four consecutive Asian Games championships in New Delhi (1951), Manila (1954), Tokyo (1958) and Jakarta (1962). He also captained the winning RP Team to the ABC championship (now Fiba-Asia) in 1960 and 1963.
A major coffee-table book is coming out about the legendary Caloy, lovingly spearheaded by his son, Chito Loyzaga, now a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission.
It will be published by the San Beda College Alumni Association (SBCAA) in recognition of his significant contributions to Philippine sports.
“Caloy Loyzaga represented not only the school but also the country. Nobody in my generation saw him play and only know how great a player he was by reputation,” Atty. Jonas Cabochan, SBCAA president, said during the recent signing of the agreement held on Thursday at the Casino Español in Manila between SBAA and PSC Commissioner Chito Loyzaga, the cager’s eldest son, on the book in tribute of his father.
“This book is very important because we also hope that it serves us an inspiration to our youth for the honor he gave to the school and our country,” added Cabochan during the event witnessed by Abbot Tarcisio Narciso, the head of the Benedictine Order in the Philipppines.
Also witnessing the signing of the agreement were Atty. Avelino Cruz, San Beda Law Alumni Association chairman, fellow San Beda alum Atty. Dominador Buhain, president of Rex Bookstore Inc., and 96-year-old Spanish priest, Fr. Benigno Benebare, who was the school’s prefect of discipline during Loyzaga’s early playing days with the Red Lions.
“This book will not only preserve Loyzaga’s legacy to San Beda but also for his country,” said Cruz, founder of the noted ACCRA Law firm and an avid fan of the player known as “The Big Difference” when he was a San Beda high schooler in the ’50s.
Banker San Beda alumni Jose Araullo, who was also able to watch Loyzaga in his prime, noted the agility and skill that the player showed on the court. “He played with finesse and was very sportsmanlike.”
“On behalf of my father and our family, we would like to thank the San Beda Alumni Association in helping us publish this book so we can preserve his legacy,” said the younger Loyzaga, who followed in his father’s footsteps to San Beda and was a member of the Red Lions squad that won back-to-back NCAA titles in 1977 and 1978. The older Loyzaga anchored the San Beda Red Lions to back-to-back NCAA championships in 1951 and 1952 before returning three years later to pace the Mendiola basketeers to the NCAA title at the expense of then archrival Ateneo.
Aptly titled The Big Difference, the coffee-table book will showcase the highlights of Loyzaga’s long and distinguished basketball career. Besides his accomplishments and pictures of his basketball heydays, the book will also contain anecdotes from close relatives, friends, schoolmates and contemporaries on the larger-than life sports figure, who, at 81, now lives in retirement in Australia.
Project Director Albert Almendralejo disclosed that noted sportswriters and columnists have been commissioned to write articles for the coffee-table book, among them noted sports columnist and analyst Quinito Henson of the Philippine Star, columnists Beth Celis of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Tessa Jazmines of the BusinessMirror, former Sen. Rene Saguisag and Palanca winner Krip Yuson, among others.
Almendralejo, also a San Beda graduate and SBAA board member, said that parts of the proceeds from The Big Difference coffee-table book will go to a scholarship fund for poor but deserving Bedan athletes.
“Caloy is proud that he was an athletic scholar of San Beda and would like to give the same opportunity to the next generation,” he said.
Watch out for the book!
