Ramon Fernandez, Onyok Velasco lead 7 new Philippine Sports Hall of Fame inductees

MANILA, Philippines – Basketball legend Ramon Fernandez and Olympic boxing silver medalist Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco banner the fifth batch of inductees to the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame. 

As announced jointly by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee on Monday, April 13, seven icons will be enshrined, including Beatriz Lucero-Lhuillier (taekwondo/gymnastics), Cecil Mamiit (tennis) Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta (para powerlifting), Isidro del Prado (athletics), and Eduardo Pacheco (basketball/football). 

“The Philippine Sports Hall of Fame is more than an honor roll of medals — it is a living ledger of greatness to honor those who have defined what it means to be Filipino in sports,” said PSC chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio, who headed the seven-man selection committee together with POC president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino.

A total of 75 distinguished athletes and coaches were nominated, with a five-man review panel of sports journalists including Quinito Henson, Al Mendoza, Dodo Catacutan, Jun Lomibao, and Ignacio Dee pruning the list down to 15.

The selection and review committees engaged in more discussions before they determined the seven new inclusions. 

Fernandez, widely considered the greatest PBA player of all time as he remains the league’s all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks, and championships won, helped the Philippines rule the 1973 Asian Basketball Confederation Championship, now called the FIBA Asia Cup.

Velasco stands as one of only 14 Filipinos who have won medals in the Olympics, capturing a silver in the 1996 Atlanta Games. Also a 1994 Asian Games champion, Velasco will join his older brother Roel — a bronze medalist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics — in the Hall of Fame.

A two-sport standout, Lucero won a pair of gymnastics golds in the 1987 Southeast Asian Games before she shifted to taekwondo, then still a demonstration sport when she bagged a bronze in the 1992 Olympics. 

Dumapong holds the distinction as first Filipino to win a Paralympic medal following her bronze triumph in the 2000 Sydney Games. Her other accolades include a gold in the IWAS World Games, two silvers in the Asian Para Games, and five golds in the ASEAN Para Games.

Mamiit, who first represented the United States and reached a career-high No. 72 ranking on the ATP Tour, delivered the Philippines a pair of bronzes in the Asian Games and six golds in the SEA Games. 

The late Pacheco thrived in football and basketball as he represented the country in both sports. He was part of Philippine men’s basketball team that topped the 1962 Asian Games and 1963 ABC Championship. 

A 400m specialist, Del Prado donned the national colors in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, a participation sandwiched in between his back-to-back titles in the 1983 and 1985 Asian Athletics Championships. He also snagged silver in the 1986 Asian Games. 

“The search for new enshrinees has been difficult because there are many stories of greatness in sports. Some are measured in medals, many are not. And yet, we undertake this task because a nation that remembers its champions is a nation that continues to produce them,” said Gregorio.

Each of the seven inductees will receive a trophy made by famous sculptor Leandro Baldemor and P500,000 when they are feted in the enshrinement ceremony, which is being penciled at Malacañang on May 20.

Their addition will raise the number of Hall of Famers to 54 following the induction of 10 athletes in the inaugural batch in 2010, 17 in 2016, 10 in 2018, and 10 in 2021.

Past inductees include Teofilo Yldefonso (swimming), Carlos Loyzaga (basketball), and Gabriel “Flash” Elorde in 2010, Eugene Torre (chess), Felicisimo Ampon (tennis), and Mona Sulaiman (athletics) in 2016, Lydia de Vega (athletics), Olivia “Bong” Coo (bowling), and Paeng Nepomuceno (bowling) in 2018, and Elma Muros-Posadas (athletics), Robert Jaworski (basketball), and Paulino Alcantara (football) in 2021. 

The Hall of Fame was established in 1999 under Republic Act No. 8757. – Rappler.com