8 sports personalities to be given posthumous awards

The Philippine Sportswriters Association will confer posthumous awards on eight sports personalities who passed away during the year in one of the highlights of the 2001 PSA Annual Awards at the Holiday Inn on Jan. 11.

To be honored during the traditional Awards Night are former Philippine Olympic Committee president Nereo C. Andolong, PBA players Alfie Almario and Larry Mumar, national coaches Valentin "Tito" Eduque and Felicissimo "Fely" Fajardo, Philippine Football Federation secretary general Chris Monfort, Asian sprint queen Inocencia Solis and boxing promoter Armando Besa.

Romy Kintanar, TV sports commentator and broadcaster and sports columnist, will also receive a posthumous award for his work in sports broadcasting and journalism.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has been invited to be the guest speaker in the awards rites of the country’s oldest news organization, which was founded in 1949.

The Awards Night will be hosted by sportscasters Noli Eala and Chiqui Roa-Puno. It is sponsored by Photokina Marketing and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and supported by the Philippine Airlines and AMF Puyat.

Andolong, who was also chairman-general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and president of the National Press Club, was a reporter of the Manila Chronicle, winning the NPC-Stanvac journalism award in 1958.

He headed a number of national sports associations and later became president of the POC from 1976 to 1980. He was an all-around sportsman, proficient in golf, tennis, pistol-shooting, bowling, water skiing, sky diving and scuba-diving. After his retirement two decades ago, he remained a golf enthusiast and sports lover.

Almario, member of the San Miguel Beer team for five years until his retirement, was a member of the national youth team that won the Asian youth championships in 1982.

Mumar played for Utex, Seven-Up, Filmanbank, CDCP and Great Taste in the PBA.

Eduque was coach of the Philippine team to the qualifying tournament for the 1964 Olympics and the 1973 Asian champion squad. He was also PBA coach for Concepcion Industries, Mariwasa and Manila Beer and won a bagful of titles for Yco and Mariwasa in the commercial leagues.

Fajardo was team captain of the 1938 NCAA champion Letran Knights, team captain of the Philippine team to the 1948 Olympics, the first Filipino to be accredited as an international referee, and was coach of the Philippine team to the Helsinki Games in 1952.

Solis was the PSA Athlete of the Year in 1958 when she won the Asian Games gold medal in the century dash.

Monfort was also president of the NCRAA Football Association and spearheaded an ambitious football program among the youth in the NCR, while Besa had promoted a number of local and international title bouts.