Christmas contest winners

We didn’t think we could generate the usual overwhelming response to our yearly Christmas contest from readers. We were wrong. Although we launched the contest in this column only last Wednesday and readers had only three days–up to 5 p.m. last Friday–to beat the deadline for joining, we were swamped by 1,521 entries from all over the country, including Iloilo City, Ormoc, Baguio, Bangued in Abra, Mexico in Pampanga, Mandaue City, Mangaldan in Pangasinan, Pililia, Imus, Valenzuela and various towns and cities of Metro Manila.

The count could’ve easily topped 2,000 if we listed the late entries that failed to reach The Star office within the deadline. Not bad considering the blitz contest gave readers only three days to send in their answers to three questions.

The deadline was set before the start of Game 6 of the recent Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Reinforced Conference Finals. That’s because the questions had to do with the outcome and series-ending statistics of the Finals.

Our questions were: Which team will win the championship (Coca-Cola or San Miguel Beer)? Which player will total the most assists in the Finals? Which player will score the most points in the Finals?

Of course, the answers were Coca-Cola, Olsen Racela and Tee McClary. Racela compiled 32 dishes (4.6 clip) to top the assists department. The only others to collect at least 20 assists were McClary (28), Rudy Hatfield (23), Johnny Abarrientos (21) and Boybits Victoria (20). The scoring leader was McClary with 156 points or a 26.0 norm. The others to hit at least 90 points were Dorian Pena and Jeffrey Cariaso (95 each) and Hatfield (91). Close to breaking the 90-point mark were Kwan Johnson (89), Dondon Hontiveros and Nic Belasco (86 each) and Danny Ildefonso (80).

We sorted out the entries with the correct answers and picked 20 winners for our Christmas bonus contest.

The lucky 20 are:

Amparo Jacinto of 20 Riviera Street, Merville, Paranaque–a 76-year-old retiree.

Jasper Tarayao of 846 Panay Street, Sampaloc–a 32-year-old radiology technician.

Danilo Tuazon of 329 Damayan Street, Bacood, Sta. Mesa–a 51-year-old physician.

Miriam Garan of 84 East Drive Street, Parang, Marikina–a 33-year-old supervisor in the Art Department.

Jonjon Jeosuit Arradaza of Visayan CATV Network, Inc., Rizal Street, Ormoc, Leyte–a 26 year-old collector.

Juanito Magsumbol of B4 L26 Valenzuela Heights, Bignay, Valenzuela City–a 47-year-old security guard.

Janice Muyco of 38 Magdalena Subdivision, Antonio Street, Pasig–a 29-year-old barber.

Crisanto Jamero of Naga Road, Pulang Lupa, Las Piñas–a 49-year-old businessman.

Glecilyn Garcia of San Martin Street, Gulod, Novaliches–a 30-year-old teacher.

Edgardo Wenceslao of 5698 Lopez Jaena Street, San Dionisio, Parañaque–a 37-year-old ABS-CBN employee.

Archiebald Garcia of 1632 Crisostomo Street, Sampaloc–a government employee.

Glennis Ganchua of Pines Tower, Galeria de Binondo, Manila–a 22-year-old civil engineer.

Darwin Ramon of ACM Woodstock Alapan, Imus–a 33-year-old sales executive.

John Ben Mallari of 1305 Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, Quezon City–a 7-year-old student.

Lemuel Amores of Garden City Subdivision, Sucat–a 23-year-old driver.

Rene Antonio Galang, Jr. of Richlane Subdivision, Anabu, Imus–a 26-year-old card production supervisor.

John Christopher Quiring of 1489 Tayuman corner Reyes Streets, Sta. Cruz, Manila–a 19-year-old student.

Heribert Valencia of B74 L18 District 9, Pandacaqui Resettlement, Mexico, Pampanga–a 35-year-old security guard.

Lezandro Nuestro of 493 Golea Street, Mangaldan, Pangasinan–a 30-year-old businessman.

Audelio Gonzales, Jr. of 427-D Inocencio Street, Pasay City.

Winners may claim their prizes at 3 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 22, at the Star office in Port Arena, Metro Manila. Please bring your IDs. We’ll take a photo of our winners, to be published in the sports section of The Star, and introduce them to our President and CEO Mr. Miguel Belmonte and The Star sports staff.

We’re not able to itemize the prizes for each winner because several donors are still sending in their contributions. But you can be sure of lots and lots of goodies.

Our first prize winner–Amparo Jacinto–is sure to take home a San Miguel Corp. wrist watch, a rice cooker from the Basketball Association of the Philippines, Sta. Lucia gift certificates, Planet Sports gift certificates, a Molten leather basketball courtesy of the Philippine Basketball Association, an And 1 tape featuring Skip versus Alimoe in a streetball challenge and merchandise from San Miguel Corp., Nike, Alaska, Talk ‘N’ Text, RFM Corp., Blu Star dishwashing liquid and detergent, No Fear, FedEx, official Philippine team to the Southeast Asian Games shirts from the Philippine Olympic Committee, Pro Star Philippines, Sonia Trading (distributor of Molten, Asics and Mikasa products) and Cebuana Lhuillier.

We’ll acknowledge all our donors in this Tuesday’s column.

Congratulations to the winners. And thank you to our readers for your continued patronage and support. Merry Christmas to one and all.