Deadline for Nike raffle today

If you haven’t sent entries to our big Nike contest, you’ve got only up to 5 this afternoon to make your move.

Nike is giving away four pairs of the Air Zoom Huarache 2K4 limited edition All-Star basketball shoe (retailing at P6,995 each) to four lucky readers who will be picked in a raffle after 5 p.m. today. Only 30 pairs of the special model will be sold in the Philippines and they’ll be available exclusively at Nike Park, Glorietta 4, Makati, starting Saturday. Once the 30 pairs go, you’ll never see the All-Star Huaraches in red, white and blue again in any store.

The four lucky Star readers will get to wear the limited edition shoe a day before the public has a chance to buy those 30 precious pairs.

Nike is introducing the model during the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star festivities in Los Angeles this weekend. The global launch will be spectacular as Jermaine O’Neal, Ron Artest, Paul Pierce, Michael Redd, Sam Cassell, Dirk Nowitzki, Brad Miller and Andrei Kirilenko are showing up for the All-Star Game in Huaraches.

Nike is bringing out two more color lines of Huaraches–fondly called the "sandal"–in time for the US NCAA playoffs next month. In 1992-93, the University of Michigan Fab Five–Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson–wore Air Flight Huaraches during the NCAA playoffs. The Air Zoom Huarache 2K4 is a souped-up, customized version of the Air Flight model for the new generation.

To join our contest, answer the following questions–1. Name any two of the University of Michigan Fab Five players who wore Huaraches during the 1992-93 March Madness; 2. Name any two NBA players who will wear Huaraches at the All-Star Game on Sunday; and 3. What is the Huarache fondly called? Write your answers, name, age, signature, address, telephone number, occupation and Nike shoe size on a slip of paper–with a clipping of a Philippine Star sports masthead showing date of the newspaper–and send to "A Sporting Chance" Huarache contest, Philippine Star, 13th and Railroad Streets, Port Area, Metro Manila.

Winners will be contacted by phone after 5 p.m. today and can claim their shoes at the Nike Park, Glorietta 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. tomorrow. Nike Park operations manager Caloy Caubang and Ms. Babes Angat will award the prizes.

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Coca-Cola pro cager William Antonio survived a road ordeal on the way home to Ortigas Avenue from a trip to Nasugbu recently.

Here’s what happened.

Antonio, his wife Ana, their two kids–2-year-old daughter Raine and two-month-son Cyrus–friend Ellen Potenciano and her two kids, and a nanny were in a Starex at about 6 p.m. when the van sputtered a few meters from the Shell station in the Nasugbu turnoff.

Antonio phoned his driver–who was on his day off–in Pasig and asked if he could bring a mechanic. On the way to Nasugbu, the driver and mechanic were stalled when their car broke down. Another car that fetched Ellen and her children conked out en route to Alabang.

Luckily, Hector Calma, his wife Ines, their children–Danielle, Andres and Claudia–and balikbayan friend Roy Gonzales were also headed home from Nasugbu that Sunday and spotted the Antonios’ stalled Starex. They brought baby Cyrus and his nanny to their Alabang home. The Calmas offered to take Raine, too, but she wanted to stay with her parents.

Finally, the driver and mechanic arrived. They managed to coax the Starex into moving but every five minutes, it stopped. The water pump was the problem. At about 9:30 p.m., the mechanic gave up near Evercrest close to Tagaytay. Ana then thought of calling her friend, Naomi Pedrosa–a chef at Taal Vista Lodge–for help.

"I hadn’t spoken to Naomi for over a year but she came to my mind," said Ana. "I was so thankful. She sent a van to pick us up and bring us home."

Mike Potenciano fetched Cyrus and his nanny from the Calmas’ home at 12 midnight and brought them to the Antonios’ condo on Ortigas. The Antonios got home at 4 a.m. Three hours later, a sleepless Antonio reported for basketball practice at the Ateneo gym.

The driver and mechanic took the Starex to Taal Vista Lodge and got home at 8 a.m. The Starex was towed back to Manila by Potenciano’s crew the next day and is still in the shop.

Two days after the ordeal, Antonio got a pleasant surprise when it was announced that Calma–the Good Samaritan–would be the new Coca-Cola team manager. Calma, of course, would’ve come to anyone’s rescue in that crisis situation. He’s that kind of guy. What a coincidence that Calma happened to be the Antonios’ angel that night in Nasugbu.

In a happy ending to the story, Antonio was just signed to a two-year renewal of his Tigers contract.