Jun B, Parks head third Hall of Fame honorees

MANILA, Philippines - The late Emilio “Jun” Bernardino, fifth commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association, and Bobby Parks, a seven-time best import winner, banner a short list of personalities making up the third batch of inductees to the PBA Hall of Fame.

Other inductees in rites set Sept. 19 at Sofitel Hotel prior to the opening of the PBA’s 35th season are San Miguel Beer legends Allan Caidic, Avelino “Samboy” Lim, Hector Calma and Ricardo Brown, and former PBA board chairman Carlos “Honeyboy” Palanca III.

The final seven were picked by the honors committee chaired by former Vintage Enterprises bigwig Bobong Velez from a roll of 10 nominees.

Also in the selection panel are PBA commissioner Renauld “Sonny” Barrios, league chairman Joaqui Trillo, governors Lito Alvarez and Tony Chua, former PBA technical head Ricky Palou, Andy Jao, chairman of the Hall’s nomination committee, media bureau chief Willy Marcial, and sports editors Ding Marcelo of the Manila Bulletin and Teddyvic Melendres of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Bernardino, a former University of the Philippines Fighting Maroon, served as PBA commissioner from 1993 to 2001, retiring due to minor health problems later that year.

In 2004, Bernardino, along with Palou and other former PBA executives, formed Sports Vision Management and was responsible for the formation of the school-themed Shakey’s V-League.

He was named commissioner of the 82nd NCAA season in 2006, but suffered a fatal heart attack in March the following year during a surprise birthday party for a long-time basketball colleague.

As a tribute, the league renamed the Perpetual Trophy, the award given to the champions of the PBA Philippine Cup, the Emilio “Jun” Bernardino Trophy.

The PBA instituted the Hall of Fame during its 30th anniversary rites in 2005. Named in the first batch were Bogs Adornado, Francis Arnaiz, Philip Cezar, Atoy Co, Ramon Fernandez, Robert Jaworski, coach Baby Dalupan, former commissioners Leo Prieto and Rudy Salud, late league officials Danny Floro and Emerson Coseteng and broadcaster Joe Cantada.

Two years ago, the Hall accepted the nomination of San Miguel Corp. chairman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., coaches Ron Jacobs and Dante Silverio, former PBA president Domingo Itchon, import Norman Black, two-time MVP Abet Guidaben, pioneer pros Manny Paner and Danny Florencio, writer Tony Siddayao. and broadcaster Pinggoy Pengson.

Itchon, Siddayao and Pengson were cited posthumously.

Three other former Most Valuable Player awardees – Freddie Hubalde, Ato Agustin and Benjie Paras – were nominated but only Brown (1985) and Caidic (1990) earned the nod of the honors group.