Only nine Hall of Fame nominees

It was easy and difficult to come up with the list of nine nominees for this year’s PBA Hall of Fame. Easy because there were shoo-ins but difficult as the waiting list of eligibles continues to grow.

For players to qualify for the Hall of Fame, they must be retired for five years or must have played his last PBA game at least five years before the start of the nomination process. He must also have played at least five PBA seasons. A coach must be either fully retired or must not have coached in the PBA at least five years before the start of the reckoning period. A league or team official must be either fully retired or must not have been part of the PBA or PBA team at least five years before the start of the nomination process. A member of the print media must have covered the PBA for at least 10 seasons and for radio and TV, five.

To get the ball rolling, the PBA named the members of the Selection Committee. They were PBA media bureau chief Willy Marcial, PBA operations director Rickie Santos, PBA press corps president Musong Castillo, Benjie Paras representing players, Ronnie Magsanoc representing the TV coveror, radio commentator Dennis Principe and this writer as sports columnist.

The Selection Committee met a few weeks ago to deliberate on whom to recommend to the Honors Committee, the final screening body with the authority to enshrine into the Hall of Fame. PBA licensing and events manager Rhose Montreal submitted a list of 28 previous player nominees still not enshrined. As a starting point, the list of 28 was reviewed, name by name. Then, the Committee added six more players to the list, namely Yoyoy Villamin, Padim Israel, Vergel Meneses, Terry Saldana, Andy Fields and Donnie Ray Koonce. Eventually, the cast was trimmed to 21. Members of the Committee then chose by secret ballot their top five choices.

Receiving at least one vote were Paras with seven, Magsanoc and Sean Chambers six each, Arnie Tuadles and Lim Eng Beng five each, Abe King, Ato Agustin and Bernie Fabiosa three each, Jojo Lastimosa two and Jerry Codinera, Israel and Byron (Snake) Jones one each. Among those who didn’t get a vote were Glenn McDonald, Aaron James, Cyrus Mann and Michael Hackett.

It was decided to nominate only five players with the most votes – Paras, Magsanoc, Chambers, Tuadles and Lim. The other nominees were picked by consensus. The late Ed Ocampo was a shoo-in as coach. The only other coach under consideration was the late Fort Acuna. For team official, RFM’s well-loved Elmer Yanga made it over U-Tex’ Walter Euyang and Toyota’s Pablo Carlos. For PBA official, it was the late referee Igmidio Cahanding and for media, it was the late Fred Luarca over Rudy Navarro, Romy Kintanar and Joe Concepcion.

So it came down to nine nominees from a list of 44. The Honors Committee will convene soon to decide whom to enshrine for the fifth batch in the Hall of Fame. It is made up of PBA chairman Robert Non, commissioner Chito Salud, two members from the PBA Board of Governors, two members from print media, two members from the TV network covering the PBA, a former PBA commissioner and a retired player. A candidate will need at least six votes from the Honors Committee to be inducted. Salud said the induction may be a stand-alone event or part of the program opening the next season on Nov. 17.

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San Miguel Corp. director of sports Noli Eala said the other day in line with Petron’s reorganization in the PBA, Indonesia coach Todd Purves is seriously being considered to join the staff as consultant starting the Governors Cup. Purves, who worked six years as a video coordinator and advance scout for the Sacramento Kings, led the Warriors to the ABL title last year. He flew into Manila last Thursday and left two days later after exploratory talks with Eala.

“Todd has been in our radar since he took Indonesia to the ABL title,” said Eala. “After the ABL finals, Todd mentioned the possibility of coaching in the NBA D-League or becoming an assistant coach in the NBA. There is a 45-day window for us to finalize a deal since Todd is committed to be on the Memphis Grizzlies staff for the NBA summer league in Las Vegas. Todd is close with Jason Levine who brought in Warriors owner Eric Thohir to invest in the Philadelphia 76ers. Now that Jason is with the Grizzlies as CEO, Todd was offered to coach in the summer league. There is still no head coach for Memphis but we’re hoping Todd will be available for Petron. His contract with Indonesia ends June 30. We’re not able to make a definite offer to Todd until his contract expires.”

San Miguel Beer champion coach Leo Austria takes over the Petron helm when the UAAP season ends as he will still call the shots for Adamson University. The late Bobby Parks and Eala chose Austria to coach San Miguel after the 7-time PBA Best Import awardee could no longer do the job because of his illness. Parks and Austria played together at Shell in the PBA and go back a long way. Gee Abanilla will be the Blaze Boosters’ interim head coach. Other changes in Petron involve Koy Banal moving in from San Mig Coffee as assistant coach and Siot Tanquingcen taking over from Hector Calma as team manager. Calma will be elevated to act as Petron’s alternate PBA Board Governor for Ely Capacio. Olsen Racela will join Tim Cone’s staff with San Mig Coffee. Jorge Gallent and Ato Agustin will transfer to Ginebra San Miguel as assistant coaches.

“Olsen’s shift to San Mig Coffee is a career move,” explained Eala. “With only two years of experience in coaching, one as head coach, Olsen will benefit tremendously learning from Tim. He returns to his original home as Purefoods was his first PBA team. In the NBA, we’ve seen players like Kevin McHale start and finish his career at Boston but coached elsewhere. Another example is Phil Jackson who coached at Chicago and Los Angeles but never played for those teams. Larry Bird played his entire career at Boston but after retiring, joined the Indiana front office. In Olsen’s case, we want to develop his coaching skills without rushing him and the move to work with Tim is a great opportunity to build a career.”