Constant Samboy

It is devastating to the country’s basketball community to know that Samboy Lim has been struck down by any illness. It is unimaginable that our invulnerable hero can get sick. When news of his collapse at an exhibition game Friday leaked, many could not believe it. Now many are clinging on to the signs of hope, and the knowledge that he will pull through. For now, the suspicion that it was triggered by a combination of medication and a strong energy drink are immaterial. Until the details are clear, what is important is that millions of Filipinos are praying for his quick recovery. What is important is our faith that he will overcome this, as he has every challenge thrown against him.

I have known Samboy for practically the entire three decades of my career, and the one infallible thing is not his consistent daring, the seemingly reckless, joyous abandon with which he plays basketball. If you look deeper, what makes Samboy such a constant in our lives and memories is his simple, uncomplicated logic. If something needs to be done a certain way, then that is the way he will do it, period. No fear, no other agenda. When he sets a goal, he simply plots the straightest line to it, whatever obstacles may lie in his path, whatever price he will have to pay. He will go over or through any blockade. It was just the higher percentage. He confirmed this in my most recent interview with him on Oct. 31. 

“It’s like that was my style of playing, so I became a perfectionist. If I had to drive, I wanted a higher percentage and then I didn’t want to be stopped,” said the plain-spoken former Letran Knight. “I wanted sure shots when I drove, because that’s the way I wanted if we needed to win. That became my style until coach Ron (Jacobs) made us practice, coach Larry Albano of Letran, that whenever we entered the court, we had to go all out.”

So awe-inspiring and breathtaking were his skywalking feats that we forget that, in a decade of playing in the PBA, he only completed one season, earning Mythical Second Team honors. But then, that is what sport is all about, the moments of transcendence. Funny, that word transcendence. It’s a combination of the Latin words for “beyond” and “to climb”. They may as well have put Samboy’s photo beside the dictionary definition, because he constantly climbed beyond our expectations, from the indelible Jones Cup victory to the PBA, to the 1990 Asian Games and on and on. Whenever you needed a basket, you called on Samboy. Like most of the athletes of the golden age of the 1980’s, injured or not, whatever the odds, they were ready to win.

We actually had a lot in common. We were both figuratively weaned on the Crispa-Toyota rivalry, which inspired us in our own backyard basketball endeavors. Most significantly, we both admired Julius Erving, the inimitable Dr. J of the Philadelphia 76ers. He could fly, with grace and steel. We both wanted to be like him. Needless to say, Samboy succeeded in that regard; I stayed earthbound. 

“My earliest memory I guess was when I was watching it on TV when I was 15 years old,” he recalled. “I saw Dr J., Julius Erving. I saw his games. That time the NBA games were being shown so I was watching him and I said this is a very talented player; his hang time, dunks. I was inspired when I saw his Converse commercials. Dr J was doing 360’s, different dunks were shown. When I was in college, that’s what I practiced and practiced. So I patterned my game after him. I was imitating him.”

Of course, Erving is 6’6”. It’s even more impressive when you’re only six feet tall, as Samboy was. This was one reason why everybody wanted to be like him. PBA Most Valuable Player James Yap recalls seeing Samboy Lim in Bacolod when he was 10, and the Skywalker became his template growing up. How many of this generation’s basketball superstars lived through those magical times 25 years ago, when San Miguel Beer became the first team other than Crispa to win a Grand Slam? How many celebrated when Samboy was rightly named to the PBA’s 25 Greatest Players list? It was but fitting.

Over the years, I have had the enjoyable experience of playing with and against Samboy, in the defunct broadcasters’ tournament, as a guest of the SMC All-Stars, and at special events. I was always impressed with how he took care of himself. Even when he turned 50 in 2011, I believed he could still play professionally. He was in the gym working out and playing ball every day, and only started to taper off in the last two years or so, as he focused on his successful basketball camps. And each time we would see each other, he would express concern for my health, and compliment me if I was staying in shape, which happened more rarely as the years went by.

“Maybe it was already instilled in us, the discipline we learned from coach Larry Albano, coach Norman Black, coach Ron Jacobs that we need the discipline in our bodies; we need to take care of ourselves, because we only have one body,” he explained in his usual straightforward manner. “If we play, we need to be in shape, and its good for our body. We need to be physically fit.”

One of my favorite personal photos is from 1990, when I was a PBA courtside reporter for Vintage Enterprises, standing along the sidelines at the Ultra in a ridiculously ugly red coat, interviewing Samboy after the PBA All-Star game, and he looked resplendent in his properly-fitting red playing uniform and that trademark bowl haircut of his. A couple of years later, he and Norman were guest referees at a sportswriters’ game, and I will never forget handing him the ball because I wanted to experience the Skywalker treatment. Fancying myself a better than average shot-blocker and having a couple of inches on him, I had my own foolish agenda. Samboy took a step, went up in the air, and stayed there. I ended up grabbing his forearm and getting taken for a ride, he scored easily. From then on, I decided I was better off playing against normal people. It was far less embarrassing.

After that, I played against him in corporate tournaments, and he always, always performed. He once dropped 45 on us, and it was all short jumpers and lay-ups. Once, I stumbled, and he effortlessly lifted me off the hardwood. For many of us, he was superhuman, immortal. He has been a constant, unmoving star in our firmament, always ready to help, always having good things to say about people, always himself, simple, straightforward, letting his actions speak for him. He always found a way. He was the Skywalker, for goodness’ sake. That’s why a part of me isn’t worried about him pulling through. He always finds the shortest distance to success, whatever gauntlet he will have to go through. And when he succeeds, it will once again be breathtaking and memorable. And we will be cheering him on, as we have for over 30 years.