Who would’ve thought?

(Part 1 of 2)

It didn’t seem like Barangay Ginebra assistant coach Richard del Rosario would ever amount to anything at the start of his basketball journey. By his own admission, Del Rosario said he lacked skills and the talent to become a high-profile player. “I knew my limitations,” the 48-year-old Del Rosario said. “I was never an athlete.”

At Manresa high school in BF Homes, Del Rosario was content to play in the intramurals. But when he enrolled at La Salle in 1987, Del Rosario felt he had a chance as a walk-on. “I was 16 and 6-3,” Del Rosario recalled. “I just came from a summer vacation in the US with my brother Edward who asked his friend Gee Abanilla if he could talk to coach Derick (Pumaren) about giving me a tryout. Gee was a player on the La Salle team. When I showed up at practice, everyone thought I was a Fil-Am and kept talking to me in English. Maybe because they knew I just came from the US. Coach Derick wasn’t around for my first practice and assistant coach Gabby Velasco welcomed me wearing my Jordan I shoes. Before I knew it, I was flat on my back under the basket, exhausted, out of shape, gasping for breath. The next morning, I couldn’t get up from bed. My entire body was sore. But my brother told me kahiya-hiya if I quit after only one practice. Coach Derick saw me in my second practice. Because of my height, I made the team. I was a project.”

Del Rosario was a La Salle rookie playing alongside Dindo Pumaren, Joey Santamaria, now Alaska team manager Dickie Bachmann, Teddy Monasterio, Raffa Dinglasan, Ginebra head coach Tim Cone’s brother-in-law Eddie Viaplana, former PBA coach Perry Ronquillo, former Benilde coach the late Dong Vergeire and Lincoln Lim. In 1988, La Salle brought in Jun Limpot and a year later, won the championship with Limpot, now Columbian head coach Johnedel Cardel and the late Jonas Mariano.

“I was never a starter but because I grew to 6-4 then 6-5, I got invited to play in the PABL with Concrete Aggregates then with Burger City where my teammates included Bong Ravena and Vergel Meneses under coach Nemie Villegas,” he said. “I was also invited to join the pool of the Philippine Youth team. From 6 to 8 a.m., I was at Rizal with the Youth team, then I went to class before La Salle practice from 10 to 12 noon. In the afternoon, it was 1 to 3 practice with my PABL team then I would go back to class. It wasn’t long after that I tore the ACL in my left knee. There was no arthroscopic surgery at the time so Dr. Tony Rivera cut up my knee. I wore a cement cast on my leg for six months. It was so bad that I had to ask my teacher to dismiss me five minutes before the bell so I had time to limp to my next class. Imagine going up three floors with neither elevator nor escalator to attend class walking in a cement cast.”

The injury put Del Rosario’s basketball dream in cold storage for four years. Meanwhile, he got married to La Salle student Yvonne Ruiz in 1990 and the next year, graduated with a psychology degree. “I had to make both ends meet so I got a job selling cellphones, the big kind, for P3,088 a month plus a commission for every sale,” he said. “Yvonne and I had our first-born Paolo so I now had family obligations. My father-in-law (Gen. Guillermo Ruiz) then made me an industrial partner to manage a poultry in Malamawi Island in Basilan. My father-in-law was the Marine commander in Southern Philippines at the time. For three years, I slept in a chicken house. I would go home to Manila to visit Yvonne and Paolo once every 45 days for a week then return to Basilan. To phone home from Basilan, I would go through PT&T and book a call. Then, word got around that I was Gen. Ruiz’ son-in-law and I became a kidnap target by terrorists. So I moved to Zamboanga City where I became a chicken contract grower for RFM and also did trading of food and supplies like live native pigs and vegetables. Basketball wasn’t at all on my mind and I ballooned to 250 pounds from 195 when I was at La Salle. I still couldn’t play because the pain in my knee wouldn’t go away.”

In tomorrow’s column, Del Rosario recounts his eight seasons in the PBA, how a car accident ended his playing career in 2003, the pathway he took from a TV analyst’s job to a coaching role at Benilde and eventually in the PBA and his life as a Ginebra assistant coach.