Remembering Recah

Recah Trinidad was one of the first people I met in sports media in the 1980s. Back then, there was a bit of a rift between the print and broadcast sportswriters. Some of the elders from the broadsheets and tabloids thought we in television were overpaid and lazy. Not Recah. He started off as welcoming and warm in his traditional gruff manner, with that ever-present twinkle in his eye, as if he had a secret he couldn’t wait to share. It was refreshing, and a relief for a newcomer like this writer.

I’m old enough to remember when Recah occasionally joined us youngsters in games of basketball. He was open to anything, spoke his truth regardless of the consequences, and kept it real. All these, of course, with the ever-present companionship of a friendly contained of alcohol. I started to think that the expression “hold my beer” was created for him.

He had been a witness to so much in sports history, from his start at a powerhouse team at DZHP that was run by Larry J. Cruz and made up of giants like Joe Cantada, Ed Tipton and Ronnie Nathanielsz, among others; to his growth as a pillar of print. That trailblazing group won the equivalent of the Catholic Mass Media Awards five out of six years running. They covered the Tour of Luzon Live. On radio.

But it was in the dailies where he would forge his legend, as a reporter (which he called himself even to the end of his career), editor, writer and columnist. But he was much, much more than that. Recah had a poet’s soul, and wrote novels that reflected his love and loyalty to people and places that we seem to just pass by. I was fortunate to receive signed copies of his work, which sit proudly on my shelf.

Recah always cut through the excrement and plasticity of society, speaking his mind. When we covered boxing matches for our ABS-CBN program “Knockout” in the late 1990s, he called everything as he saw it. There was no fluff, no sugar coating. He knew patsies and tomato cans when he saw them, and never minced words. You had to swallow the hard facts whole and unmarinated.

But his greatest gift to me was his family. His wife, Tita Fe, always welcomed me warmly and smiling. Of course, Chino was my brutally frank brother-in-arms, single-minded and bare bone honest, like his father, and I miss him dearly. Paolo, meanwhile, has made it his mission to release the trauma of our countrymen by pioneering laughter yoga. And Baste soothes souls as lead trainer and conductor of Mandaluyong Children’s Chorus. Every single one of them has contributed mightily to the betterment of society. Recah was his own man, and the magnificence of his family’s character ensures his legacy.

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Two-time Mr. Universe Master Dondon Cortuna will be the subject of today’s episode of ”Masters of the Game” on IBC 13 and DWAN 1206 AM at 5:15 pm. Catch it.