The Early PBA Broadcasters (1975-1981)

When the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) debuted on April 09, 1975, only the second game was aired live, starting at 7:30PM. The first game would eventually be aired immediately after the second game, or, when it moved to the government network, GTV-4 in 1978, the first game was shown after the 30-minute news.

The first coveror was KBS Channel 9 (eventually became RPN 9 and now CNN Philippines).They were able to secure the contract with the PBA for a then hefty amount of one million pesos. The year after, in 1976, the PBA switched channels and joined the Banahaw Broadcasting Network (BBC) Channel 2 owned by the Benedicto family. In 1977, the league went back to KBS 9 and stayed there for another year before moving to GTV-4 when the league tied up with Media Specialists, Inc. (MSI) owned by former Congressman Romy Jalosjos. MSI was able to secure the contract with the PBA and then bought airtime from the government network to show the games as a blocktimer. They continued to air the games until 1981 until Vintage Enterprises of Carlos Velez was able to acquire the rights to air the games on City 2 network. Vintage will be credited for bringing world-class basketball broadcasting in the Philippines when they took over in 1982. It was only in 1987 when the doubleheader was aired live starting at 5PM.

Let's list down some of the broadcasters from the pre-Vintage era and recall how they covered the games.

1.  Frank Sanchez (1975 and 1977)

One of the PBA's first play-by-play commentators (now called anchor), the mestizo-looking broadcaster had an excellent command of the King's language and preferred a conversational approach when covering the games. He and Raffy Mejia were the first PBA anchors back in 1975 with Caloy Prieto doing the color commentary. Sanchez was part of a quartet of broadcasters along with Mejia, Babes Romualdez and Emy Arcilla who put up RPN and BBC Sports. They covered the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics in Canada. Sanchez's style was mild-mannered and moderate - traits of the typical broadcaster back in the 70's.

A 70's vintage photo of Raffy Mejia (seated), Frank Sanchez (second from left) and Caloy Prieto (rightmost)

(Photo taken from the late Caloy Prieto's FB account)

2.  Raffy Mejia (1975 and 1977)

Another familiar voice during the 70's was that of Mejia's. Similar to Sanchez, he was extremely professional when covering the games. He did the play-by-play commentary with authority, speaking in straight English, and described the plays as he saw it. It wasn't unusual for play-by-play commentators to refrain from giving their opinions as they were trained to say what they saw. Mejia had excellent diction and pronounced the names of the players in his own snazzy manner. Older sports fans would remember Mejia for being one of the resident broadcasters of RPN and BBC. Mejia was part of the original broadcast team of the PBA in 1975.

3.  Caloy Prieto (1975 and 1977)

The unmistakeable baritone voice of Prieto was always a treat to listen to. While I first heard him in 1975 with the PBA, the memory that sticks out was how he covered the Olympics in 1976. Curiously, we learned that the then 14-year old Romanian gymnast, Nadia Comaneci, was pronounced as "Ku-ma-ne-chi" but in actualiy, it should be pronounced "Ku-ma-nech." Despite the faux pas, I've always been impressed with Prieto's distinct broadcast control. His ability to support Mejia and Sanchez's play-by-play by providing descriptions of the players, what school or amateur team they came from, etc., will always be relevant information that helped the viewer like me know more about the personalities on the court. Like Mejia and Sanchez, Prieto was a pioneer in the PBA broadcast team.

The KBS-9 crew in the Montreal Olympics. Sanchez is the one kneeling, Prieto is leftmost, while Mejia is the one in red shirt

(Photo taken from the late Caloy Prieto's FB account)

4.  Emy Arcilla (1976 - 1981)

One of the more glamorous guys in the broadcast team was Emy Arcilla, He was only 30 years old when he was part of the BBC-2 panel in 1976. Contrary to what many thought, Arcilla only came in on the league's second season, alongside Dick Ildefonso. Arcilla can be fashionably trendy - whether in formal attire whenever he hosted the opening ceremonies or in casual wear. He didn't speak much, allowing Ildefonso to dominate the microphone. He normally interjected though, especially when a player goes to the charity line for a pair of FT's. It was Arcilla's cue - to provide the stats of the player, his FT%, and total points contributed in the game. His charisma spilled over when they interview players after the game as they would instantaneously warm up to Arcilla's charming ways (at that time, players were asked to sit between the broadcasters after the game).

The late Emy Arcilla (rightmost) interviewing Bb. Pilipinas winners during the game

5.  Dick Ildefonso (1976 - 1981)

The most popular among the first batch of PBA broadcasters, Ildefonso was pretty much the voice of the PBA during the early years. Like Arcilla, Ildefonso joined the coverage when BBC-2 secured the rights to air the games. What I've always admired about Ildefonso is that he never seemed to be absent in any PBA game. He was practically the sole anchor in the coverage, and was made to talk around 80% of the time, and yet, never seemed to miss a single game. Note that broadcasters did two coverages per game date, making it even more impressive. Ildefonso's coolness was legendary - he never seemed to get ruffled even when there was a scuffle inside the court or when fans were pelting the floor with coins or any form of litter. It was Ildefonso who started using player monikers more frequently during the PBA coverage - "that's a triple from the Big J!" He and Arcilla did the coverage of the Crispa-Toyota reunion game in 2003.

Dick Ildefonso interviewing Coach Baby Dalupan

The memorable duo of Dick Ildefonso and Emy Arcilla in this 1976 game

6.  Ronnie Nathanielsz (1978 - 1981)

Nathanielsz is a Sri Lankan who was given Filipino citizenship by President Marcos. He worked for the government network, National Media Production Center (NMPC), under Greg Cendaña, then the Minister of Information. An avid sports fan himself, he earned his ticket to the PBA broadcast team when Media Specialists, Inc. became a blocktimer for GTV-4 where he worked. Nathanielsz provided the analysis of the game, although if you're a Crispa fan watching a Toyota-Crispa game, you wouldn't want Ronnie covering because of his partiality to the Tamaraws. When it wasn't the norm back then to roundly criticize the referees for their calls, Ronnie somehow was given enough latitude to air his contrary sentiments. Nathanielsz continued his broadcasting career with ABS-CBN in the 2000's, doing the boxing coverages alongside Bill Velasco and Dyan Castillejo.

Die-hard Toyota fan, Ronnie Nathanielsz, smiling from ear to ear, while interviewing Andy Fields after Fields won the first Best Import Award

7.  Zal Marte (1979 - 1981)

We first heard of Zal Marte as "the voice" that we didn't see on cam. Only those who watched the games live had the opportunity of knowing how Marte looked like in his first few months of broadcasting. It was a "gimmick" on MSI's part not to have Marte's face seen on camera, but his analysis was quite authoritative. Possessing a DJ voice, Marte was also candid with his comments particularly when a player wasn't doing well. He won't mince his words criticizing players, not especially common then, and sure caused some feathers to ruffle. Later on, Marte was finally seen on camera and remained part of the broadcast team until 1981. This was the time when MSI opted for a three-man panel by having an analyst. While his style may have been uncomfortable to the players, this came quite refreshing to the ordinary viewer.

8.  Lauro "Bay" Mumar (1980-1981)

"The Fox," as he was called when he was still playing for "Murder, Inc." of the Letran Knights in the 50's, was one of the more successful MICAA coaches after he retired from playing. His biggest success was piloting the Meralco Reddywatts to the MICAA championship in 1971. He later coached U/Tex before handling the Noritake Porcelain Makers in the 1975 season. He moved to 7/Up in 1976, was retained by Filmanbank in 1978 after buying the Uncolas' franchise, and then joined the panel in the 1980 season as an analyst. Mumar's coaching experience served him well as he was the first broadcast analyst to view things from the coach's perspective. Mumar was often asked by Ildefonso and Arcilla how the coach would design the next play. It was unfortunate though that Mumar wasn't exactly articulate, but to the regular viewers, the points he raised were more than enough to learn from him.

The late Lauro "Bay" Mumar while coaching Sonny Jaworski and Big Boy Reynoso in the sidelines

There were also times that MSI would invite guest analysts to cover the games. Legendary coaches Carlos Loyzaga and Tommy Manotoc were asked to dissect the games when they weren't coaching their respective teams that day. Somehow, this move served as the template of future broadcast coverages to utilize more knowledgeable minds to serve as guests to dissect the games. Coaches like Freddie Webb, Norman Black, Ron Jacobs were invited to add spice. Curiously, the winningest coach in the PBA, Tim Cone, did it the opposite way. Cone started out as a Vintage analyst in the late 80's before latching up a job as head coach of the Alaska Air Force.

Doing the commentary today is a far cry from how it was in the past. Signs of the times. Even in the NBA, when we grew so fond of CBS anchors Dick Stockton, Brent Musburger, Frank Glieber, Jim Kelly and Gary Bender, and analysts Hubie Brown (still my favorite of all time), Doug Collins, Tom Heinsohn, and Kevin Loughery, the present cast made up of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson of ABC and Marv Albert, Kevin Harlan and Reggie Miller of TNT continue to keep the games entertaining and informative. The one constant though that I look for in an anchor is his ability to take control of the broadcast - that person remains the key to making for a worthy coverage.