Filipino hoopers finally getting the respect — and university roster spots — that haven't been available to them in the past
It was March Madness. It was a Thrilla in Manila. It was both.
It was magic.
Only some sports iconography can describe the magic of what a group of Vancouver basketball players pulled off in March. The underdog Davids, Top Flight Sports out of Vancouver, was facing off against high school teams from the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Toronto — a veritable pie chart of global basketball powerhouses — as part of the NBTC National high school tournament in Manila.
After playing in it in 2019, their coach dismissed any chances of ever winning the tournament, even if it was restricted to Filipino nationals. “‘There's no way I'm ever going to win this tournament. It’s tough,’” recalled Nap Santos.
But his group of players, some of the best Filipino players in the province, found themselves in the semifinals, tied 84-84 with Arellano, and inbounding the ball with 3.4 seconds left. Two quick passes broke the press and got Joey Panghulan across midcourt; his heave banked off the glass to win the game, stunning the 20,000 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“I didn’t call board, though. I called game once that ball went through my fingertips, I promise you,” Panghulan told the Philippine Daily Inquirer online.
It wasn't the only miracle Top Flight pulled off. In the final against Eco Green Technology-Makati, the Vancouverites clawed their way back from a 22-point, third-quarter deficit to win 95-93 in overtime. It was the first time an international team had made the final, and they won it all.
"It was actually crazy. It was unbelievable," said Santos, who also coaches the St. Patrick's Celtics senior boys team.
"(The final) was a wild game. It was so much fun. It was really cool that our Canadian kids got to experience it."
Some context is needed, though maybe by noticing that there were 20,000 fans at a high school game, one might understand that basketball is something of a big deal in the Philippines.
Arnis, an Indigenous martial art, might be the official national sport, but basketball is by far the most popular sport in the country. It was injected into the cultural threads during the American occupation in the early 1900s, where the sport was taught in schools and at the YMCA, and when the Philippines became an independent nation in 1946, it remained entrenched in the tropical nation's soul. Jeepneys covered in NBA logos rattle along roads, TVs show domestic and International highlights, and you can't walk through a neighbourhood without seeing a basketball hoop or court. It might be a milk carton nailed to a telephone pole, a dusty court in the rural countryside or a glossy indoor hardwood facility.
A hoop can be found in every neighborhood in the Philippines, whether it's a rural or urban setting. — Getty Images photo
"I would argue to that — here's a hot take — is that basketball in the Philippines is bigger than hockey is in Canada," said Miguel Olfato, a sports performance trainer who also helps Canadian players make the jump to the country's pro league — the Philippine Basketball Association.
"It's crazy. It's really a religion out there. They just love it. They play in the flip flops, barefoot, any way they can get a game, and they'll do it."
"I'd say we're up there when it comes to the fan base," said Santos. "Europe has a crazy (soccer) fan base. I think we're up there with them in terms of how fanatic the fans are. It's all about basketball."
In B.C., Filipinos are the third-largest visible minority behind Chinese and South Asians. Their love of basketball immigrated along with all those who have made the Lower Mainland their home these past decades.
In the 1980s, FILCANSA was started by a "bunch of dads," — including Santos's — who'd rent a gym out to hold games and scrimmages on Sunday mornings. It grew into a youth and men's leagues that lasted for the better part of three decades, but began to ebb as the organizers got older and started slowing down. Santos stepped in and helped it evolve and grow into his Dream Hoops Development League. While it's not exclusive to the Filipino community anymore, but most young players end up in it and playing for Santos at St. Patrick's as well.
"They had a really good run and it was like, 'Look, I'll take care of the Filipino community," said Santos. "We started with 16 teams; eight games on a Saturday. And every year, it kept on growing and growing. We've been doing this for 11 years, and now we have 56 teams."
Basketball is as fundamental to Filipino society as family and food.
"It's the sport that really clicked for me. I just found naturally that I was good at it," said Kat Jayme, the Vancouver filmmaker who turned her obsession with Big Country and the Vancouver Grizzlies into an award-winning documentary on the team.
"Then when I found out growing up that basketball is a national sport of the Philippines. I really like latched on to that, like 'Oh, this is why this is why I'm good at it. Because it's national sports of the Philippines and I'm Filipino.'"
Taylor Browne, who played for UBC before embarking on a pro career in the PBA, had a Filipino mother and father from Antigua. He meshed both heritages, the adobo chicken and bistek with curried goat and oxtail, and grew up steeped in Filipino culture.
"Every party I went to growing up was a Filipino party where there's 50 of us, all eating so much food. The Filipino side was all family culture, the traditions and learning Tagalog. And basketball, right? Me and my cousins, every (family) party, we'd go to the nearest park and shoot hoops growing up. That was just the thing we always did because basketball is just everything to Filipinos. And that's how I you know, fell in love with the game."
Historically, there have been few standouts, players who have gone on to post-secondary or pro careers.
There are three B.C. players of Filipino descent on Western University's roster; Jerric Palma, Cole Cruz-Dumont, and Mikyle Malabuyoc. Other notables: Irish Coquia just completed his first year with SFU, Vince Velasquez is at the University of the Fraser Valley; Enrique Garcia with the Ottawa Gee-Gees, Travis Hamberger, the Brandon Bobcats, Kaden Karrion with Langara.
Cole Cruz-Dumont's brothers, Jack and Hunter, are currently in the Philippines playing university. They're the son of former Philippines pro and UBC legend John Dumont, and as one person put it, are on track to be the Ball Brothers of the PBA.
Other pros; Palma signed as a USports player for the CEBL's Vancouver Bandits this season, while Sean Anthony and Vince Tolentino are coming to the end of long careers in the PBA.
Santos played in the Philippines as well in the 90s — "50 pounds ago," he laughed, following the footsteps of John Oliver's Estee Epondulan, who was the first Vancouver Filipino to go back to play pro. Santos actually coached Epondulan's son at St. Patrick's when they won the single-A provincials in 2010, with Julio being named MVP.
"We're starting to get some recognition, which is good. It's about time," said Santos, who's also ushered through around 10 kids to the Philippines system.
"I know we don't look the part; that's the thing. And I understand that. I get it. Some of the coaches want a kid who's around 6-2, 6-3, that plays the point instead of 5-8, 5-10 kid who plays the point. I fully understand that.
"If can't get any looks here locally, then what's wrong with going to the Philippines and trying your luck there? It's good that they're getting looks here locally. And it's it is about time that they are, because there are some really good Filipino basketball players here in BC. They just they just need an opportunity."
Browne took his opportunity in 2020, making the jump to the PBA after finishing his degree at UBC. It was during his time with the Thunderbirds that he met Olfato, who was working as the team's trainer. Olfato helped him navigate the insanely difficult COVID protocols demanded by the Philippines and saw him drafted by the Alaska Aces, one of the most storied franchises. He spent the next season with the Converge Fiber Xers, and is now balancing a career opportunity with going back to the Philippines.
"Even getting off the plane and seeing all the signs in Tagalog that I already understood, I felt like I was I was meant to be there. Once I got set up, if felt like home instantly," Browne said. "The only thing that didn't feel right was how hot it was. And I wasn't used to that. In the airport, me wearing a sweater being the Canadian guy, I had to be Filipino right away and take off my sweater because I would have been sweating the whole time."
The Philipipines national basketball team features NBA talent in Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson and a 7-foot-3 talent in Kai Sotto. — Getty Images photo
The stereotypical image of the Filipino game is a six-foot and under league played with more grit than skill, but even Browne was surprised by what he found. The PBA players were big, skilled, and tough. Think 90s' Detroit Pistons, the Bad Boys; No blood, no foul.
"I had a lot of 'Welcome to the PBA' moments in practice," he said, laughing. "Now my teammates like these guys are these guys are rough, tough. And they're good. You really gotta be a tough a tough dude to play in that league man.
"What I didn't know is there are a lot of tall Filipinos. When I walk around (Manila) in public I might be one of the tallest people, but when I was playing in the league ... it was like I was playing back at UBC (height-wise). The basketball is good man. Those guys are good. Like the local players there is really good the league's really good."
And then, there was the experience outside the court.
"It was love. It was surreal. The only way I could describe is it's like you're playing in the NBA, on a lower scale. But the way that the fans are, it's like you're in the NBA," he said. "They want to take pictures, wherever they want your autograph everywhere. Like I would go to the grocery store across the street, and people would recognize me. My Uber drivers would recognize me by looking at me in the mirror and recognizing my name. And they want to take pictures.
"It's just a great feeling being there and knowing that people love what I do. I was playing at their version of the NBA. And they looked up to me as if I made it to the highest level, right? To them, I'm playing at the level where they dream every day about playing."
"It's a way of life," added Olfato. "I'm excited for the future. I think there are going to be a lot of future pros coming out of this province."
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