West Coast Tribute to Legendary Maestro of Philippine Basketball

At the May 26 Los Angeles Tribute to Coach Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan, US-Philippines Society President Ambassador Maisto described that “reading the biography of Coach Dalupan was seeing memorable descriptions of what the Philippines was living through its basketball culture and also the changes of what was going on in the county.” The event drew an overflow crowd of some two hundred basketball enthusiasts.Introduced in the Philippines by Americans through the YMCA in 1900, the game of basketball is Philippines’ favorite sports pastime. The Philippines formed its first national team in 1913 and proceeded to win in international competition. In 1976, Coach Dalupan led the Crispa Redmanizers to win all conference championships in a single season. In his remarks, Los Angeles California Consul General Adelio Angelito S. Cruz attributed Coach Dalupan’s winning strategy to his “ability to be ahead of the game and eye for talent.”