Cage personalities bid Yoyong goodbye

Tributes poured in for basketball great Rosalio “Yoyong” Martires, who died late Tuesday due to complications brought by pneumonia.

He was 77.

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone expressed sadness, saying that Martires is his idol who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Ramon Fernandez, Sonny Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz.

Cone, the most successful coach in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) with 25 titles on top of a gold medal in the Asian Games, admitted that he won’t be where he is right now if not for the inspiration given to him by Martires.

“Yoyong Martires, one of my heroes on the hardcourt growing up, passed away. RIP (Rest in Peace). Always remembered,” said Cone, who will begin Gilas’ training camp on Friday at the Inspire Academy in Calamba, Laguna for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia from 2 to 7 July.

“Without them, I never would have played basketball and never been a coach.”

The 66-year-old Cone grew up watching Martires, who starred for San Miguel Beer in the defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) before joining the PBA.

With Martires running the plays, the Beermen went on to clinch the 1979 Open Conference title and the 1982 Invitational Conference crown.

One of his contemporaries in Ramon Fernandez couldn’t forget Martires.

Fernandez, who played with Martires at San Miguel in the MICAA and the national team in the 1973 Asian Basketball Confederation Championship, said he admired the cat-quick playmaker when he was still leading the national squad that competed in the Munich Olympics in 1972.

“Rest in peace with eternal love, my dear friend and former national basketball team and San Miguel teammate, Pasig City councilor and former vice mayor Yoyong Martires. You have served your constituents well,” said Fernandez in a heartfelt social media post.

“I will forever be proud of your accomplishments. Your legacy as a sportsman and as a public servant will remain an inspiration to many. Maayong pagpahuway, Yong!”

After retiring from professional basketball in 1982, Martires entered the show business and politics in which he became councilor and vice mayor of Pasig City.

Former PBA commissioner Noli Eala also mourned the loss of Martires, whom he last saw in Cebu during the East Asia Super League Final Four last March.

“Saddened to hear that Yoyong Martires has passed away. We were just together last March for the EASL Final 4 in Cebu with Quinito (Henson). I spent one whole morning chatting with him about his life,” Eala said.

“Yoyong was a kind man and treasured his roots and basketball. He will be missed. RIP Vice.”

Martires’ remains are at the Evergreen Chapels and Crematory in Maybunga, Pasig City and will be available for public viewing before being laid to rest at Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig.