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For a decade and a-half, from the early 70s to the
mid-80s, basketball legends Robert “Sonny” Jaworski and Francis
Arnaiz teamed up to become the longest-lasting backcourt combination
in the local shoot-and-dribble scene.
The “Batman and Robin”
partnership gifted the then-Meralco Reddy Kilowatts a couple of
MICAA (Manila Industrial Commercial Athletic Association) and
National Open championships crowns in the amateur ranks and
nine titles with the then-Toyota Corollas in the Philippine
Basketball Association until its disbandment in 1984.
They also played briefly
for the now-popular Ginebra San Miguel squad that won the 1986 PBA
Open Conference crown, the year the 5-foot-8 spitfire, once
called “Mr. Clutch”, hung his playing uniform and migrated to
the United States.
Arnaiz, now clean-shaven and no
longer wearing his signature long-hair, is in town, his only fifth
visit since leaving the country. Many percieved it could pave
way for renewing his partnership with the former senator, not on the
playing court, but perhaps as bench tacticians.
“Yes, why not? What do
you think. Kayo ang sumagot, I’m asking you back, puwede ba?”
he shot back when asked of the possibility during a SCOOP Sa
Kamayan forum at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura last week.
“My plan really is to stay put in this country. Pumirmi na dito sa
tahanan ng aking lahi.”
“Of course, realizing
that it is not within my control. In the first place wala namang
offer sa akin. Kay Senator, meron at marami. Kung may mag-o-offer sa
akin and if I could be of help with the Philippine basketball, bakit
hindi,” said Arnaiz, who is now 56.
For 12 seasons in the
pro-league he became a member of the 5,000 and 10,000 points club as
well as 2,000 assists,.
“You see, kumbaga sa
basketball, my life is already in the last quarter of a game. What I
really want is to pay back basketball what it has done to me as an
individual now. And one of my options, actually, is to lend what I
learned in playing the game for 14 years from the time I started in
Ateneo,” said Arnaiz, a father to a brood of four with wife Bebe
(nee Villanueva).
“I think my partnership with
Sonny is a very successful one on and off the court. We played with
the same passion and integrity, which we can both transform on the
bench. Pareho kaming kung maglaro ay 101 percent ang ibinibigay,”
he remarked.
Arnaiz said, besides visiting his
mother and helping a brother put up a business, his primary purpose
in coming to Manila is to promote the coming PBA Legends
Foundation’s four-game exhibition series in California.
“Pinakiusapan ako ni Abe [PBA
Legends Foundation Chairman Abe King] to help promote the
project, the proceeds will be used to help especially former
players, who are in need,” he said.
The games, which will feature
former PBA players both here and in the US, will be played starting
on March 8 in Union City, March 9 in Sacramento, March 16 in Carson
City and March 17 in San Diego.
--Eddie G. Alinea
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