MANILA, Philippines – Former players, colleagues and coaches went to the wake of the late Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan at the Ateneo de Manila College Chapel in Loyola Heights, Quezon City last Friday evening, August 19.
The man fondly called “The Maestro” for his penchant for guiding teams to championships – of which he won a total of 52 on all levels, professional and amateur – passed away last Wednesday, August 17, after complications due to pneumonia; an ailment he has wrestled with in the past few years.
Spotted at the wake Tim Cone, Chot Reyes, Allan Caidic, Joy Carpio, Joey Pengson, Olsen Racela, Dodie Agcaoili and Val Rosabal among others. Former Palawan Mayor Edward Hagedorn likewise was in attendance.
Caidic, who played for Dalupan with the Great Taste Cofeemakers in the 1980s recounted how after he didn’t meet Ateneo’s grade requirements, transferred to the University of the East where the coach recommended that they pick up the left-handed shooter.
“It was a UE tradition where all the great teams featured a left-handed shooter,” recounted the man called ‘the Triggerman’ for his quick release and highly-accurate shots. “When I was headed for the PBA Draft, I thought I was going to Alaska. I had practiced with them for two months when Coach Baby went up to me and said that he was going to do everything he could to draft me. The rest is history.”
Cone and his wife, Cristina, drove for three hours all the way from Alabang to come over. “He looks at peace now,” noted Cone, who has surpassed Dalupan’s 15 PBA championships with 18 of his own. “Every coach who came up in the league emulated him. We watched him coach and win and even when he lost we learned from him.”
For Chot Reyes, one of the country’s brightest basketball minds, after he was tapped by Purefoods to coach their squad in 1993, he left the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the hands of Dalupan who had just gotten out of Purefoods and was retired.
“He gave the sport of basketball a lot. With the legacy he left behind, from the championships to the players and coaches he inspired, we’re in a better place. It is a sad day for us when we lost Baby Dalupan.”
Joy Carpio is perhaps the player with the longest association with Dalupan having played for him in college with Ateneo then with Crispa and later, Great Taste.
“It is one of those strange things in life where my career is linked with his in some ways,” pondered Carpio. “When I was playing for him in Ateneo, I never started. Not even if I was with the national team. Loaded naman kami rin noon. Coach Baby said he was preparing me. He kept me as his ‘Joker’ or ‘wild card’ to replace any of his stars at any given time. In the PBA, it was the same thing. Crispa’s team was so strong that even the third team could be the starters for any other team. After the late Ignacio Gotao managed to get me to move to Great Taste, little did I know that getting Baby was part of their master plan. I was starting for Great Taste but moved back to the bench when Baby arrived. As always, his formula worked. I am just happy to be along for the ride.”
Val Rosabal was the University of Santo Tomas Glowing Goldies’ point guard in the late 1950s under the late coach, Fely Fajardo.
“I went up against Baby’s UE teams. We enjoyed quite a rivalry,” recounted Rosabal, who later turned to coaching inspired by Dalupan. “I got to play for Baby in the UAAP selection from 1960-62 where we would play our NCAA counterparts. That was the closest I got to playing for him. But even then, with all his good UE players, he didn’t start them in the All-Star Games. He went with his match-ups and who was hot. I learned a lot from him.”
Added Mayor Hagedorn, “I came to pay my respects to a great man. We should all learn by his example.”
The wake for Coach Baby Dalupan will be from Friday, August 19 up to Tuesday, August 23 at the Ateneo College Chapel in Loyola Heights, Quezon City. The internment Mass will be at the Church of the Gesu, also in Ateneo on Wednesday, August 24, followed by a private interment ceremony.
