by Henry L. Liao
One Big Fight!
A perfect 5-for-5 title finish in the University Athletic Association men’s basketball competitions was for a quartet of products from Ateneo de Manila University during their entire collegiate tenure. Their names: Nico Salva, Justin Chua, Tonino Gonzaga, and Chris Sumalinog.
All four earned UAAP championship rings with the Blue Eagles from 2008 to 2012. No other player has won fifth titles exclusively in the history of the UAAP or NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association).
However, a teammate of Salva, Chua, Gonzaga, and Sumalinog at Ateneo named Greg Slaughter also secured five championships during his collegiate career. The 7-foot Slaughter won thrice with the University of the Visayas in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) and two more with the Blue Eagles in the UAAP.
In U.S. NCAA Division I men’s basketball history, only one player captured three national titles during a four-year career – Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr., now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, during the 1960s. Nowadays, most American collegiate athletes do not complete their varsity eligibility and instead declare their availability for the professional National Basketball Association draft early.
The top-tier prospects often traverse the one-and-done route (only one year in college) simply to meet the provisions (along with the 19 minimum-age requirement) listed in the collective bargaining agreement struck by the NBA and its players’ union. In the case of the 7-2 Alcindor, a gangling but dominant center from the University of Los Angeles at California (UCLA), it was an old, now-defunct NCAA rule that prohibited freshmen from suiting up for the varsity team that blocked him from gaining a fourth NCAA championship.
The New York City-born Alcindor went West to power the UCLA Bruins to three consecutive NCAA tournament titles in 1967, 1968, and 1969. On all three occasions, Alcindor was voted the NCAA Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. It’s a feat that has not been duplicated by any other player in NCAA Division I history until now.
Had Alcindor been eligible to suit up for the Bruins as a frosh in 1966, he would have most likely claimed a fourth ring. Until 1972-73, first-year athletes were barred from competing in the NCAA tournament.
Note that the 1965-66 UCLA unit also snared the NCAA diadem when Alcindor apprenticed with the Bruins’ junior varsity unit (freshmen who only played exhibition games). In November 1965, the Alcindor-led frosh team blasted the varsity squad, 75-60, in the first-ever game at the Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins’ home arena.
In that exhibition encounter, Alcindor racked up 31 points and 21 rebounds. In three title seasons at Westwood from 1966-69, Alcindor won 86 of 88 games that he was involved in. He missed a pair of games – both UCLA victories – due to an eye injury.
Alcindor earned a degree in history from UCLA in 1969. That same year, he was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the first overall pick in the NBA draft.
A former Catholic, Alcindor officially changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the summer of 1971 after powering the Bucks to their only NBA crown thus far as a sophomore pro. Kareem would later win five more NBA championships (1980-82-85-87-88) with the Los Angeles Lakers.
A four-time Manila visitor, Abdul-Jabbar underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery on April 16, 2015 (his 68th birthday) due to a cardiovascular disease and also survived a blood disorder (leukemia) in recent years.
Now the all-time No. 2 scorer in NBA regular-season history (after LeBron James surpassed his career output on February 7, 2024), Kareem turns 78 on April 16.
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