More than 140 players crossed their Rubicon in shedding their amateur status to turn professional in the inaugural season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in 1975.
![Marck Espejo [photo credit: Mark Espejo Facebook]](https://sportsbytes.com.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/espejo2-400x200.jpg)
Espejo, son of a housewife and an electrical project officer based in Guam, said a hoop incident led to a U-turn in his priorities. He got injured after landing awkwardly while trying to stuff the ball in a pickup game.
![Philippine Women's Team A 12th AKT [photo credit: Mr. Inigo Roces]](https://sportsbytes.com.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/166316687_286731173078362_76204533622256443_n1-400x200.jpg)
The UKFP was originally founded by representatives of the Cebu, Davao, IGA, Iloilo, & Manila Kendo Clubs with the initial purpose of making it easier to coordinate with one another to field delegations to international events.
Football for Humanity donates school and food supplies and footballs all over the country and they make sure the footballs get to their intended recipients.
It was the Crispa-Floro Redmanizers and the Toyota Comets/Tamaraws that romanticized PH basketball for more than a decade.
Toshiki Sato was discovered by 10-year NFL veteran Nick Novak training on a football pitch or a soccer field depending on what floats your boat, so Sato and Novak had a conversation and the rest, as they say, is history.
TRUST me, you don’t mess around with Games and Amusements board honcho Baham Mitra. Simply put, Mitra, proud son of Palawan, isn’t going to back down if one crosses the line, so to speak. Let’s also include Rocky Chan, mastermind of the Pilipinas VisMin Cup to the mix.
As sports journalists, we have a responsibility to our readers, we owe it to them to make sure we have accurate, correct and precise facts, statistics and information before we put our work out there.
The creation of a professional league, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), in April 1975 altered the landscape of the country’s basketball history locally and internationally.
![Jaja Santiago [Photo courtesy of Japan V.League]](https://sportsbytes.com.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/30jaja-400x200.jpg)
The deep, powerful presence of legendary bowler Bong Coo, three-time Olympian Akiko Nakamura Thomson-Guevarra, future Navy chief Mary Pauline “Pawie” Fornea and fast-rising volleyball star Alvya Daphne “Jaja” Santiago should be enough for us to think of better days ahead.
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