PBA Legends to be featured in this season's PBA All Star Weekend

Source : Reynaldo Belen, InterAKTV

PBA legends are among those most excited when league commissioner Chito Salud announced the plans for the 2012 all-star weekend. Apart from reinstituting the Veterans versus Rookies-Sophomore-Juniors format for the main game, the event will also feature a legends challenge where former PBA superstars will play alongside some of today’s best.


Allan Caidic said that he’s most looking forward to the possibility of playing alongside old teammates.

“I’d love to play with Hector (Calma), Franz (Pumaren) and Samboy (Lim), but they’re not playing anymore,” said Caidic of his old San Miguel and Northern Consolidated teammates.

“It’d be nice to play alongside Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codinera, Johnny Abarrientos, Jojo Lastimosa, Ronnie Magsanoc and Vergel Meneses,” said Caidic, local basketball’s legendary Triggerman and the PBA Most Valuable Player in 1990.

Codinera was Caidic’s longtime teammate with the University of the East Warriors, a team which they led to back-to-back titles in 1984 and 1985. They were also teammates with the Northern Consolidated Cement and the 1994 RP team to the Hiroshima Asian Games.

Patrimonio and Magsanoc played with Caidic in the Philippine team that placed second in the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, while he was teammates with Abarrientos, Hawkins, and Vergel Meneses in the 1998 Centennial Team. Caidic and Meneses also shared the wings for a year at Presto in 1992.

When told about the legends game, former Alaska superstar said that his wish is to be able to play with his older idols.

“Kung makakalaro sina Atoy Co and Philip Cezar, mas ok because I’m a Crispa fan,” said Lastimosa.

But if that wouldn’t be possible, he said he’d like to be reunited with former Alaska Grand Slam teammates Abarrientos, Hawkins, and Jeffrey Cariaso.

Four-time PBA Most Valuable Player Alvin Patrimonio, who was recently inducted to the PBA Hall of Fame, said that he will definitely be part of the event.

“Sigurado yan, maglalaro ako,” he said.

Ronnie Magsanoc, who serves as an assistant coach of the Meralco Bolts, also said that he’d make himself available for the game.

“I am more than willing to help out the PBA on its All-Star event,” he added.

Curiously, Patrimonio, Lastimosa, and Magsanoc were all part of the first Rookies-Sophomores squad that battled Caidic and the rest of the Veterans headed by Robert Jaworski and Mon Fernandez in 1989.