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Thursday, January 29, 2004
Oyson: The legend of Julian Macoy
By Manuel N. Oyson Jr.
Counter punch
At the lobby of the USC Gym on Sanciangco St. stands a tall glass-encased scroll proclaiming Julian C. Macoy as a national record holder in Philippine basketball. I have seen it many times. Inside is also a framed replica of his No.6 USC jersey. The honoree himself, Macoy, has seen it. It was erected some two years ago. Sad to note, it is an error. Even Macoy himself says so. The marker says:
“Julian Macoy:
Title: Legendary Warrior
Year started: 1957
Year ended: 1961
n Scored 126 points in 29 minutes in a game played between USC and Cebu School of Arts and Trades during the 19th (sic) CCAA tournament.
n Cited as Basketball Player of the Year and University Athlete of the Year by the University of San Carlos in the year 1957-1958.
n Awarded a diploma of merit by the CCAA board for scoring 101 points in one of the games in the year 1956-1957”
ELEVENTH. If USC won the first national intercollegiate Men’s basketball title in 1946, it stands to reason that when Macoy achieved his phenomenal feat in 1957, the CCAA was then in its 11th year, not 19th as the marker proclaims.
For the last 33 years, Macoy was a resident of Oak Park, Chicago. We met by chance on the eve of the “Sinulog” at the lobby of the Waterfront-Lahug Hotel. This is what he told me:
He scored 101 points in 29 minutes as a rookie player of the USC Green and Gold Warriors against Cebu Normal School in the 1957-58 CCAA tournament.
CNS was coached by a woman. She could have been Miss Encarnacion Perez.
In his second year, he established the all-time individual scoring record in Philippine basketball by scoring 126 points against Cebu School of Arts and Trades in the same tournament.
227 POINTS. He did it in just 28 minutes. Macoy recalled that because of his spectacular scoring spree, three guards were sic-ed on him in the first half.
CSAT had only three men left on the floor in the last three minutes just trying to stop him. In these two games in the then Cebu Collegiate Athletic Association, the 5-foot-11 native of Dumanjug, scored a total of 227 points, also an RP record that still stands.
In a next scheduled meeting against CSAT, the latter’s coach had a simple message for then USC coach Juan Aquino Jr: that if Macoy would again be fielded as a loose cannon, CSAT was willing to just forfeit the game. The coach did not want to be humiliated. Macoy was included in the first batch of inductees to the Cebu Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 as a sports legend..
MYTHICAL. He was a member of the champion RP team to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Pesta Sukan Games, all held in Singapore. He was the only player outside Manila whom sportswriters named as a member of the collegiate mythical selection in 1960.
Now 64-years-old, he is a U.S. citizen and has two adult children with Pernita Dano of Daanbantayan, Cebu. He now wants to retire permanently in Cebu. His personal effects and memorabilia in 10 balikbayan boxes set him back by P180,000 in freight costs.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We had a long winning streak and it was great, but now it’s over.” – Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons, after the Indiana Pacers won, 81-69, to halt his team’s 13-game winning streak in the NBA
(January 29, 2004 issue)
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