ALL Write had its baptism of fire in the Sun Star Bacolod on February 24, the 15th death anniversary of Danny Floro.
And who is Danny Floro?
Danny Floro (bless his soul) was the owner of the Crispa Redmanizers, the country’s greatest basketball club that ever hit Philippine sports from the late Sixties to the early Eighties. Crispa was the first team to win the PBA Grand Slam in 1976 and 1983.
It was coincidental – All Write appearing in Sun Star Bacolod on Danny Floro’s death anniversary, I mean – although Bacolod also happens to be one of Danny Floro’s favorite cities in the South.
At that time, Danny and I had many memorable moments together even though he was old enough to be my grandfather. He treated me like a son. He was one of a kind, a person of no equal actually in terms of extending warm friendship and bristling generosity.
“With his mere presence, Danny lights up a darkened room,” said the late, lamented Taby Tabaniag of Danny Floro.
One reason Bacolod was also close to Danny Floro’s heart is that Crispa’s coach then, Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan, is married to a Gaston. To the uninitiated, the Gastons are among the most prominent families in Bacolod.
Anyway, who authored the sudden arrival of All Write in Sun.Star-Bacolod?
All Write appearing in Sun.Star-Bacolod has been on the drawing board, really, since last year through Henry Villalva, the Acting-Editor-In-Chief of the paper who has been a dear friend of mine from way back. But due to circumstances beyond Henry’s control, the column’s birth repeatedly got aborted.
Then on Tuesday, February 23, I got a text-message while playing in the PAL Media event of the ongoing 63rd PAL Interclub Golf.
“I’m here at Marapara looking for you,” came the text-message from Jerome Galunan Jr., the youthful Sports Editor of Sun.Star-Bacolod.
Before I hit my tee shot on No. 8 of the Negros Occidental Golf & Country Club, Jerome materialized.
After a warm handshake, I mishit my drive. Too much excitement, maybe?
Thank God, I greened my recovery shot from a stymied position. Bogey.
The bogey turned to birdie minutes later through another text-message: “Sir Al, please start writing your All Write column for tomorrow’s issue?”
History has been sealed.
Keep me company from here on, please?