HE WAS more than just Coach Fritz.
To many of us who swung rackets at Pardo or Citigreen or who joined the Cebu City Olympics or the Palarong Pambansa, he was the steady presence. The motivator. The organizer.
Fritz Tabura was all of that and more.
Last Saturday, at the age of 75, Coach Fritz passed away after a lingering illness. But his impact on Cebu tennis — on all of us who knew him — remains forever.
I first met him in 1986. I was 14. He became my first tennis coach. He’d drop by the Cebu Tennis Club in Banilad to conduct lessons. Before big tournaments in Manila, I’d train with him for weeks. He didn’t just teach me how to hit a one-handed backhand — he taught me how to believe.
I remember the Cebu All-Students Tennis Championships, a tournament he organized in Pardo. I reached the final. My opponent was a strong serve-and-volleyer, Adonis Lominoque. I lost the first set. But after adjusting my game — charging the net, being more aggressive — I won the next two. It was my first tournament trophy. And like always, Fritz was there, directing the event, smiling with pride.
Many years later, when my daughter Jana began to play, it was Fritz I called. Whether it was the City Olympics, the Cviraa, or the Palaro (in Dapitan and Laguna where Jana competed), Coach Fritz was there.
Fritz wasn’t just a coach — he was an institution. At the University of the Visayas, he led the UV tennis program for over 40 years. Four decades! How many coaches can say that? Under his leadership, UV became a collegiate powerhouse, winning national titles.
In 1994, when Cebu hosted the Palaro, my father Bunny Pages ran the tennis tournament. Fritz helped him. And 30 years later, in 2024, when the Palaro returned to Cebu, it was Fritz — this time with his children Juntabz and Freza — who continued the mission.
In 1995, the late Jose “Dodong” Gullas invited Fritz and I to start a grassroots event. Thus, the Gullas Tennis Cup was born. Every year since, we gathered the best junior players from the Visayas and Mindanao. By 2018, we reached our 23rd edition. The tournament became Group 1 (highest level) and helped shape hundreds of young athletes. Now, both Sir Dodong Gullas and Coach Fritz are gone — but their legacies live on.
Fritz and his wife Ely raised nine children: Fritzel, Clavel, Maricris, Fern, Fitzgerald “Ilac,” Elvin, Freza, Euphretes “Juntabz,” and Elaine May. They have nine grandchildren.
Among his children, Ilac was the star on court — he became the country’s No. 1 junior and now resides in Dubai. Here in Cebu, Juntabz and Freza have carried their father’s organizing torch, managing several of the country’s premier events.
Two weeks ago, I visited Fritz at Perpetual Succour Hospital. He had grown frail. He could no longer speak. But his smile remained — the same warm, gentle smile that had welcomed every student for decades.
He gave so much to tennis. To Cebu. To all of us.
Rest well, Coach Fritz. Your service was a masterpiece.