Famous Kapampangans - Sports Category

(Who's Who in Kapampangan)

Under heavy construction

SPORTS CATEGORY

Renato G. Agustin - well known professional basketball star in the Philippines. l992 Most Valuable Player (M.V.P.) of the Philippine Basketball Ass.; l991 Most Improved Player of the P.B.A.; With San Miguel ('89-'94), Pop Cola ('95-96), Mobiline ('96-'97). Presently, he is the captain ball of the Pampanga Dragons - one of the franchise teams of the Northern Conference of the newly-formed M.B.A. Born in Lubao, Pampanga in l965, he was this contributor's next door neighbor. (Ernie Turla)

Charlie Badion -member of the 1960's National Basketball team.
Francisco Django Bustamante - 2-time champion, World Pool Masters (1998 and 2001). Like Bata Reyes, he is sponsored by the Puyat enterprises and is Kapampangan (Ernie Turla).

Hector Calma is a well-known professional basketbal player in the PBA (by Dennis Pacia).

Anthony Clark. Born in Angeles City with a Kapampangan mother and an American father. They now all live in the U.S. He is dubbed as "the strongest man in the world". At 350 lbs., he won the l994 U.S. Powerlifting Federation Senior National Tournament, and was tops in the super heavyweight class of the l995 Greatest Bench-Press in America after being able to lift 780 lbs. (ref.: Rachelle Ayuyang) (Ernie Turla).

Girls Little Leaguers in Softball of Pulungmasle, Guagua, Pampanga. Champions in the Philippines for four years in a row (l994, l995, l996, l997) and each time their team was composed of different players not over l2 years of age. They represented the Far East division 4 times in the World Series held at the Alpenrose Softball Field in Portland, Oregon annually. In the l996 games, they won second place and brought home a trophy which is now on display at the Pulungmasle Elementary School. ( Ernie Turla).

Junior Softball Team (l3 - l4 year old girls) of Pulungmasle, Guagua, Pampanga. Won second place in the l998 World Series annually held in Kalamazoo, Michigan. They represented the Far East Division of which they were the champion. ( Ernie Turla)

Gabby and Fely Fajardo. Fely Fajardo and Gabby Fajardo (cousins, from Floridablanca, Pampanga) Basketball legends inducted in the recently -established Basketball Hall of Fame. The maagnificent eleven in descending order according to number of votes from the screening committee are: Carlos Loyzaga, Ambrosio Padilla, Felicisimo Fajardo, Charles Borck, Tony Genero, Jacinto Cruz, Primitivo Martinez, Ramoncito Campos, Ed Ocampo, and Gabriel Fajardo tying with Narciso Bernardo. (Ernie Turla)

Kid Tacio (real name Orlando Limin). Born in Bancal, Guagua, he was the bantamweight boxing champion of the Philippines in 1960 and he rose to number four as a world contender (Ernie Turla).

Renato Lobo - member of 1978 RP Youth Team.
Jaime "Jimmy" Manansala - Macabebe, Pampanga. NCAA - University of the East; member of 1978 PBA Tanduay team. All Time Assist 846 - 13 season PBA; 5,000 career points - Dec. 2, 1986. (Sunny Manansala)

Ed Ocampo. Asia's best basketball guard (guarded Shin Dong Pa of Korea). Eventually became a basketball coach for the PBA expansion team PEPSI COLA (1990). He died 2 years ago and was recognized by Philippine media as a famous Filipino sportsman.

Elizabeth Punzalan. Along with her partner-husband Jerod Swallow,she is a 5-time national champion ( l991,l994, l996, l997 anf l998) in free dance ice skating. Garnered 6th place in a world championship. Represented the US in the Winter Olympics in Lilhammer and Nagano. She is the daughter of the late Dr. Ernesto Punsalan of Lubao, Pampanga. (Ernie Turla).

Efren "Bata" Reyes. Born in Angeles City, with a sponsor by the name of Jose Puyat, it is just about certain that the "Kid" is Kapampangan. Unless something has changed very recently, he is the top ranked billiards player in the world. Many of his opponents consider him the best player alive, and many of his fans from all over the world consider him the best ever.

Gaudioso Ruby. Known as Tuhon Gaudioso Ruby, she founded the Comjuka school of martial arts in the United States. She is an inductee into the Boxing/Karate Hall of Fame, the Filipino Martial Arts Hall of Fame, a three time inductee into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame. Her school is the headquarters of the United States Kali Association. Comjuka is the name of a Pampangan form of martial art that includes Sinawali. Called "the Queen of Filipino Martial Arts," by Grandmaster Leo Gaje (Pol Kekai Manansala).

Jaime Taguines from Angeles City. Played for Holy Angel University, Manila Bank, Utex, three times Philippine

Tonichi Yturri. Drafted by PEPSI for its expansion team with Ed Ocampo as their coach. He was the tallest in the team and plays the "center" position. His height is 6 foot 6 inches.

To submit names for inclusion in this page please send them to:
Armando A.B. Regala at mandy@emailko.com

This page was last updated on: September 25, 2001