AFTER seeing countless of young talents pass through his Best Center in nearly 40 years of being at its helm, legendary coach Nic Jorge bared that there has only been one that he knew would be a star from the moment he laid his eyes on him.
That player was two-time PBA MVP James Yap.
Jorge bared this during a recent visit to Cebu for the National Finals of the Milo-backed Best basketball tournament.
Yap was only a youngster playing for the Iloilo Central Commercial High School when Jorge first saw him. According to Jorge, he called over Yap and asked to see his hands.
“His hands were huge! Sabi ko this kid will go far talaga,” a statement Jorge made back then that proved to be prophetic as Yap has since went on to carve a place for himself in professional hoops, winning titles and individual awards left and right, including two Most Valuable Player trophies and seven titles highlighted by the “grand slam” last season.
But Jorge and his wife, Marlene, had more tales of their former wards, the most high profile of which is current Ateneo star Kiefer Ravena, long considered to be the best player on the amateur level today.
“Kiefer (Ravena) was only four years old when his parents asked us if he could join the program. Ang problema is the program starts with five-year olds pero nag-pursige sila so we let him play. He outplayed every five-year old out there so we just let him go and he kept on coming back year after year,” Marlene said.
However, it was a different story for Kiefer’s younger brother, Thirdy. “Thirdy was a different story. He wasn’t really interested and he was forced to join. So every time we had a break from the training, the coaches ended up always looking for Thirdy because he was always somewhere, naghahanap ng tutubi!” added Marlene with a laugh.