Black Superman grounded
SO CAN you still fly?
It was a query right off the bat – off the paint to be more apt – given the mastery of human aeronautics displayed in some sporting past by the one dubbed “The Black Superman.”
Yeah, before Michael Jordan earned his wings and went on to become His Airness, Billy Ray Bates was already soaring across both ends of the hardcourt. First in the National Basketball Association with the Portland Trailblazers, then – after being shot down there for substance abuse – in the Philippine Basketball Association, leading the Crispa Redmanizers to their second grandslam in 1983.
I was a Crispa-natic, but of course, in keeping with my ideological bent toward the slippered masa in the bleachers as against the perfumed set of Toyota exclusively in the ringside and the lower box.
And Billy Ray Bates – BRB – made one good plebeian hero too, having been born and raised in a sharecropper’s shack in the backwaters of Mississippi, rising on sheer talent to the top of the world. Crispa’s natural base support easily embracing him as its own.
Legendary was BRB as a Crispa Redmanizer, as good in offense – easily scoring in the 40’s and 50’s in any given night, as in defense – matching up against taller imports, blocking shots.
Indeed, there was more than sheer braggadocio in Bates’ declaration at that time: “The only way I can be stopped is to handcuff my right arm to my leg.”
It was in his spectacular dunks – back-to-the-basket, alley-oops, tomahawk, and what-have-you, his high vertical leap and prolonged “air time” that really made him the league’s top draw, and arguably, the best import in PBA history. For the record, his career scoring average of 46 points per game has remained the highest of any PBA player, both import and local.
As legendary was BRB as a bacchanal, his nightly wining and womanizing providing daily fodder to the sports pages in both broadsheets and tabloids. A lingering urban legend has it: Bates partying night-‘til-dawn with a slew of ladies and scoring 50 points in a game later in the day.
Yeah, something there that could only be in the realm of the superhuman.
So can you still fly?
I asked a seated Bates at the Air Force City covered court Saturday at the launch of AirAsia Jam, a basketball clinic spearheaded by the world’s best low cost carrier and the Philippine Patriots, inaugural champions of the ASEAN Basketball League.
It was a question as stupid as it turned, Bates getting up to limp to center court to do some practice shots. The Black Superman’s ankle turned his Achilles heel, ending all prospects of any future flight.
Bates, notwithstanding his recent induction into the PBA Hall of Fame, is clearly of a generation long past, noting the anemic applause his introduction merited among the Air Force City crowd. (This prompted me to suggest to the organizers to show some video clips of Bates’ games, prior to the clinic, for the kids to better appreciate his lessons.)
So what’s still there for Superman who has long hung his cape?
“I am happy the Philippine Patriots took me in as skills coach. Part of my job is to impart to the team what I know about the game, about basketball essentials, evaluate them and help the team get better.”
A larger part, says a team insider, is for Bates to “bridge” with the Patriots’ imports. Meaning: “With his experience in the local basketball scene, Bates will help facilitate the transition, on the emotional, psychological and cultural levels of our imports, to blend well not only with the team but with the community.”
Bates was more straightforward: “I will make the imports avoid all my mistakes…help them be well-rounded persons.”
So the excesses of the past are all well…past behind him now?
“It’s been 15 years since I’d seen a bar. With God’s help, I am leading a good life now.”
“God” is a recurring constant in all conversations with Bates last Saturday, on court – how God led him to the right path; at the media conference – on the permanence of God’s love amid the impermanence of fame and fortune; at the brunch table of Hotel Stotsenberg – Bates bowing his head in thanksgiving prayer before partaking of his pasta.
Any special wish to God in the wake of his comeback to the Philippines?
“Just five seconds for me to be able to fly again.”
Amid the raised eyebrows of the incredulous: “There is nothing impossible with God.”
So the Black Superman goes grounded, well-grounded now. In God.
It was a query right off the bat – off the paint to be more apt – given the mastery of human aeronautics displayed in some sporting past by the one dubbed “The Black Superman.”
Yeah, before Michael Jordan earned his wings and went on to become His Airness, Billy Ray Bates was already soaring across both ends of the hardcourt. First in the National Basketball Association with the Portland Trailblazers, then – after being shot down there for substance abuse – in the Philippine Basketball Association, leading the Crispa Redmanizers to their second grandslam in 1983.
I was a Crispa-natic, but of course, in keeping with my ideological bent toward the slippered masa in the bleachers as against the perfumed set of Toyota exclusively in the ringside and the lower box.
And Billy Ray Bates – BRB – made one good plebeian hero too, having been born and raised in a sharecropper’s shack in the backwaters of Mississippi, rising on sheer talent to the top of the world. Crispa’s natural base support easily embracing him as its own.
Legendary was BRB as a Crispa Redmanizer, as good in offense – easily scoring in the 40’s and 50’s in any given night, as in defense – matching up against taller imports, blocking shots.
Indeed, there was more than sheer braggadocio in Bates’ declaration at that time: “The only way I can be stopped is to handcuff my right arm to my leg.”
It was in his spectacular dunks – back-to-the-basket, alley-oops, tomahawk, and what-have-you, his high vertical leap and prolonged “air time” that really made him the league’s top draw, and arguably, the best import in PBA history. For the record, his career scoring average of 46 points per game has remained the highest of any PBA player, both import and local.
As legendary was BRB as a bacchanal, his nightly wining and womanizing providing daily fodder to the sports pages in both broadsheets and tabloids. A lingering urban legend has it: Bates partying night-‘til-dawn with a slew of ladies and scoring 50 points in a game later in the day.
Yeah, something there that could only be in the realm of the superhuman.
So can you still fly?
I asked a seated Bates at the Air Force City covered court Saturday at the launch of AirAsia Jam, a basketball clinic spearheaded by the world’s best low cost carrier and the Philippine Patriots, inaugural champions of the ASEAN Basketball League.
It was a question as stupid as it turned, Bates getting up to limp to center court to do some practice shots. The Black Superman’s ankle turned his Achilles heel, ending all prospects of any future flight.
Bates, notwithstanding his recent induction into the PBA Hall of Fame, is clearly of a generation long past, noting the anemic applause his introduction merited among the Air Force City crowd. (This prompted me to suggest to the organizers to show some video clips of Bates’ games, prior to the clinic, for the kids to better appreciate his lessons.)
So what’s still there for Superman who has long hung his cape?
“I am happy the Philippine Patriots took me in as skills coach. Part of my job is to impart to the team what I know about the game, about basketball essentials, evaluate them and help the team get better.”
A larger part, says a team insider, is for Bates to “bridge” with the Patriots’ imports. Meaning: “With his experience in the local basketball scene, Bates will help facilitate the transition, on the emotional, psychological and cultural levels of our imports, to blend well not only with the team but with the community.”
Bates was more straightforward: “I will make the imports avoid all my mistakes…help them be well-rounded persons.”
So the excesses of the past are all well…past behind him now?
“It’s been 15 years since I’d seen a bar. With God’s help, I am leading a good life now.”
“God” is a recurring constant in all conversations with Bates last Saturday, on court – how God led him to the right path; at the media conference – on the permanence of God’s love amid the impermanence of fame and fortune; at the brunch table of Hotel Stotsenberg – Bates bowing his head in thanksgiving prayer before partaking of his pasta.
Any special wish to God in the wake of his comeback to the Philippines?
“Just five seconds for me to be able to fly again.”
Amid the raised eyebrows of the incredulous: “There is nothing impossible with God.”
So the Black Superman goes grounded, well-grounded now. In God.
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 3:43 PM
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