Happy Birthday, Albert Manalo ( Nov 5 )

Happy Birthday, Albert Manalo

PBA pioneer
UP Maroons guard
2-season PBA player
Mariwasa-Noritake forward

Source : Assorted Magazines (PBA Archives Collections)

'Abet' has weathered the academic rigors of the State University (there are very few U.P. graduates in basketball, to name a few Fortunato Acuña, Orly de los Santos, Josue Gonzales of Manila- where studying is not bank)  simply all roses and 'pakiusap' to the registrars as some diploma mills in the past have been notorious for. For once you've graduated from U.P., man!, you're just about tops in academel And no one need tell you otherwise. For the University of the Philippines does not entertain loafers, do-nothing-students, easy-does-it residents of the educational institution. You either study or you get out, period!  But suffice for that. 'Abet' Manalo, barely 23 (he's a Scorpio-born, very selective with friends, with people, with the kind of group he pals around with), has a good shooting arm, according to those who've watched him play in the few games he has had a chance to be tapped to go in. It was Coach Fely Fajardo who 'took me into the Mariwasa basketball team sometime in April, 1975."  In the U.P., it was Fajardo who gave him vital pointers about. playing. In Squibb when he joined the quintet, Cady Tanquintic and eventually Alfonso 'Boy' Marquez helped hone him to what he is now. Nowadays, with the Noritake players, under Emerson Coseteng and 'Boy' Marquez, 'Abet' Manalo occasionally gets thrown into the fray.