Pinoy Basketball Legend Tribute - Elias Tolentino

Will he Jor will he not? Play for the Toyota Comets this season, if ever. He being veteran Olympian Elias Tolentino of Jose Rizal College and Yco fame, who for the past weeks has been training with Dante Silverio's team at the Sarmiento gym of onetime cage standout Ramchand Motoomull in Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati, Rizal. When last contacted, Elias or Tino, as most folks call him said he was still awaiting the okay of Don Manolo Elizalde (who was in hospital then). There is precedence here: Edgardo Gomez is an Elizalde employe but plays for Universal Textile. From the looks of things, Tolentino's availability to Silverio for the All-Filipino. phase of the Philippine Basketball Association which  begins next month will depend on whether or not the new Tanduay coach (Carlos Loyzaga has been quoted as stating that he is not the Distillers' coach) vice Loreto Carbonell who resigned last December would have any need for the 6-foot-2 pivotman. Tolentino was one of the few in the MICAA who did not turn professional when the PBA was formed early last year. And for a while it was thought the ex-Olympian 

was going to quit the game for good as he also stayed out of the MICAA. For besides being barangay captain in his barrio, Pinagkaisahan, Tino also is in the truck-hauling business and has been a regular employee of Elizalde (his boand for many years now som pal in the firm staunch chess rival is Willie Hernandez, veteran sportscaster and columnist who is one of Don Manolo's most trusted men). pivot problem If Dante gets Tolentino, his is over and done with, for Tolentino at 35 (born Nov. 5, 1943) stili sleek and fit (he is a karate-judo player and a keen can alternate with golfer) Ramon Fernandez at center along with Toyota draftee Gil Cortez, who has moved out of Manila Bank after a stint as a national player in the Bangkok ABC last year. In fact, Mon could well be utilized as he was when Byron 1 (Snake) Jones was around, = meaning as a forward.A member of the inter-secondary champion Jose Riza! Light Bombers of 1958 and 1959, Elias played as heavy Bomber for one year before moving to the commercial league in 1961 as a Crispa Redmanizer. He joined Yco in 1962 and stayed on up to early last year.