Birthday Greetings to Larry Villanil ( Jan 14 ) Former Ginebra Power forward

LARRY VILLANIL
Hilario Villanil is a deceptive player. He looks smaller than his actual 6-3 frame because he crouches a lot. But like a smaller version of Elpidio Villamin, he is effective in controlling the boards and dishing off outlet passes. Larry, as he is called, was born in Cambuhat, Buenavista, Bohol on January 14, 1964 to parents Jose Villanil and the former Faustina Estoy. He is the fifth of six children (Alconin, Herming, Milag, Jose, Hilario, and Lim). Larry started out as volleyball player for the Kanggawa Barangay High School but was persuaded to shift to basketball because of his leaping ability. When he moved over to the University of Bohol, coach Erning Remedio quickly assigned him to man the slot because he was the tallest among the lot. Among his teammates at UB then was Edgar Macaraya, who went on to play for San Sebastian College and is now again a teammate at Magnolia. Larry From Mama's Love, he hopped over to Purefoods Hotdogs, Sta. Lucia Realty and settled with the Ice Cream Makers. Larry is married to Susan Felicitos with whom he has two kids: three-year old Harvey and two-year old Harold. These days, however, Larry isn't getting that much exposure unlike last year when he was Nelson Asaytono's chief reliever. Now, young turks like Zandro Limpot, George Peralta and others are given more playing time. But Larry isn't complaining. "Diskarte na ng coach iyan. At least masaya ako dahil nakaka-11 wins na ang Magnolia." As of presstime, the Ice Cream Makers is the only undefeated local team in the Invitationals. They swept the elims with a pristine 9-0 slate and racked up two consecutive wins in the semis. Of course there are several PBA teams interested in getting him but he does not want to divulge their identities. "Saka na lang 'pag handa na talaga akong pumunta sa PBA. Sa ngayon kuntento pa ako dito sa PABL," said Larry a fan of Ramon Fernandez who plays for Magnolia's sister team, San Miguel.

The lone rookie on the Anejo camp. A former Magnolia cager in the Philippine Basketball League, Larry also played for the national team to the 1989 SEAGames and the ABC. Prior to his turning pro, his knees were suspect as he played with bandages on in the PBL. However, with Anejo he showed no trace of injury. He averaged 4.4 points in 11 minutes of play per game. Not a bright rookie year for Villanil although he had some fine moments as a defender. A hothead, he committed too many unnecessary fouls and was disqualified in a number of games. However, as his temper is expected to taper off while gaining years in the pro league, his game will likely soar too.