Happy Birthday, Reuben Dela Rosa ( Mar 10 )

Reuben hails from Leyte where he had his humble beginnings in basketball. From that city in the South, his brother Romy dela Rosa (now with Sta. Lucia) travelled to Manila to seek for greener pastures. In due time, Romy was a big name in the pro league. Reuben followed after a couple of years and when he landed in Manila, he tried out for the junior team of Mapua Tech. Soon enough, he was taken in for the senior team of the same school. "Mahirap din yung player ka ng school, tapos, ini-expect nila na makakuha ka ng matataas na grades. Mahirap talagang pagsabayin yung pag-aaral at pagba-basketball. Pero siyempre, kailangan, tiisin mo yon. Ako tiniis ko lahat yon. Napakahirap pati, financially. Dedepende ka lang sa allowance from the school at alam mo naman kapag sa school, kulang na kulang ang allowance. Pero part 'yun ng pagsusumikap mo kaya siyempre, tiyaga," Reuben recounts his college days. "Galing ako sa probinsiya at nagpunta ako sa Manila na may daladalang pangarap. Nung makapunta si Kuya sa PBA, inggit na inggit ako siyempre. Proud ako sa kanya pero siyempre, di mo maaalis na mag-isip na sana, ako rin. Pero madalas akong sabihan ni Kuya noon na magtiyaga lang nang magtiyaga at mararating ko rin yung napuntahan niya," Reuben adds. Year 1995 was a particularly big year for him. In the early 90s, he would come out as a reliever to other King Cardinals like Benny Cheng in the MIT line-up. He knew his time would come and last year, it finally did. Against Rodney Santos who was seeking his own Grandslam for the NCAA MVP title, Reuben came out the MVP in the NCAA, capping a season-long sterling performance that saw him almost single-handedly carrying the Cardinals to the finals of the NCAA against then Grandslam-seeking SSC Stags. He was acquired by Stag Pale Pilsen in the PBL and from there, there was no stopping him. For three conferences, he was among the best in the league -making it to the Mythical Five of the first and second, and recently, a slot in the second team of the third conference. When Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar came to the country a few months ago, a slam dunk contest was held in two division, local and foreign. To the amazement of everyone at the Araneta Coliseum, Reuben dunked his way to fame, fashioned out those slam dunks that shocked everyone at the Big Dome. He is undoubtedly the best slam dunker in the amateur ranks. PBL Mythical Five slots, NCAA MVP, a slot in the Philippine National Team to Chiang Mai which brought home the gold, a slam dunk king title, plus a member of the team that brought home the grandslam in the PBL. All that in Reuben dela Rosa's sleeves for the past year. So you'd ask -what's next for him but the PBA?