Happy Birthday, Francisco “Eton” Navarro ( June 4 )

Happy Birthday, Francisco “Eton” Navarro

Source : Assorted Magazines (PBA Archives Collections)

1991 PBA Rookie Draft unrestricted free agent
San Sebastián Stags forward
2x NCAA champion
Alaska Ace

LONG before the likes of Paul Alvarez, Eugene Quilban and Napoleon Hatton appeared on the San Sebastian Stags' scene, the acknowledged superstar of the SSC quintet then was Francisco Navarro. Eton, as he is fondly called, was known as the backbone of the Stags" offensive from 1981 to 1985. Fact is, during that period, he had been a consistent candidate to several national teams, most notably the 1984 Youth squad that eventually finished third in the 8th ABC 19-and-under meet held in Seoul, Korea. And on his final year as a Stag, he was almost named Most Valuable Player of the senior division games. But somewhere along the way things did not work right for Eton. A lot of people expected him to turn pro way back in 1987 or 1988 but his bid to move up to the PBA was stymied. And then the big break came his way right before the start of the 1991 All-Filipino conference. Alaska Milk had sacked 6-4 Harmon Codiñera because of attitude problems thus creating a vacancy in the power-forward position. Alaska coach Tim Cone and his assistants Chot Reyes and Aric del Rosario shopped around for a rookie free agent and noticed that Eton was making waves in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) Maharlika Cup. Playing for Swift Hotdogs, Eton was among the top ten cagers in the race for Most Valuable Player honors. The next thing Eton knew was that he got a call from Alaska team manager Joaqui Trillo requesting him to attend tryouts with the Air Force. Being accustomed to the plays of former Stags, Quilban and Hatton, Navarro quickly got into the groove of the Alaska patterns and impressed Cone and the rest of the coaching staff, so much so, that he was inked to a one-conference contract. "At least, natupad na rin ang pangarap ko," said Eton. "Nang magpaalam ako sa Swift, hindi naman sila nagdamdam. Tuwang-tuwa nga si coach Roehl Nadurata dahil sa tagal ko na raw sa amateurs, ngayon lang ako pumanhik sa PBA. Sa ilalim pa niya ako gumaling." Such a statement holds true. After completing five years with the Stags, Navarro went on to play for multi-titled Masagana 99 but did not get that much exposure. From the Ricegrowers, he moved over to Lhuillier Jewelry and played alongside Samboy Lim and Jojo Lastimosa. Despite the presence of this twin diamonds', Eton had his share of glory and he considers this period in his career as one of the best he's had. But Lhuillier disbanded and he was picked up by star-studded Magnolia where he was benched anew. From there, he proceeded to Burger City before settling down with Swift Hotdogs last year. Last year, he sought his release papers from the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP). However, he was ignored by all eight teams during the amateur draft and he went back to the PBL and concentrated on Swift Hotdogs. "At least, gumanda ulit ang laro ko sa Swift. Napansin din ako ng PBA teams," said Navarro. It is, however, too early for Eton to rejoice. Fact is, he may find himself sulking after the All-Filipino conference. Eton failed to get ample playing time from Cone. As of this writing, he has only logged about 15 minutes on the hardcourt in four games. He has only scored one point. His contract is about to expire and Alaska management is in no good mood nowadays, what with the Airmen bungling a chance to make the finals by losing all four remaining games in the semis. "It all started with that loss to Purefoods. Panalo na, natalo pa. Somehow, the morale of the team went down and we failed to recover," said Eton. Renewing his contract would have been an easy thing had the Airmen made it all the way to the finals. As it is, there is a very slim chance that Navarro would stick as an Airmen in the Third Confer ence what with injured Paul Alvarez mak ing his comeback by then.