Happy Birthday, Benjamin “Ben” Ocariza ( Sept 14 )

Happy Birthday, Benjamin “Ben” Ocariza

1979 PBA Rookie direct hire
2-season PBA player
2-PBA team veteran
University of Cebu guard

Source : Assorted Magazines (PBA Archives Collections)

Benjamin Ocariza, is having a wonderful season with the San Miguel Braves and is proving to all and sundry why he should not have been benched after all. Equipped with an elastic body that elicits different languages under the goal, Ocariza is simply wowing the crowd with his twisters. It took the likes of Coach Nic Jorge however to bring out the best from Brave number 4. "He has not fully blended with the team. He came in late for our cramming before the tournament. Anyway, I think his game is picking up, although I would like to believe that he should try to inject more defensive hustle in his style," Coach Jorge said. "Pinapagod nga kami ni coach pero para sa amin na rin. Para makundisyon," Ben-Oc said in his thick Visayan tongue. "At least," he continued, "coach gives everyone of us the break. If we play good, matagal kami sa loob. Pag pangit, labas. Walang star-star." Ocariza averages ten points per game now but hopes to improve this as the tourney progresses. The former Cebu Amateur Athletic Associa tion MVP got honed up to play the game at the Cebu Central Colleges, three years with the junior and two years. with the seniors, under Cebu's noted coaches Dodong Agas and Baldomero Estenzo. As a gradeschooler in native Basak, Pardo in Cebu, Ocariza saw and was intrigued by the performances of hometown basketball heroes Manny Paner and Estoy Estrada. "Hindi pa ako naglalaro, mahilig na akong manood," he said. Ben-Oc, as he is called, is the second and only son of Buenaventura Ocariza and the former Anatalia Racaza. Before his re-discovery, Ben-Oc had short stints with Yco, Mama's Love, Conpinco and Detroit. The 5-11 guard-forward, a commerce junior at CCC, when asked why it took this long before he managed to make his presence felt on the hardcourt, said: "Ako man, hindi ko rin alam kung bakit ako ibinangko. Pero frankly, my stint with Coach Decena last season was one hell of a nightmare. But why talk about it when there are so many nice things to talk about my new coach and the many things I'm learning from him?" Again, indeed, the road has been re-paved for Ocariza's re-entry as a fighting, sommer-saulting acrobat of the Braves.