Happy Birthday, Alex Tan ( Sept 30 )

Happy Birthday, Alex Tan

1981 PBA Rookie direct hire
University of the East Red Warriors guard
1978 UAAP champion
5-season PBA player
4-PBA team veteran

Source : Assorted Magazines (PBA Archives Collections)

Alex Tan is Yco's big-small guy. Big because of his all-court value, a defensive stance so very hard to find among wingers who glaringly exudes offense. And small, because he doesn't have the following of teammates and co-frontliners Jimmy Manansala, Abe Monzon and Yoyong Gozum, despite their almost equal hardcourt effectivity. Alex, 23, a Business Administration graduate of UE, got into the game in high school at Grace Christian, the honing ground of nowsuperstar Atoy Co. "After three years of playing for the junior team of Grace, I moved to UE where I played for the Pages of Roehl Nadurata. Then I was with Pilo (Pumaren) for four years. It was actually Robert Poon who I made me realize what basketball is. He was my coach at Grace." Although Alex names Poon, Nadurata, Pumaren and Ed Ocampo as the people who are responsible for his deep interest in the game, he singles out his UE Warrior mentor as the one who had greatly influenced his game. "He taught me to defend. I owe him a lot," the 6-1 forward said. Alex admits that "I'm not as flashy as the team's other forwards." He believes though that he has to polish his dribble to be a better frontliner. "Our team is getting alright now. We suffered losses in the first round because we simply could not communicate well in the hardcourt. Ours is a young team. This could be the reason. We are still feeling each others' moves." Alex has never been involved in any fracas usually characterizes a 't player's zooming cage career. "I always try to keep cool. Of acourse there are some instances. Dwhen you really get irritated. But then, if you allow this to get into your system, you end up the loser." Defense, this, Alex would like to believe, is his game. Yes, despite an isawesome offense.