American basketball coach (1942–2015)
Ronald Jacobs (December 27, 1942 – December 24, 2015) was an American basketball coach. Jacobs was head coach of the men's basketball team of Loyola Marymount University. After turning the program around in just one season, he was invited by Philippine businessman Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. to coach the Philippines men's national basketball team. Jacobs brought the Philippines back to prominence in basketball during the 1980s. He revolutionized the way basketball was played in the Philippines. He raised the level of technology in playing the game and turned every contest into a learning experience by showing how to win with science, hard work, team play and discipline.
Career.
Loyola Marymount.
Jacobs was named West Coast Conference Coach of the Year for piloting the Loyola Marymount's basketball varsity to the NCAA Tournament in 1980. He had turned the program around in just a season from a lowly 5-21 pushover to a legitimate contender.
Jacobs became an overnight hero at the Loyola Marymount campus in Los Angeles and there emerged a popular clamor for him to take over as athletic director. This did not sit well with some in the school's Board of Trustees. Jacobs eventually left the university, exasperated by the politics that smeared his name.
Philippines.
As Jacobs reassessed his future, an invitation to visit Manila fell on his lap. Ambassador Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, Jr. was appointed project director for basketball by Ferdinand Marcos. Having effectively sidelined then FIBA and BAP President Gonzalo "Lito" Puyat, Cojuangco sent BAP secretary-general Honesto Mayoralgo to the US to look for an American coach who could reinvigorate the sport in the Philippines. Mayoralgo was an Ateneo graduate who tapped his contacts in Jesuit schools to seek recommendations and was pointed at Jacobs' direction.
Jacobs came to the Philippines in 1980 along with another NCAA coach Ben Lindsey. Cojuangco, willing to give any amount just to get any of the two coaches, was to choose who among the two top-notch coaches he would hire to run the state of affairs of Philippine basketball. The jockeying for the position intensified so deeply that the two coaches, once good friends, eventually ended up bitter at each other. Jacobs allegedly threw negative statements behind Lindsey's back and he eventually earned Cojuangco's job for the coveted and lucrative position. Lindsey left the Philippines in a huff, fueling speculations, and Jacobs stayed behind.
Philippine men's national team (1981 to 1986).
Jacobs's first task was to improve the quality of basketball in the Philippines. After watching some Philippine Basketball Association games, he came up with the idea of naturalizing American collegiate players as Filipinos, to pass basketball technology to Filipino cagers.
Jacobs formed his first team in 1981; it had eight American players (Steve Schall, Steve Lingerfelter, Bruce Webster, Willie Polk, Eddie Joe Chavez, Jeff Moore, Dennis Still and Michael Antoine), two Filipino-Americans (Willie Pearson and Ricky Brown) and two local players (both from San Beda - JB Yango and Frankie Lim). The starting unit for that team included the 7'0 Steve Schall, the 6'8 Dennis Still, the 6'3 Jeff Moore, the 6'1 Eddie Joe Chavez and the 6'0 Ricky Brown. Steve Lingerfelter, at 6'9, was Schall's backup at the slot while Willie Pearson similarly languished at the bench. This team was sent to the 1981 William Jones Cup tournament where they beat a solid American team made up of US NCAA Division I collegiate players by more than 20 points in the finals and an average winning margin of more than 30 points against the others. The 1981 team encountered a backlash as Filipinos found it hard to accept the victory as the Americans were the ones responsible for the victory, with Yango and Lim being fielded sparingly. Jacobs eventually threw his program out of the window when Cojuangco feared the non-acceptance of the Filipinos.
Jacobs' next project was to retain the gold medal in the 1981 SEA Games. Noting the lack of competition, Jacobs decided to field former UE Red Warriors coach Pilo Pumaren instead as coach and gave him enough leeway to run the team. This 1981 team was made up mostly of MICAA and National Seniors players like Ricky Relosa, Bokyo Lauchengco, Itoy Esguerra, Ed Cordero, among others. The gold medal was won with President Marcos himself watching at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, witnessing the near brawl from the solid kick made by Itoy Esguerra in the face of a Malaysian opponent in the finals.
Jacobs, for the first time, was to handle a national team consisting entirely of Filipino players for the 1982 Asian Youth title. In 1980, the Philippines lost to China - a bitter setback since the Philippines won the first 5 stagings of the tournament. The 1980 team included players like Zaldy Latoza, Elpidio Villamin, Bay Cristobal, Rey Lazaro among others and handled by Turo Valenzona. Jacobs decided to get players mostly from La Salle. This move by Jacobs drew raised eyebrows from the local basketball community as after all, Jacobs was closely associated with then La Salle coach Filomeno "Pilo" Pumaren. Jacobs choices were less talented, less athletic and unknown players in the collegiate ranks like La Salle players Jun Tan, Jong Uichico, Teddy Alfarero, Derrick Pumaren, Rey Cuenco of Arellano University and Alfie Almario. The only deserving players in Jacobs' list, as far as Philippine basketball leaders then were concerned, were Hector Calma of Adamson University, Louie Brill and Elmer Reyes of San Beda College. It was contended that the team Jacobs formed was weak since dominant collegiate players like Joey Loyzaga, Terry Saldaña and Sonny Cabatu were left out. Another criticism was that all players selected were above 19 years of age - the Asian Youth were only for players who were 19 years old and below. Hector Calma was reportedly a ripe 23 years old already by then. No team from 1970 to 1984 fielded in a legitimate lineup, and only when the media reported this in 1987 did the Philippines under Joe Lipa field a legitimate Youth team made up of Benjie Paras, Nelson Asaytono, Bong Alvarez, Eric Reyes, Jun Reyes, Bobby Jose among others.
Even with the criticisms, the RP Youth team mangled the opposition heading towards the semifinals where met South Korea. This was the game Jacobs feared the most, especially since South Korea was bannering the very young but promising rookie Hur Jae. The Philippines won the game, 77-74, which featured a mini-brawl with the usual taunts and threats. The team was to meet China, who won over Japan, in the finals. In the finals, the Philippine side featured Alfie Almario's timely sniping from the outside, Hector Calma's masterful quarterbacking, and Teddy Alfarero's matching up well against China's star forward Wang Libin. The Philippines won the game 74-63 with Imelda Marcos and an overflow crowd of 25,000 in the Araneta Coliseum witnessing the game. Appreciation and the heart of the Filipino fans fell most on Calma and Almario. During the awarding ceremony, Imelda Marcos went to Calma and Almario and gave both players a hug with kisses on both sides of cheeks that drew an emotional applause from the crowd.
In 1983, Jacobs decided to retain the services of Jeff Moore and Dennis Still, owing to the lack of big men that the country faced. Having read through the FIBA rules where naturalized players can only play after 3 years of residency, he immediately submitted Moore and Still's application for naturalization. He then sought for a shooter in the US to provide the outside sock and eventually train the likes of budding shooters like Allan Caidic of UE, Pido Jarencio of UST, Jojo Lastimosa of Ateneo, and Ato Agustin of Lyceum. He recruited Arthur "Chip" Engelland of Duke University, who would be eligible to play by 1987 for the national team.
In 1984, the Philippines, under Jacobs, played in the ABC tournament held in Qatar. They won their first three games in the eliminations only to be forfeited because of the ineligibility of Engelland, Moore and Still. Howls of protest from the team did not prosper despite the initial assurance made by the ABC, eventually raising the suspicion that the Philippine team was set up to lose via technicality. The team went down 0-3 and the American members were barred from playing. The team didn't qualify for the quarterfinals and ended up in the classification round, where they beat the remaining rivals convincingly despite playing only their 9 Filipino players. Hence, they became the only team in the history of the ABC to have won all its games in the tournament but ended up 9th overall.
In the latter part of 1984, the Philippines won the Asian Interclub title to earn the right to play in the 1985 Intercontinental Cup to be held in Girona, Spain. The Philippines, playing as the Northern Consolidated Cement basketball team featuring Moore, Engelland and Still, went up against the Golden Eagles from the USA representing North America, CA Monte Líbano, representing Brazil (bannered by the De Souza brothers, wily point guard Milton Setrini, and the eminent Oscar Schmidt) representing South America, Banco di Roma Virtus (featuring Dino Meneghin) of Italy and Košarkaški klub Cibona featuring Drazen Petrovic for Europe. The Philippine NCC team lost to Cibona of Zagreb 111-86 in the first game and on the Second day lost to the Golden Eagles of the USA 81-73. In the third game, they lost by a solitary point against the Brazilians, 78-77. But in the Fourth game, the Philippine NCC team toppled the Italians by more than 19 points, 98-79. Reports from Girona said that the team won the hearts of the Spanish basketball fans as they saw the smallest basketball team in the World Cup for Champion Clubs play competitively against taller opponents from Europe and America. Ron Jacobs later admitted that he did not instill in his players' minds to give their best for the World Cup for Champion Clubs, as they treated the tournament as just part of their preparation for the coming Asian Basketball Confederation Championships.
In 1985, an even bigger victory came in the William Jones Cup in Taiwan. Ranked 4th overall, the Philippine team wasn't expected to do well, especially since the Americans were represented by solid NCAA Division I players like Harold Pressley, Joe Wolf, Kenny Gattison, Kevin Henderson, Jay Bilas and Tommy Amaker and coached by Purdue's Gene Keady, fresh from being awarded 1984 NCAA national coach of the year and Big 10 Coach of the year. Keady was assisted on the bench by Bruce Weber, his assistant at Purdue that would later become a decorated coach himself. But Jacobs' boys pulled off one surprise after another as Moore worked like a horse, Engelland was at his pinpoint accuracy best, Calma was at his prime handling the court generalship role, and the tandem of Samboy Lim and Allan Caidic doing wonders both inside and outside. In the finals, the team found itself to be in a dilemma, as center Dennis Still was hobbled by a bum knee while Jeff Moore encountered some back problems. But showing true guts and courage, the two players overcame the odds, and, with Engelland sniping away from the outside with 42 points and Lim, Caidic and Franz Pumaren doing equal damage from the arc, the SMB team won against the Americans overtime of the final, 108-100. Tommy Amaker didn't know what hit him - he was astonished how Calma outran and outfoxed him all throughout the game. It came to a point when the foreign press described Calma as the "point guard whiz" from the Philippines while being astonished by Samboy Lim's high-flying and daredevil ways. Jacobs in an interview said "I thought the American team that beat us in the Interclub World Tourney was weaker than the American team we beat in the Jones Cup finals". In saying those words, Jacobs meant that they could have won two successive trophies if only they treated the World Interclub tourney seriously.
With the momentum on their side, Jacobs' team their last pre-ABC tournament in the Philippine Basketball Association's Reinforced Conference, with each team featuring one import with a maximum height of 6'5. In one semifinals tiff held at the ULTRA, Jacobs' went up against Robert Jaworski's Ginebra San Miguel in what may be considered as one of the best PBA games of all time. Ginebra lost Robert Jaworski via a busted lip