Ambrosio Padilla

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Ambrosio Padilla (born December 7, 1910 in Manila, Philippines) is a former Filipino basketball player and former elected member of the Senate of the Philippines. He was one of the most important figures in the Asian basketball development.

Padilla captained the Ateneo Blue Eagles in the late 1920s and led the team to capture the 1928 NCAA Philippines Basketball Championship. Later, he joined the University of the Philippines baseball team in the early 1930s.

In 1930, Padilla played for the Philippines to capture the Far Eastern Games basketball gold medal in Tokyo, Japan and played alongside Jacinto Ciria Cruz and Mariano Filomeno. In 1934, he helped the country retained the Far Eastern Games basketball championship held at home for the final time.

In 1936, Padilla was the team captain and led the Philippines to a fifth place finished in the 1936 Olympic Games held at Berlin, Germany. It was the best finished by an Asian country in the Olympic Games basketball history. The team was coached by Dionisio Calvo and played alongside Cruz and Charlie Borck.

Padilla retired from basketball and became the chairman of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) Basketball Committee from 1938 to 1954. He was later elected senator in 1957 and once served as the Solicitor-General.

The international governing body, FIBA, appointed Padilla as its Vice President for Asia from 1956 to 1964. He was one of the forefathers and later elected President of the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC), now known as FIBA Asia, from 1960 to 1966 with his former coach Dionisio Calvo as the Secretary-General. When he finished his term, he served as the ABC president emeritus from 1967.

He was then, became the seventh President of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation, the forerunner of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), in 1972.

Padilla was later named in the Philippine National Hall of Fame in January 1999 along with other Filipino basketball legends like Carlos Loyzaga, Lauro Mumar, Jacinto Ciria Cruz, Charlie Borck, Edgardo Ocampo, Mariano Tolentino and of course his Olympic coach Calvo.

[edit] Awards and achievements

  • 1928 NCAA Philippines champions
  • 1930 Far Eastern Games champion
  • 1934 Far Eastern Games champions
  • 1936 Olympic Games, fifth place
  • Philippine National Hall of Fame (1999)
1936 Philippine Olympic Basketball Team - 1936 Olympic Games

 Ambrosio Padilla |  Charles Borck |  Amador Obordo |  Augusto Yambao |  Jesus Marzan |  Bibiano Ouano |  Jacinto Ciria Cruz |  Primitivo Martinez |  Franco Marquicias |  John Worrell | Coach Dionisio Calvo
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