My Monday column October 28 in Business Mirror One last time, Blue.

One last time, Blue.

by rick olivares

My father, Danny Olivares, is hoping to watch one more game of the Ateneo Blue Eagles. This one is this coming Wednesday, October 30 when the two-time defending champions take on the University of the Philippines.

However, at the Mall of Asia Arena is Pasay City? At his condition where he has been greatly slowed down by a series of strokes? It is possible, but it would be difficult. Getting there and back all the way to the house would wear him out.

Some 20 of his Ateneo batchmates (Grade School ’54, High School ’58, and College ’62) are going as part of their Diamond Jubilee celebration. 

That is quite a storied class. Actor and comedian Noel Trinidad, Mahar Mangahas of the Social Weather Station, Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, noted US immigration lawyer Ted Laguatan, former Secretary of Education DJ De Jesus, Butch Bonoan of Better Than Ice Cream, banker Vic Barrios, Jess dela Fuente of IBM, footballer, national team player and sports official Johnny Romualdez, basketball champ and coach Dodie Agcaoili, former Jesuit Ed Garcia who now works as a life coach, Tonito Quirino who was the son of President Quirino, my Tito Vlady Olivares who put up Our Lady of Fatima U but now calls NYC home, and others.

I even dated the daughter of one of his classmates. Hindi kami nagkatuluyan kasi na torpe ako.

His Ateneo classmates who have moved on into the great hereafter who I was good friends with include former Blue Eagle Boogie Pamintuan who was a NCAA champ -- teammates with Ed Ocampo and Paquito Diaz who went on to become an actor -- and my neighbour during my younger years, sportscaster Joe Cantada who was an amateur boxing champ for Ateneo and who would give me PBA tickets (he also mentored me as a young sportswriter for the Journal group and the Philippine Daily Inquirer), Ronnie Alejandro who made a name for himself in New York as a writer and who I did odd jobs for in Greenwich Village, actor and comedian Subas Herrero, comedian Gary Lising, broadcaster Manolo "Manok" Lopez who I worked with at Solar Sports, and others.

During my father’s batch’s time in school (both at the Padre Faura and Loyola Heights campuses), they experienced four NCAA championships – 1953-54, 57-58, and 1961.

“It was a smaller campus then with a smaller student population,” said my dad. “Aside from knowing each other, we all celebrating the championships. When I was in grade school, high school, and college. Those were the good old days as they call it.”

I used to sit and listen in amazement to his stories of cheering at the old Rizal Memorial Coliseum. My first taste of a NCAA title came when I was in the Ateneo grade school when the Blue Eagles won the 1975-76 titles. When I got to high school, my batch won a juniors championship during our senior year. Then in college came the school’s first UAAP crowns in 1987 and 1988.

I got to see some of those games by that 1970s team that featured future pros Steve Watson, Joy Carpio, Padim Israel, and Bambi Kabigting. My uncle Johnny Tañedo took me to some of those games. During those UAAP title years, I’d go with my dad.

While he was never an athlete (unlike his kids), he enjoyed watching the games. Even when he physically did not go to the games, he’d watch them on television.

My passion for sports (not just Ateneo sports) also comes from him (along with an uncle who fostered the love of baseball in me). During the launch of the Ateneo five-peat book (titled “Five”) that I wrote at the Ayala Museum, my father was so proud of a connection I had made to our alma mater. It was actually my second book about the Blue Eagles with The 18^th Banner coincidentally being my first and the first of the vie-peat titles. So in a way, Five was like the perfect bookend. 

There’s 11 Days in August that is about Gilas Pilipinas’ successful 2013 Fiba Asia campaign, A NU Champion that recounts the 2015 NU Bulldogs’ UAAP title season, Rise which tells of the NU Pep Squad’s three-peat in the Cheer Dance Championships, and contributing to Philippine Football: It’s Past, Its Future and Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan The Maestro of Philippine Basketball. I am currently working on Golden, that is recount the stories of the Xavier School Golden Stallions.

Except for my unfinished book, my father has copies of everything I have written. And that bring s me back to the upcoming game.

Early this October, three of my father’s batchmates wrote current Ateneo University Athletics Director Emmanuel Fernandez inquiring about the possibility of getting block seating for the match. Personally, I think it is cool. Their batch is extremely close to one another. They regularly hold reunions and go out of their way to help other batchmates of theirs who aren’t well. 

“It’s not like this is our last hurrah,” said Ed Garcia who now works with the student-athletes of FEU. “It is just reliving the days of our youth. It would be nice to watch again though not in the bleachers. Lower box, upper box is good where it isn’t too painful on the knees. While our reunions have bigger numbers I think for the Ateneo-UP game, we can only bring in 20 from our batch.”

My dad would like to watch with his classmates. Yell, cheer, and sing one more time. However, it doesn’t look possible given his health condition. As much as I want him to go (and be with him), it is best that he stay from home and watch on television. He grudgingly agreed.

“But I’ll be there in spirit,” he smiled.