Ramon Fernandez

Ramon Sadaya Fernandez (born October 3, 1953) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and current commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission.

Fernandez won four PBA Most Valuable Player awards and a record 19 PBA titles.

Fernandez stood at 6'4 barefoot during his prime but due to mild gigantism grew to 6'5 during his final seasons.

He scored 18,996 points to finish as the PBA's all-time scoring leader.

He is also the PBA's all-time leader in rebounds, blocked shots, free throws made, playing minutes and second all-time in assists, games played and steals.

He played for five teams in his entire PBA career starting with the Toyota, Manila Beer, Tanduay, Purefoods and San Miguel.

Fernandez played in many international tournaments as a member of the Philippine basketball team.

He is often regarded by tenured analysts as the greatest player to have ever played in the Philippine Basketball Association.

Fernandez graduated from University of San Carlos in Cebu.

In 1972, he joined the San Miguel Braves, playing in the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA).

The following year, he transferred to the newly formed Komatsu Komets (later renamed the Toyota Comets).

He was a member of several national teams, these include the teams for the 1972 ABC Under-18 Championship, the 1973 ABC Championship, the 1974 FIBA World Championship, the 1974 Asian Games and the 1990 Asian Games.

Fernandez moved to the Philippine Basketball Association in 1975, when the Toyota Comets became one of the nine pioneer teams of the league.

With his teammates, Robert Jaworski, Francis Arnáiz, Arnie Tuadles, Danny Florencio, Emerito "Emer" Legaspi and Abe King, Toyota won nine titles from 1975-1983.

Fernandez was the 1982 PBA Most Valuable Player, the only time he achieved the award during his days with the fabled Toyota team.

After Toyota's disbandment in 1984, Fernandez and several former Toyota teammates joined Beer Hausen.

With Toyota's disbandment, the ongoing feud between Fernandez and Jaworski became public.

Fernandez won the 1984 MVP award, his second, during his first season with the Lucio Tan-owned franchise, but never led the team to the championship until he was shipped in the middle of the 1985 season to Tanduay for Abet Guidaben.

In 1984, Fernandez was five assists away from averaging in triple-double the whole season.

He ended his PBA career as the all-time leader in most points scored with 18,996, second in assists with 5,220, first in defensive rebounds with 6,435, second in offensive rebounds behind Guidaben with 2,217, first in overall rebounds with 8,652, first in minutes played with 36624:30, second in games played, first in blocks with 1,853, and second in steals with 1,302 (first at retirement in 1994).

He ended with career averages of 17.7 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game, 4.9 assists per game, 1.2 steals per game, and 1.7 blocks per game in 1,074 games.

From 1986-1987, Fernandez along with former Crispa rivals Freddie Hubalde and Padim Israel, J.B. Yango, Willie Generalao, Onchie dela Cruz and imports Rob Williams, Andre McKoy and later, David Thirdkill, led the Rhum Masters to three PBA titles.

Fernandez won his third MVP award in 1986.

Tanduay would disband before the 1988 season, but the franchise rights were bought by the Purefoods.

Fernandez would become playing coach, his first coaching stint, of a young team composed of Jerry Codiñera, Jojo Lastimosa, Al Solís, Glenn Capacio and later Alvin Patrimonio.

In the 1988 Open Conference, he led his new team to a runner-up finish to San Miguel Beer.

However, midway through the All-Filipino Conference, he would relinquish his coaching duties to his assistant, Cris Calilan, to concentrate on his game.

But in a controversial move, Fernandez was benched during the Finals against Añejo Rhum.

The said event led to his transfer to San Miguel Beer in exchange for, the second time, Abet Guidaben.

Fernandez would later lead the Beermen to the 1988 Reinforced Conference Championship and also won his fourth MVP Award, becoming the first and only player to win four MVP awards with four teams.

Fernandez was a vital cog in San Miguel's historic grand slam run in 1989, while making amends with rival Jaworski during the All-Star Game of the same season, when El Presidente scored an under goal stab off a Jaworski inbound pass at half court, to lead the Veterans to a 132-130 win over the Rookie-Sophomores team.

Legendary coach Baby Dalupan, then coaching the Veterans, summoned both players to a historic handshake at centercourt, signaling the end of their bitter feud.

However, despite leading his team to the "triple crown" that season, Fernandez narrowly lost to rookie Benjie Paras in the MVP balloting, denying the then 36-year old veteran a fifth MVP plum.

In 1990, Fernandez was a member of the Philippine basketball team that won a silver medal in the Beijing Asian Games.

He was supposed to participate in the 1994 Asian Games team, but begged off due to an injury.

That year also saw the final season of Fernandez's PBA career when he announced his retirement.

After his playing career, Fernandez ran for a senatorial seat under the Nationalist People's Coalition in 1995 but lost.

In 1998, he became the first commissioner of the defunct professional league, the Metropolitan Basketball Association.

In 2000, he was included in the PBA's 25 Greatest Players' list and was awarded during the league's anniversary on April 9, 2000.

In 2003, Fernandez was named the Commissioner of the Collegiate Champions League tournament.