JOSE “Joe” Antonio, the long-time sports editor of People’s Journal, passed away last Wednesday night. He was 69.
His remains lie at the Loyola Commonwealth Diligence room.
A proud son of Cabiao, Nueva Ecija, he was passionate with sports growing up, most especially with baseball and the Tour of Luzon bikathon.
He took up BA Marketing at the University of the East while juggling his time as a working student at Puyat undergarments.
Joe was lured into sportswriting when he passed the exam for the Dawn, the student newspaper of UE, and started covering collegiate sports events. He later became the Dawn’s sports editor and managing editor.
A vacancy at the Times Journal launched Joe’s sportswriting career in 1976 under the late sports editor Gus Villanueva. He spent the next 10 years with the newspaper covering various sports, from basketball, baseball, cycling, marathon, boxing, athletics, among others.
Joe briefly worked with Tempo and Manila Times in the early post-Edsa era, before coming back home to the Journal family after being invited to serve initially as assistant sports editor of the widely-read People’s Journal.
In 1987, he officially became sports editor of the PJ sports section, which he turned into a can’t-miss reading habit behind its catchy headlines, superb layout, and easy-to-read stories.
Simple, down-to-earth, and a friend to everyone, Joe loves horseracing and was an avid fan of the late action king Fernando Poe Jr.
He was sports editor for 35 years until his death.
Joe is survived by wife Lita Antonio, son Steve Ovett, daughter in-law Princess Anne, and grandchildren Anthony James and Andre Stephen.
Interment will be at the Forest Park Memorial on Sunday.
