FORMER two-time Olympian Antonio “Tony” Genato, the last surviving member of the national men’s basketball team that captured the gold medal in the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games, passed away last Wednesday morning, Radyo Pilipinas 2 reported. He was 94.
The report quoted Teresa Loyzaga, the daughter of the late basketball icon Carlos “The Big Difference” Loyzaga, Genato’s national teammate in the Jakarta Asiad where the Filipino cagers won their fourth straight last gold medal in the continental showcase.
Both former San Beda Red Lions, Genato, and Loyzaga, who died in 2016 at the age of 85, also saw action in the 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and the 1954 World Basketball Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Under late coach Herminio Silva, the PH cagers, who also included the likes of Lauro Mumar, Nap Flores, Mariano Tolentino, and Francisco Rabat, compiled a 5-2 win-loss record on the way to bagging the bronze medal for the country’s best finish in the meet now known as the World Cup.
