By REYNALD MAGALLON
June Mar Fajardo only wanted to play basketball to get a scholarship at University of Cebu. He certainly has the height to play but the heft and skill was not so much yet back then.
But he knew basketball was the way. And he ended up carving out a path to greatness that has never been seen in the history of the sport in this part of the globe.
Eight Most Valuable Player awards. Dominant. Unprecedented. Greatness personified.
All the words to describe the San Miguel Beer star who has been adding achievements one after another to an already legendary lore in the PBA, and yet, the humble son of Pinamungahan, Cebu would not even dare to call himself as the greatest ever.
“Masaya ako na mapabilang doon. Sa tingin ko malayo pa ako doon ang daming deserving tawaging goat sa PBA,” said Fajardo after adding three more trophies to his already swelling cabinet of hardwares.
“Si papa Mon (Mon Fernandez) ang dami niyang championship 19 ata. Ako 10 palang ako sobrang layo ko pa sa kanya. Para sakin yung maraming championship dun matatawag na GOAT para sakin sobrang daming deserving na tawaging GOAT. Masaya na ako mapabilang don,” he added.
While Fajardo is refusing to be labeled as the ‘greatest of all time’, there’s no denying that what he has accomplished so far in his career is already worthy of that title.
For one, he already tied Fernandez and Alvin Patrimonio’s combined MVP awards. They had four apiece – a feat that seemed to be untouchable for quite some time and yet Fajardo already doubled it in just a decade.
Fajardo has won eight of the nine available MVP awards in the last 10 years with Scottie Thompson being the other player to have won it in 2021 – when the San Miguel giant was out and recovering from fractured tibia.
“Masaya ako sa naachieve ko. Pero si papa mon naman and sir alvin, iba naman sila, sila talaga yung batayan sa MVP, syempre respect pa rin sa kanila. Sila yung nagset ng standards sa PBA kami parang nakasunod lang kami sa kanila,” added Fajardo.
The belief that he was not the best to ever play the game stemmed from Fajardo’s humble beginnings. Looking back, Fajardo said the way to where he is right now was never easy. He only persevered and trusted God’s plans.
“Hindi ko nga naimagine na makakuha ako ng ganto karaming (awards). Sa totoo lang talaga di naman ako talaga naglalaro ng basketball. Kung afford lang talaga ng parents ko yung pang college malamang wala ako dito pero may ibang plano si God sa akin,” recalled Fajardo.
“Nagpursigi ako. Kung ano man yung meron ako siguro naman deserving ako. Hindi naman iyon handover sa akin pinaghirapan ko naman iyon,” he added.
At the end of the day, Fajardo only wanted to prove to himself that he could achieve something in his career.
“Mai-experience talaga natin yung setbacks, failures, disappointments. Ako nga sobrang dami ko nang pinagdaanang sakit, depression. Lahat pero hindi talaga ako nag give up. Gusto ko ring maprove sa sarili ko na may mararating ako, may mapapatunayan ako sa sarili.”
And he just did – with greatness and history, with his record-setting eighth MVP.
