By Tito S. Talao
The death of FIBA secretary-general Patrick Baumann last Sunday reportedly from a heart attack while attending the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina drew waves of shock and sympathy from all over the world, especially from countries where the sport of basketball is played and followed with manic passion.
Over here where the sport and its stars have gained various levels of veneration from the public at different times, officials of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, led by chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan and president Al Panlilio, have expressed “deep personal sadness” over Baumann’s untimely demise at 51.
Pangilinan, who took over the reins of Philippine basketball back in 2007 under Baumann’s guidance, called the Swiss-born FIBA executive a “colossus of world basketball” while Panlilio said the sports community has lost a “pillar of light.”
Amid the heartfelt expressions of grief and loss, however, a question inevitably hangs: Will Baumann’s death impact in any way the Philippines’ standing in the eyes of the International Basketball Federation?
“If you’re talking about our hosting of the 2023 World Cup, I don’t think they’ll change that since it has already been awarded to us,” said Panlilio over the phone yesterday.
Pangilinan, who accepted membership to FIBA’s all-powerful Central Board on Baumann’s invitation, has maintained “a friendly relationship” with the secretary-general, said Panlilio, but has at the same time worked closely with FIBA’S core team, including president Horacio Muratore and executive Borislav Stankovic.
“So I don’t see any problem with Patrick now gone,” Panlilio said. “Still he is such a big loss to basketball, globally, and his main vision is to grow the sport to be even bigger than football. He was very confident he could do that.”
Shared during the recent FIBA World Basketball Summit in Xi’an, China, this vision of a new world order in sports found a rapt audience that clung to Baumann’s every word.
“He understood the sport very well, and he shared with us the key success factors which he felt were needed to make the sport grow,” said Panlilio. “Sadly it was the last time I saw him.”
Arrangements are being made for Panlilio to join Pangilinan in paying their last respects in Switzerland to Baumann, whose remains reportedly are still in Argentina as of this writing.
