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Former national player and PBA pioneer Orlando “Orly” Bauzon passed away Saturday at age 75.
Details surrounding Bauzon’s death were still unknown at the time of publication. But his former Toyota teammates Gil Cortez and Ramón Fernández confirmed the development via text messages to ESPN5 and in separate posts on their respective Facebook accounts.
“It is with deep sadness once again to share this news with you today. 2020 has been relentless. God help us all to endure whatever is happening. Another good and dear friend who passes away so suddenly and unexpectedly. Orlando ‘Orly’ Bauzon. A Toyota teammate who has become a close friend over the years, “Cortez wrote on his Facebook account Saturday night.
“A quiet, gentle and unpretentious man. Kind to all. We will miss you Repang Orly. You are now with Mareng Josie. May the Lord grant you peace. Sending my sincerest condolences to the family he left behind, especially his dear children “.
On the other hand, Fernández posted a recollection of Bauzon’s basketball feats when they played for the Toyota Comets, who won the MICAA championship in the 1973 season.
“REST IN PEACE, ORLY! If it weren’t for your last second hit in our semifinal game in the first MICAA tournament, we would not have made it to the championship series against Concepción Motorolas and we would not have won in the Cinderella finale.” Fernández wrote.
Bauzon was born in Calasiao, Pangasinan on November 17, 1944. He played for the national team that came in 13th at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. He was also a member of the Philippine men’s team that won a fourth consecutive gold medal in basketball at the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games. He attended and played for Santo Tomas University in college.
His impressive basketball resume included stints with the Ysmael Steel Admirals as well as the Meralco Reddy Kilowatts at MICAA. It eventually became part of the Toyota Comets that served as one of several pioneering ball clubs in the PBA in 1975.
He played his last PBA season in 1978 with the Mariwasa Honda Wildcats.
Bauzon also had coaching stints with his alma mater, the University of Santo Tomas and later, with the Adamson Falcons, whom he guided to second place at UAAP in 1992, the UP Fighting Maroons for a brief time in 1995 and the Pangasinan. Presidents in 1998 of the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association. He also helped train young players as an instructor at the Milo BEST clinics.
His wife, Josie Bauzon, passed away in 2011 and was the first female commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission.
