RESPECTED AND MUCH ADMIRED Angel “Pappy” Nepomuceno, father-coach of bowling legend Paeng Nepomuceno, passed away last Saturday after a lingering illness. He was 81.
He is survived by his wife Teresita “Baby” Villa-Real and seven children: Angel Jr. (deceased), Paeng, Marissa N. Go, Susie N. Pineda, Ditas N. Samson and Len N. Guiao.
Pappy was the Philippines winningest bowling coach in history. He mentored Paeng to six world titles, 119 tournament career championships and three unbroken Guinness Book of World Records. He was also head coach of the RP bowling team that bagged a record seven gold medals in the 1987 Jakarta Southeast Asian Games where lady kegler Crystal Soberano captured four gold medals, including the Masters event title.
In 1992, Pappy was named “Coach of the Year” by the prestigious Philippine Sportswriters Association, the same year Bong Coo, the country’s top woman bowler, won the FIQ Asian Zone Masters division held in Perth, Australia.
Earlier in 1988, Pappy coached Dianna Tanlimco in the star-studded Bowling World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she finished a respectable second.
A four-time winner of the Bowling World Cup—three of them at three different decades—Paeng sadly said, “for the first time, I will be representing the Philippines in the World Cup without a coach.” He will be leaving for Melaka, Malaysia, on Nov. 13 to play his 16th trip in this world-class tournament.
Paeng said he got hooked on the sport when he was only 13. Now 52, Paeng narrated: “My dad and a brother were on a golf course when a sudden downpour forced us to seek cover inside a bowling center. There, I played several games until the rains stopped. Right after, my love for bowling started.”
Pappy’s body was cremated. His wake was held yesterday at the Loyola Chapels, Guadalupe, after which he will be transferred this morning to the San Francisco Chapel at Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park until his other relatives arrive from abroad.
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Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco and Philippine Sports Commission chair Harry Angping have finally agreed to bury the hatchet for the good of sports.
It’s about time, especially at this crucial stage when our athletes are rigorously training for the 25th Southeast Asian Games slated in Laos on Dec. 9-18.
The Philippines will be fielding 247 athletes and 132 officials for a total of 379, a far cry from the PSC’s original list of 200 (153 athletes and 47 officials). The list became bloated when the POC included 85 more officials and 94 athletes, whose participation the POC will shoulder.
“We added athletes whom we feel have the potential (to win medals),” said Cojuangco in justifying the last-minute inclusion. “If we don’t give these athletes a chance, especially the younger ones, what will happen to us in the future?”
PSC chair Angping had earlier extended the hand of reconciliation to Cojuangco, saying his gesture would put all their disagreements in the past behind them. “Philippine sports will not succeed if the PSC and POC don’t work together.”
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As a longtime Globe subscriber, I suppose I can complain. Last Tuesday, Oct. 27, at around 12:30 in the afternoon, I came to inquire at the offices of Globe at SM Marilao.
Two tellers were busy accepting payments at the Bills Payment Counter, but I noticed that there was no one tending the customers service counter. When the customers service people finally appeared, I was made to wait for a very long time. What on earth is wrong with your customers service people?
Much as I admire Globe, I deplore the customers service people for their slow, uncaring and inefficient treatment of their clients.
