Before UP’s ‘First Dance,’ a culture’s foundation was put in place

The University of the Philippines' (UP) success in the recent UAAP men's basketball tournament fetched memories of the only other time the Fighting Maroons scaled the apex of varsity ball. The old guards, dripping with nostalgia, fondly call it the "First Dance." But before that 1986 team---which sculpted the likes of Benjie Paras, Ronnie Magsanoc and Eric Altamirano into a champion unit---bronzed its legacy against the backdrop of a reborn republic, the foundation had to be built. And a lot of the work started in 1977. That year, a squad helmed by coach Siegfried Guerrero and team manager Vic Fernandez planted the seeds of UP's basketball culture. It wasn't just putting ...

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