MANFREDO P. ALIPALA –UNHERALDED AND
FORGOTTEN BACOLOD SPORTS HERO
I am dedicating this article to
an old friend and fellow Bacolod native, the late MANFREDO P. ALIPALA. Although
his achievements in amateur boxing in the Philippines and Asia have brought
pride and fame to Bacolod City, it pains me to think that there was not even a recognition
and appropriate honor bestowed by the Bacolod local government to a forgotten
hero. I am filled with regrets that, having been an appointed as a high ranking
city government official for almost 8 years, I failed to initiate a move to
acknowledge a friend and fellow Bacoleno’s outstanding contribution to the
fields of both amateur and professional boxing. For appeasement, I tried to
convince myself that my failure to do so was due to my hectic and heavy
workloads as a former Secretary to the Mayor and later City Administrator with
concurrent job positions as BCC President/College Administrator, Chairman of
Local Finance Committee, and Regional Development Council Representative, among
others.
For this reason, even as a
private citizen now based in a foreign land, I will try my best to make this
right by seeking the help of current Bacolod City officials to distinguish the
first Bacolod native to win the (only)
Gold Medal in amateur boxing in the
1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia and the first Olympian from Bacolod to
represent the Philippines in amateur boxing to the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo,
Japan.
As far as my memory could serve
me, Manfredo
P. Alipala became my friend sometime in June 1959. Aside from residing in the same place called
then “Barrio Obrero” and now Barangay “Villamonte” in Bacolod City, we also
went to the same school, West Negros College WNC (now WNU).
At 5’8’ and taller than most Filipinos
in those days, “Noning” as we fondly
called him, was a handsome and mild mannered guy with a physique that would
easily earn envy from other young men and adoration from the young ladies on
and off campus. Although “Noning” was a little older than me and taking a
different course in WNC, we, together with other friends (Eli Hilado, Erning
Abrico, Denny Yunque) would spend hours in the campus bench and ogle at the passing
campus beauties during our vacant classes. I can still remember one incident when
a ‘drunken’ student approached our group and started shouting invectives at us.
Out of fear, we kept our silence until “Noning”
came. After seeing him, the intoxicated bully’s face turned ashen and looking scared,
hurriedly went away.
Our friendship remained close
until I finished my general 2-year course in Engineering in 1960. Since WNC
then was only offering the first 2 years of the 5-year engineering course, I
went to Manila to pursue the last 3 years major in Mechanical Engineering at
FEATI Institute of Technology (now University.) While in Manila, I learned from
a mutual friend, Eli Hilado, who was then enrolled in civil engineering at National
University, that Noning became a member of the amateur boxing team of FEU. That
time, the amateur team of FEU, was a formidable boxing squad that dominated both
the UAAP competitions and national boxing team tryouts. Noning, with his top
physical condition, boxing skills and “fearless” attitude easily became a
mainstay of the team composed of young and talented boxers under the tutelage
of reputable amateur boxing Coach Aling Enriquez. Among the mainstays of FEU
were Dominador Calumarde, Rodolfo Arpon, Catalino Arpon, Eginio Grafia and Jose
Ramirez, among others.
Manfredo Alipala’s biggest
international success was in winning boxing’s gold medal in the welterweight category in the 1962 4th Asian Games in
Jakarta, Indonesia, the first Filipino to do the feat.
As the best amateur welterweight
boxer in the whole Asia in half a decade, Noning was selected to the
Philippine national boxing team to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. To add prestige to his status as an
outstanding amateur boxer of the country, Noning
was chosen to be the flag bearer of the whole Philippine contingent to the said
Olympics. The Philippines basketball team then was bannered by Robert Jaworski,
Adriano Papa, Danny Florencio, Boy Arazas, Renato Reyes, Ed Ocampo, and Rogelio
Melencio, among others. Although he won
his first bout in the 1964 Olympics by defeating Khalid Al-Karkhi of Iraq, unfortunately
Noning lost to Kichijiro Hamada of
Japan, whom he beat in the 1962 Asian Games for the gold medal.
It is worthwhile remembering that in the same
Olympic, another Filipino amateur boxer, 19 year-old Anthony Villanueva, won
the Olympic silver medal in a controversial loss to eventual gold medalist,
Russian Stanislav Stepashkin in their
featherweight final bout.
Later in his boxing career, after
turning into a professional boxer, Noning
has fought against Filipino boxing champions such as Eduardo Canete, Fil Ravalo
anad Phil Robinson, among others. His professional boxing campaign in the
welterweight and middleweight class included Oriental and World title bouts for
the OPBF Middleweight Championship against Korean champion Ki-Soo Kim in 1968
and Light welterweight champion Paul Fuji (Takeshi Fujii) of Hawaii in 1969.. Although
he never won a championship boxing title, “Noning”
was considered by World Champion Paul Haji as a tough contender for the welterweight
world title.
After retiring from professional boxing, “Noning” reportedly joined the Philippine
Sports Commission and worked as a consultant with that agency.
In a short biography by Wikipedia,
Manfredo “Noning” P. Alipala was born
on October 25, 1938 and died on October 8, 2006 at the age of 67. His listed
residence was Barangay San Roque, Tarlac City, Tarlac.
Note. I hope that there are readers of this article who have known
Noning Alipala, especiallyhis relatives and old residents of Barangay
Villamonte, Bacolod City through Barangay Captain Friday Solinap, who can
assist in calling the attention of our
City Mayor Monico Puentevella, an athlete himself, to bestow the much needed
recognition to my late friend’s achievements in amateur boxing. Thank you in
advance.
Oct. 20, 2014
Central Valley, California USA
