Chito Calvo

Chito Calvo enrolled at the College of Agriculture at the University of the Philippines in 1921. In the same year, he won the platform diving at the Far Eastern Games in Shanghai and competed again two years later in Osaka. Calvo was successful in a variety of sports including swimming, soccer, track, and boxing. Later he was to become best known for his basketball playing and coaching.

With the team from the Philippines Calvo took basketball gold at the 1925 Far Eastern Games before the home crowd. In 1926, he captained the University of the Philippines’ team to win the title of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Manila Sporting Goods Co. for the Philippine Open title. Calvo retired early to concentrate on coaching successful teams like San Beda College, the University of Santo Tomas and De La Salle College.

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics he led the national basketball team to a fifth-place, after four wins and only one loss against the United States in the quarter-finals, still the best result of an Asian country as of today (2018). After World War II, Calvo coached the team again at the 1948 London Olympics to a 12th place. Under his guidance, the team claimed the gold medal at the first ever 1951 Asian Games in New Delhi. Calvo was also active as a football coach leading the Philippines national team in the 1934 Far Eastern Games and the 1954 Asian Games.

As a sports official, Calvo helped establish the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association, a sport organization that staged the country’s basketball championships for more than 30 years. He was also among the founders of the Asian Basketball Confederation serving as its first Secretary-General. In 2007, Calvo was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.