Tab Baldwin

Photo c/o RMO

"If you plant, you harvest" (Filipino proverb). I've admired him from afar and on-screen. The most I could do was watch him on YouTube. He was the exemplar of being a cool dude under pressure. The only time I've noticed him nearly lose his cool was when the Gilas Pilipinas team he was coaching then played against Russia in the 2015 Jones Cup. I wanted to him ask about that when I got the chance to have a chat with him but that completely went off my mind, as I sat before him, a starstruck fan of his! He is such a modest and humble person who grew up in Florida, USA, then came to Aotearoa New Zealand, and the rest is basketball history. He made huge inroads for the Tall Blacks in the international arena, as well as some of the NBL teams here. Now, he's the basketball coach of the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles (3-time consecutive champions of the UAAP).