Doc Rico has reasons to celebrate
I FIRST met Doc Rico Mesina more than 20 years ago when he was still a senior high student journalist in Lourdes School in Mandaluyong.
And he was a member of the Young Journalists Association of Mandaluyong (YJAM), composed of private and public high school journalists involved in an educational anti-drug abuse program of then Mayor Benhur Abalos, which I was running.
Doc Rico was active but he had a special reason. His high school crush, Ellen Sheila Limiac from San Felipe Neri, if my old memory serves me right, was also a member and he had a good excuse to see her.
Fast forward to the future and now Doc Rico introduces Ellen as his better half already. I should know because last Wednesday night, Doc Rico invited me to help him host his thanksgiving birthday dinner celebration at the Hobby Stadium in Quezon City with most of the guests sports enthusiasts, basketball in particular.
You see Doc Rico, who really is a medical doctor, a noted radiologist, is also recognized now as a foremost authority on basketball memorabilia and he can easily assess the estimated value of these historical mementos.
After all, he has bought and collected a lot of them, more than 20,000 items already whose collective value would easily be seven figures.
I have seen a lot of them, from playing jerseys, trophies, medals, magazines, newspaper clippings, books, etc etc etc.
Just to backtrack a little, it was during the pandemic that Doc Rico started The Basketvault, an online chat group for basketball enthusiasts, from former players, collectors like him, ordinary sports fans, and even sports media.
In fact, our paths crossed again because of this group and I have been invited to some previous events like the Hoopcon Convention where collectors displayed the best of their collections.
This was described by a guest there that elevating the consciousness of fans through an interactive event where they can see actual mementos of the past has helped conbect the past to the future, part of what Doc Rico wants to achieve.
Last Wednesday, he again brought in some items to display and even had the guests play trivia games but all basketball related, local and international.
I told my colleague Randy Caluag from Manila Standard that we were fortunate that we were not called as games participants, those guys certainly knew a lot more than we do.
I had a chance to talk to him on the side before we started the program, and I asked him what he enjoys more, his being a doctor or his being a sports memorabilia collector, a radio and television co host, a sports columnist, and a resource person for determining the value of related items.
He enjoys both , he said, but the difference for him, as a doctor, he deals with people who have health concerns, in his other world, he deals with healthy ones in general.
Now, people entrust him with their own collections, either selling to him directly, or in the case of some, like Manny Paner, gives him the items believing Doc Rico can do a better job of preserving their legacies.
Another colleague who was also present, Rick Olivarez, who like me also trained Doc Rico on sportswriting recently, suggested that the good doctor eventually writes his own book on what he has done.
But I guess Doc Rico will try to accomplish first the next phase of his dream, to open a museum that would house the best of his collection together with those of other collectors as a joint project.
Right now, he is in the process of identifying which items would be in the priority list, and with those more than 20,000 things he already has amassed and being a full time doctor, that would take some time for sure.
But then he is only 41 years old and that gives all the time to collect more and work on his museum project.
Happy Birthday Doc Rico and I wish you the best in your endeavor. It is a good one for Philippine basketball, you have my support for what it is worth.
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