His next chapter would have been to lead a national pro billiards league to serve home to the new generation of Pinoy pool aces.
However, Manolo Chino Trinidad, an icon of Philippine sports journalism, has left this world too soon, without saying goodbye.
According to a GMA News report, Trinidad was supposed to meet personalities of Philippine billiards, including Efren Bata Reyes, at Newport World Resorts (formerly Resorts World Manila) in Pasay City Saturday evening but collapsed.
He died at the nearby San Juan de Dios Hospital due to a massive heart attack moments later. He was 56.
The second generation sportscaster started as a young basketball radio and courtside reporter in the early ‘90s for Vintage Sports, which used to cover the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), at that time being the only basketball reporter who spoke in Filipino.
He eventually became a color commentator, pioneering the Filipino-language broadcast of Asia’s first pro basketball league, alongside fellow broadcasting legends like Ed Picson, Noli Eala, Rado Dimalibot, and Yeng Guiao.
Aside from basketball, he also covered pro boxing and billiards.
He momentarily left the broadcast industry to serve as commissioner of the developmental Philippine Basketball League (PBL) from 2000 to 2010, returning to sports journalism with GMA 7 after his commissionership.
Trinidad left GMA 7 in 2023 and worked full-time on his cable channel Pilipinas HD.
In 2007, Trinidad and then PBA commissioner Eala tied up with business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan in forming the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), which replaced the former governing body Basketball Association of the Philippines.
Trinidad would later be a fiery critic of SBP. Among his issues are the disbandment of the original Gilas cadet program under coach Rajko Toroman, the non-alignment of major Filipino basketball tournaments with the FIBA calendar, the recurring appointment of Chot Reyes as national men’s coach, among several issues he raised in this exclusive interview with Fullcourtfresh.com.
While praising the senior men’s team and the women’s basketball program, Trinidad, prior to his death, blasted the boys’ under-17 team’s winless performance in the recent FIBA U-17 World Championship under the leadership of coach Josh Reyes (son of Chot Reyes), as well as allegations of “slots for sale” within the national juniors team.
“More than a joke, it’s a scandal,” Trinidad wrote on July 3.
“I have it from a solid source that a spot on the U17 Philippine Team was “sold” in exchange for an all-expenses paid tour of Turkey,” he disclosed without elaborating.
While viewed by many as hard-hitting, Trinidad is also remembered for his progressive leadership of the PBL, which was known for its fair and straightforward officiating and for prioritizing the national team over the commercial interest of the league.
“A true independent mind and advocate of nationalism in sports,” wrote Eala on X.
“A fighter, patriot, truth-seeker. There will never be another like you,” wrote veteran sportscaster Bill Velasco.
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