PSA set to award PBA greats Jaworski & Fernandez with Lifetime Award

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) will be giving the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award to two of the greatest PBA players of all time, Robert Jaworski Sr. and Ramon Fernandez.

Former teammates way back their Toyota days, the dynamic duo established themselves as two of the most electric players in the PBA when they led the team to nine championship titles.

Jaworski and Fernandez continued to dominate together but during the off-season heading into the 1984 PBA season, the duo had to go separate ways after the star-studded Toyota team got disbanded.

What was once a tight on-court companionship between the two resulted in an unexpected rivalry as Jaworski signed with the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and became their playing coach while Fernandez ended up with the San Miguel Beermen.

The former teammates battled on the court with Fernandez finding success with the Ginebra franchise and helped them win four titles.

Meanwhile, Fernandez was a revelation and became San Miguel’s main gunner on his way to four Most Valuable Player awards and a grand slam feat in 1989.

The two prominent PBA figures were quick to make amends when they reunited during the 1990 Beijing Asian Games where they finished with a silver medal.

Both Jaworski and Fernandez were then highly recognized as two of the greatest players to ever set foot in the PBA when they were named as a part of the league’s top 40 players last 2015.

Aside from them, billiards great Efren “Bata” Reyes, Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, Filomeno “Boy” Codinera, and Joey Romasanta were the other recipients of the prestigious award.