4. DR. REGINO R. YLANAN: From a Top Student Athlete to a Pillar of Philippine Sports

In the annals of Philippine sports history, one name stands out for his multifarious roles in advancing and supporting the cause of national sports: DR. REGINO R. YLANAN—a premiere student athlete, a bemedalled international track star, a medical doctor, educator, coach, and venerable sports official and administrator.

His life legacy includes winning the first gold medals for the Philippines at the Far East Games (1913) , heading the University of the Philippines P.E. Dept. (1921), co-founding the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF, 1924) as well as the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the Philippines (NCAA, 1924), and coaching  the first Filipino Olympian David Nepomuceno in Paris (1924). Four years later, in Amsterdam, he was back as physician of the Philippine Olympic team. It was also during his term as PAAF secretary-treasurer that the Rizal Memorial Stadium was completed (1936).

He started carving his name in sports early. Born on 7 Sep. 1889 in Bogo City, Cebu to Sen. Pedro Rodriguez and Francisca Ylanan, Regino developed an early passion for sports in athletics and baseball. In Cebu High School, he was the captain of the baseball team that became a 3-time interscholastic champion (1910, 1912, 1913) that played in the Manila Carnival games.

After high school, he enrolled at the College of Medicine & Surgery (C.M.S.), University of the Philippines where he further honed his athletic skills. His younger brother and fellow athlete Catalino, was also a student there. The brothers became members of both the crack U.P. Varsity Baseball Team and the C.M.S. Baseball Team which became school champions in 1914-1915. The two were also in the varsity and college Basketball Teams. 

On their own, Regino was both a member of the C.M.S. and the U.P. Varsity Track teams in 1916. Catalino was a Varsity Track member the year before, in 1915.

The older Ylanan came into national prominence at the inaugural Far Eastern Championship Games held in Manila in 1913, participated in by 6 countries. The 24 year old athlete parlayed his baseball-throwing skill by winning  Gold in Discus (28.28 meters), Shotput (10.76 meters)  and Pentathlon.

In the 2^nd edition of the games played in Shanghai in 1915, Regino was back, this time with his brother Catalino, as among the 6 representatives of the school. Regino defended his Shotput title with a heave of 10.91 meters for a back-to-back Gold, plus a Bronze in Pentathlon. Catalino won the team Gold for basketball. 

In 1916, Regino resumed playing baseball, captaining the varsity team to win that year’s  P.A.A.F. Baseball Championship. The two brothers would return to the 1917 Far Eastern Games in Tokyo, their last participation in the games. In Japan, Catalino claimed his second basketball gold, while the Philippine  Baseball team, in which Regino was fielded as a catcher, lost the Gold to Japan.

Upon his return, Ylanan finished his medical studies in 1918 and became a surgeon at the Philippine General Hospital. With his heart still in sports, he accepted a government offer to go to the  Springfield College, Massachusetts for a course in physical education, which he finished in 1920. This led to a job at his alma mater as head of the U.P. Physical Education Department.

A highlight of his career in sports administration was representing the Philippines at the 1924 Paris Olympics and to accompany star sprinter David Nepomuceno, the first Filipino Olympic delegate. He would attend two more Olympics, in Amsterdam (1928) and Berlin (1936), to witness the first medals won by Filipinos in swimming and athletics.

In 1927 he was named National Athletic Director and Secretary-Treasurer for the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation, the forerunner of the Philippine Olympic Committee. The last Far East Games was held in Manila in 1934, and from thereon, with 2 looming wars in the horizon (2^nd Sino-Japanese War that began in Manchuria, World War II) , interest in regional sports went into a decline.

But Ylanan carried on, authoring and promoting books on basketball and baseball, as  part of his advocacies. He was on his way to finishing “The History and Development of Physical Education and Sports in the Philippines”, when he was felled by a heart attack on23  August 1963. He was about to turn 74. Wife Carmen Wilson-Ylanan, who was one of the early women basketball players in the country, finished writing his opus that finally saw print in 1965

In 1999, the Sports Association of the Philippines acclaimed Regino Ylanan as a “Sports Leader of the Millennnium”, along with Ambrosio Padilla, Gonzalo Puyat, and Florencio Campomanes.  It was a fitting honor or his life-long service to promote a culture of excellence in sports, not just for physical health but also for nation-building. For many, Dr. Regino R. Ylanan was truly both a pillar and Father of Philippine Sports.

SOURCES:

Regino Ylanan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regino_Ylanan

CultureEd Philippines, Sagisag Kultura: Regino Ylanan: https://philippineculturaleducation.com.ph/ylanan-regino/

1915, 1916 University of the Philippines Yearbooks

Athletic Handbook for the Philippine Public Schools, Bureau of Education, Manila, 1904. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/philamer/acp1028.1913.040/29?rgn=full+text&view=image&q1=Regino+Ylanan

The Games of the VIII Olympiad: Official Report, (part 1, page 89). la84foundation.org. French Olympic Committee

Iñigo, Manolo R. (2001-09-07). Ylanan Legacy a Tough Act to Follow. Philippine Daily Inquirer, pg. A22. Retrieved on 2015-01-12.