(This was written by the author the day after the Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night on Feb. 26, 2019, with a postscript in 2021. Lito Tacujan used it as preface for his book, ‘Cheers and Tears,’ a collection of his stories which he published a few years ago. A veteran sports writer and sports/news editor himself, the author reposted it on his Facebook page upon the death of Lito Tacujan on March 18, 2026. We are running it with his permission.)
February 26, 2019, The Manila Hotel
Last night, the Philippine Sportswriters Association, on a very rare occasion, honored one of its own for lifetime achievement in sports journalism. But the PSA Awards Night at the Manila Hotel, having honored a bumper crop of athletes who made 2018 another banner year for Philippine sports, hardly had enough time to reflect on the five decades that Lito Tacujan, my friend, colleague, and compadre, covered sports.
Having joined him on a roller-coaster ride through most of the past 50 years, I’ll make my own modest attempt here to squeeze those years into a few paragraphs.
From the author’s photo files (circa 1985): Lito Tacujan (far right) with colleagues, from left, the author, Crispa owner Danny Floro, sports editor Ernie Gonzales
If you scan the history of Philippine sports over the past half-century, you will find that a big part of it was written by Lito Tacujan, former president of the PSA and, until recently, the long-time sports editor of the Philippine Star. You will see his byline in most of the major sports events in the country: the Ali-Frazier Thrilla in Manila, the World Cup of Golf, the world basketball championships (all in the ’70s); five Olympic Games from Seoul to Athens, the most Olympic Games covered by any Filipino sportswriter; and countless Palarong Pambansa, Southeast Asian Games, and Asian Games.
And he covered all sorts of sports—basketball, baseball, boxing, chess, golf, tennis, etcetera. You name it, he covered it.
Lito chronicled the epic rivalry between Crispa and Toyota when the PBA was just a fledgling league more than four decades ago. He covered chess when Eugene Torre came to within a few steps of the world championship, and when great champions like Fischer, Tal, Spassky, Korchnoi, Karpov, and Kasparov came over to Manila; he covered baseball when his hometown team of Canlubang filled the Rizal Memorial baseball stadium to the rafters; he covered golf when Tiger Woods was still a junior golfer, when Ben Arda won the Philippine Open for the last time, and when Frankie Miñoza went to the Masters in Augusta. His career in sports spanned the great boxing eras of Flash Elorde and Manny Pacquiao.
He covered the titanic Ali-Frazier fight with legendary sportswriters like Ed Schuyler….Norman Mailer in the same press row at ringside
He was there when Onyok Velasco took the silver in one of the country’s rare moments of Olympic glory. He covered the titanic Ali-Frazier fight with legendary sportswriters like Ed Schuyler, Will Grimsley, Dick Young, Red Smith, and Norman Mailer in the same press row at ringside.
After that bloody battle, Schuyler told Lito how lucky he was to have covered the greatest heavyweight fight in boxing history.
Covering the 2004 Athens Olympics, from left: the author, Lito Tacujan, and Ding Marcelo
Lito Tacujan walked the talk. He played sports just as well. (Oh well, not really.) He could never play the game as well as he wrote it. He dabbled in tennis, basketball, chess, fishing, and probably Little League baseball back in Canlubang.
But he is known in the sportswriting fraternity as the best sportswriter who ever played golf. The elegance of his prose is matched only by the beauty of his golf swing.
He did not just cover sports. He did so in style, in language that showed his love for his craft and his drive for excellence in the profession.
When Lito retired from the Star a few months ago, he took his writing to social media, reminding his Facebook friends of the sports events, big and small, that he witnessed from the press box and telling them about the joys of grandfatherhood (with much pride, he took his grandchildren, along with the rest of the family, to the PSA Awards Night).
He may have retired as sports editor, but outstanding sportswriters like Lito Tacujan never retire. They simply move from one platform to another and shift from writing about yesterday’s game to writing another chapter of sports history.
And so Lito—from one retired sports editor to another—thank you for a lifetime of sportswriting excellence.
The sports media colleagues on a fishing trip with Vicvic Villavicencio in the latter’s resthouse in Sta. Ana, Cagayan (Photo courtesy of Jun Engracia)
Postscript: December 9, 2021
The saga of Lito Tacujan continues well into the 2020s as he takes his battles into the new decade— weaker in body but stronger in spirit. In early 2020, already struggling with depression as ashfall from the eruption of Taal Volcano reached his hometown of Canlubang and confined him at home, he soldiered on. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, adding another burden on a body already weakened by years of Parkinson’s Disease.
But the worst had yet to come. The universe threw him another curveball in the middle of 2021— he tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a seniors’ meeting. He was taken to the intensive care unit, where he struggled for every breath he took. Buoyed by an indomitable spirit and the support of his family, Lito pulled through after two weeks. The deadly virus aggravated his Parkinson’s and decimated his body.
He may have lost his sense of taste due to COVID, but no virus will stunt his style, stifle his desire to write, or weaken his will to live. It takes more than a virus to stop this man.
He continued writing on social media even from his sick bed, fumbling with his phone, which sometimes turned his thoughts into garbled gibberish text.
He emerged from the ordeal with a stronger resolve to pursue his big plans, including a compilation of his best sports stories into a book that will not only cement his legacy as a sportswriter, but also bookmark his writings for future generations of sports lovers and sportswriters.
Lito watched with a tinge of envy as younger sportswriters covered the biggest moments in Philippine sports—the victory of Yuka Saso in the US Women’s Open golf championship in early June, and the history-making gold medal performance of weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz in the Tokyo Olympics last July.
He would have loved to be in the press gallery to chronicle both events.
But Lito Tacujan’s career as a sportswriter is defined, neither by one single sports event nor by one athlete’s achievements, but by the body of work that spanned half a century of Philippine sports.
The author recalls crashing Lito Tacujan’s wedding 51 years ago. Shown with the newlyweds are colleagues Ding Marcelo (center), Eddie Alinea and the author.
Last year, during the Tacujans’ 50th wedding anniversary (standing, from left): Jo-Ann Maglipon and husband Ding Marcelo, HK-based Gabby Alvarado, ‘Star’ sports editor Nelson Beltran and wife, Spin.ph editor Dodo Catacutan; seated, the author (left) and Lito Tacujan (Photo courtesy of Jun Engracia)
