For its centennial season, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) plans to honor and recognize its 10 Greatest Players as the league celebrates 100 years of excellence in sports.
NCAA Management Committee chairman Hercules Callanta of Lyceum of the Philippines University said they will hand out the awards on the opening day set on September 7 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
"There will be 10 Greatest Players who are not necessarily legends, but they will be introduced during the opening ceremonies. Per school, [there would be] one I think," Callanta told GMA News Online in an interview.
Callanta said part of the criteria will be that the nominees should be an exceptional figure in any sporting event that the league has held for the past century.
However, he added that the list of requirements could still be subject to changes, given that the part of the initial criteria states that awardees should be retired for at least 20 years now.
Callanta said several schools, including his LPU as well as Emilio Aguinaldo College and Arellano University would not be able to meet this standard as these three schools have been members of the league only in the past 13 years at the least.
"Kasi ‘yung criteria, maraming hindi magqu-qualify even if they’re excellent kasi one of the criteria is they should have been retired for 20 years at least," Callanta added.
"Eh and LPU, EAC, at Arellano, wala pang 20 years so we need to maybe change some of the criteria or come up with another award for those who are excellent but are not yet eligible to be inducted into the NCAA’s Greatest."
Callanta shared that a separate event to honor the 100 Greatest Players will be staged sometime in the middle of the season.
He revealed that this move has already been in the pipeline as early as 2018, with the management committee planning to make a list of 20 athletes per year starting in Season 95 until they come up with a 100-athlete list.
"I think Season 94 or Season 95 nag-put together ng criteria, thinking that staring Season 95 there will be 20 who will be nominated for every year and then finally pagdating ng Season 100, there will be 100 athletes kaya lang hindi nag-materialize," Callanta said.
"Towards the middle of the season, there will be an induction night for the 100 Greatest Players. Ideally, 10 per school pero we have to look at the practical side of things kasi syempre, pag new member, kaunti pa lang ang time sa NCAA so chances are mahirap ‘yan.
The 100 Greatest Players, Callanta said, will include athletes from previous league members such as Ateneo, De La Salle, and UST, among others.
"Because it’s history, you cannot change or erase history, we need to honor them even if they belong to another league now. Yes, kasama sila."
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
