While '90s kids would know as Vic Sotto's incredibly shouty sidekick, Yoyong Martirez is known to most PBA diehards as one of the best guards the league had ever seen.
I never got to see him in action, except for that one time he played with Jimmy Santos and the rest of the legends in the 1991 PBA All-Star Game.
Long before Olsen Racela, Alex Cabagnot, and even Hector Calma, Yoyong Martirez was the man directing the moves in San Miguel. Either he's dishing dimes to Manny Paner and Estoy Estrada, or messing with the opposing PG en route to a turnover, Martirez is one of the best point guards in the Pioneer Era outside of Crispa and Toyota. The former Southwestern Cobra, Munich Olympics veteran, and 1973 ABC Championship member spent eight seasons with the San Miguel Beermen (then-called Royal Tru-Orange) before finishing his career with the Countryfair Hotdogs in 1984.
I know his scoring averages aren't as crazy as Robert Jaworski, Lim Eng Beng, and Francis Arnaiz, but it's in some ways comparable to Bernie Fabiosa. In fact, he has the same gameplay as the legendary Crispa playmaker in terms of assists and steals. While The Sultan of Swipe had a relatively short PBA career, he has a career average of almost four assists per game and 2.1 steals per game. Martirez is currently ninth all-time in steals with 753.
And while he never made the 40 Greatest Players list, Yoyong was part of the PBA's All-Decade Team in 1984. Now, I only remember this because I made Cheers for the Years commercial when I was copywriting for ABC-5, but one of the vignettes I produced had the league's best players for its first ten years. I can speculate on who are the guys on the team, but for sure, I saw Yoyong Martirez accepting an award.
I doubt if he did enough to join the next round of the Greatest Players list. He never won an individual award, his scoring average isn't that stellar, and he only won two championships. With that said, I hope San Miguel remembers his contributions by retiring his number. I know his number is the same as that of Hector Calma, and I doubt if there is going to be another number 14 player in San Miguel, regardless, but I hope we get to see him at least get posthumously honored.