The Ateneo Blue Eagles

Sports has always been the favorite pastime of many Filipinos and one of the sports closest to our hearts is the game of basketball. Many many years ago the Ateneo de Manila was at the forefront of College basketball as their teams would play basketball games against other schools in the early part of the 20^th century. Those dual meets would eventually become the backbone of the National Collegiate Athletic Association which they co-founded together with the University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, De La Salle College, University of Manila, National University, Institute of Account (FEU) and San Beda College. During that time, the Ateneo adopted the colors Blue and White as its official school colors. This was the Ateneo’s way of showing their support to Mother Mary most specially to Maria Purissima Queen of the Ateneo. In the 1930’s interest in basketball was getting higher and a lot of schools then were naming mascots to their respective schools. It was at that time when the Ateneo adopted their mascot – the Eagle.

In On Wings of Blue, a booklet of Ateneo traditions, songs, and cheers published in the 1950’s, Lamberto Javellana writes:

“The Eagle—fiery, majestic, whose kingdom is the virgin sky, is swift in pursuit, terrible in battle. He is a king—a fighting king… And thus he was chosen—to soar with scholar’s thought and word high into the regions of truth and excellence, to flap his glorious wings and cast his ominous shadow below, even as the student crusader would instill fear in those who would battle against the Cross. And so he was chosen—to fly with the fleet limbs of the cinder pacer, to swoop down with the Blue gladiator into the arena of sporting combat and with him to fight—and keep on fighting till brilliant victory, or honorable defeat. And so he was chosen—to perch on the Shield of Loyola, to be the symbol of all things honorable, even as the Great Eagle is perched on the American escutcheon, to be the guardian of liberty. And so he was chosen—and he lives, not only in body to soar over his campus aerie, but in spirit, in the Ateneo Spirit… For he flies high, and he is a fighter, and he is King!”

The eagle also appears in the standards of many organizations, schools, and nations as a "guardian of freedom and truth." Dante in his Divine Comedy uses the Eagle as a symbol of the Roman Empire, which used the bird as part of its standard. The ancient Romans considered the eagle sacred to Jupiter himself. The eagle is often seen as the bird of God, the only bird that can fly above the clouds and stare directly at the sun. This is also why it represents St. John the Evangelist, in honor of the "soaring spirit and penetrating vision of his gospel."

The word blue was then added to the eagle since the school colors were blue. That was the birth of the ATENEO BLUE EAGLES.

References: Blue Eagle, the King

Blue Eagles win fifth UAAP Title

Chot, Len, Mike, Jun and Billy, they are the Reyes brothers of the Ateneo who honed their basketball skill in the Ateneo but unfortunately took different basketball paths in College. A lot say Chot is the brainy one, Len the scorer, Mike the shooter, Jun the most prolific and Billy the most versatile. Chot would become a champion mentor while Jun would lead the Blue Eagles to back to back championships. Twenty one years later, Len’s son would duplicate the feat as Jai Reyes together with Rabah Al-Husaini and Nonoy Baclao led the Ateneo Blue Eagles to back to back titles after upending the gallant stand of the University of the East Red Warriors 71-58.After getting blown away by the Warriors in game 1, the Blue Eagles were all business as Rabah Al-Husainin scored 11 first quarter points to lead the Blue Eagles to a 21-17 lead. The UE big guns tried to match the fire power of the Blue Eagles who had six fastrbreak points in the opening 5 minutes with Kirk Long getting two and 1 plays but muffing two gift free throws after the foul and Nonoy Baclao streaking to the hole. UE would lead 8-6 but when the Blue Eagles equalized there was no more token resistance from the Warriors. It was an all Rabah quarter with Jai Reyes missing his shots.

Come the second quarter the complexion of the game suddenly turned to the side of the Blue Eagles who used a paralyzing 12 -0 run to end the half. After Paul Lee scored on a drive with 6:05 left in the second quarter, the Eagles went to work by shutting down the Warriors and scoring almost at will. Ryan Buenafe scored 4 points, while Jai and Kirk scored three apiece while Jai dished out his fourth assist on Rabah Al-Husaini to give the Blue Eagles a 40-25 advantage come halftime. The Blue Eagles set the tone early with their defense as they held the Warriors to 29% shooting and led UE in almost every statistical category. The most telling among them is the 7-1 assist disparity and the 30 -16 edge on inside points. That alone signaled the downfall of the Warriors in the second quarter. The quarter ended with Ateneo scoring 19 points and the Warriors could only muster only 8.After the break the UE Warriors started the quarter with two three pointers courtesy of Elmer Espiritu and Val Acuña. This signaled the surge of the UE Warriors as they tried gallantly to rally their team, unfortunately for them the Blue Eagles were not about to let them come back.

Enter the gunslinger Jai Reyes who showed that his misses in the first half was just his way of sizing up his shots as he rattled three three pointers that eventually broke the backs of the Warriors. Jai’s third three pointer with 58 seconds left gave the Blue Eagles a commanding 57- 39 lead while their defense was on 24-7 which led to a 57-41 lead at the end of the third quarter.Come the fourth quarter everyone was waiting for a final push by the Warriors but unfortunately it did not come. In the four previous games of this two teams UE had a big run in each of the games. This time, the Blue Eagles made sure it will never happen. Suddenly the top gunners of UE were stifled and could not get its act together. Ryan Buenafe stole the ball and even blocked Paul Lee who was shut down in the first few minutes of the fourth. Val ACuña was hot and cold, Elmer Espirtu was worn out come the fourth quarter, Rudy Lingannay was firing blanks, Raphy Reyes never got anything going and the big story was Pari Llagas who ended his UAAP career with a 0 for 7 shooting from the field. In the end , the Blue Eagles showed that they are indeed the best team in the UAAP by coming back and frustrating the Warriors. Coach Norman Black’s post game remarks described the team very well he said “This team handled adversity well and they showed that they knew how to come back” at the same time he added “Experience is the best teacher. The loss in 2006 was something we did not want the others to feel that is why they did their best to win the title!” For the record, this is the first time that a double championship went back to back! Now that this is all over , lets all dream of a double three-peat! CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ATENEO BLUE EAGLES! ONE BIG FIGHT!!!

ATENEO (71)

Al-Husaini 21, Reyes 16, Buenafe 10, Baclao 8, Salamat 8, Long 7, Salva 2, Monrfort 0, Austria 0

UE (58)

Lee 21, Espiritu 16, Acuña 8, Lingganay 5, Zamar 3, Llagas 3. Reyes 0, Ayala 0, Duran 0,

Quarter scores: 21-17, 40-25, 57-41, 71-58

(Photos by Aaron Vicencio)