GOODBYE to Ronnie Nathanielsz, who had passed on Saturday, Nov. 12, in San Francisco, one week after suffering a heart attack. He was 82.
Ronnie was a sportscaster, mainly. He had a voice distinctly his: British, slicing Indian. He was from Sri Lanka, that?s why.
Ronnie was the only one given a Filipino citizenship by Ferdinand Marcos. Kit Tatad was a chief Ninong to that unprecedented presidential fiat in 1973, a year after Marcos declared martial law.
I rarely devote an entire column to a person, departed or not.
But Ronnie deserves one.
I had done him wrong.
My way of making up?
The crime was committed in 1981.
Recah Trinidad, Ding Marcelo and I were commanded by the late Gen. Hans Menzi?through his chief lieutenant, Mariano Quimson?to put up Tempo, the English tabloid of Manila Bulletin. Menzi, Marcos?s pilot and aide de camp, was the owner then of the Bulletin Publishing Co.
With Recah as the editor-in-chief, and Ding and yours truly as Recah?s chief deputies, we labored hard to make Tempo what it has become today: One of the top-selling dailies nationwide.
As you may have guessed it, I was Tempo?s sports editor in an interim capacity (I was also the editor then of Bulletin?s Saturday Sportsweek and Literary Editor of Panorama, the Sunday Magazine of Bulletin).
?Dugout? was my sports column at Tempo for five years ending 1986, the year I was pirated to join the Inquirer.
Alternating with ?Dugout? was Manny Pinol?s boxing column, ?Right Straight.? Yes, Manny Pinol, now the agriculture secretary, was a newspaperman. He was our deskman at Tempo then, plucked out from the Philippine News Agency.
Ronnie had applied to write a Tempo sports column, but I turned it down.
But when I went on vacation, Ronnie was able to swing in his column, ?Observer.?
Upon my return, I shot it down. Without giving him any reason.
When I bumped into him at the Araneta Coliseum the next day, he shook my hand. He was smiling.
?No hard feelings, podner,? he said. ?You are the boss.?
He even embraced me.
We became friends. Not that close but good enough to call it bordering on a decent zone.
Bye, Ronnie. Rest now in the warm embrace of Dear God. Again, sorry. Enjoy your vacation.
