Brothers and former Track and Field stalwarts of the 1980s, Jomari, Rene and Greg Banzon will be inducted to the De La Salle Sports Hall of Fame at the biennial One La Salle Night of Excellence recognition rites honoring outstanding alumni.
This will be the first time in its long history that three brothers will be inducted to the university’s Hall of Fame at the same time.
“We are very grateful for this recognition. We are proud to have brought glory to De La Salle. We are also thankful to our mom and dad, Merced and Leonardo Banzon, for being part of our athletic journey. They were always present to motivate and cheer us on during competitions,” Greg explained.
Currently, the three brothers are still blazing their respective trails, this time, in the corporate world. Jomari is the chief executive officer of SMDC, the prestigious property arm of SM Group. Rene pursued a career in the Aviation industry, and is now a senior executive of the Gokongwei group’s airline company focused on aircraft maintenance. Greg, the youngest of the three brothers, is presently the chief operating officer of Century Pacific Food, Inc one of the country’s leading food companies.
As De La Salle athletes from 1977 to 1985, the Banzon Brothers’ stellar athletic life started in grade school when they became varsity runners under Coach Mar Lamigo. They then progressed to La Salle Greenhills (LSGH) as members of the Junior NCAA varsity team where the fabled LSGH sports training system under multi-champion coach Antonio “Tatang” Mendoza served as the foundation of the brothers’ athletic development. They joined the track team together, excelling especially in the 400m, 800m, 1,500m, and 3,000m distances. All three brothers became captains of the LSGH Track & Field team in their senior year and sustained the schools’ long legacy of winning the overall Athletics NCAA Championship that ran for over a decade.
After high school, they continued their educational and athletic journey at De La Salle University under fellow Sports Hall of Famer Coach Romeo Sotto, taking home medals – majority of them gold – for DLSU in the NCAA and various athletic meets.
Without a doubt, the brothers dominated the long and middle distance events, competing throughout their high school to college years in the NCAA and other athletic leagues, and even sporting events abroad.
Individually, they have set their own records and conferred MVP honors multiples times. Collectively, they brought a total of 58 medals for La Salle, 33 of which were Gold.
Athletes through and through, they still manage to compete in races and marathons amid their busy work schedules. Jomari has done the Tokyo & New York City Marathon. Rene also continues to be very active in running events. Meanwhile, Greg continues to compete in Triathlons and Marathons and has won various Gold medals in his age group. He has ran the New York and Singapore marathons, and full IRONMAN triathlons completing the grueling 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42k run distance of the race abroad twice.
Other inductees to the De La Salle Sports Hall of Fame are Renren Ritualo for Basketball, Ira Flores of Baseball, Alvin Ocampo for Football, Edwin Reyes for Sports Management and Mikee Romero for Philippine Basketball Development.