The Alaska Aces gave “Major Pain” Eric Menk a fitting way of celebrating his retirement through a touching tribute on Sunday night, but the multi-awarded cager did not let the tribute be centered on just him.
The 42-year-old, he himself one of the greatest players to ever grace Philippine basketball, hopes that one day, his fellow PBA greats will be honored in a similar way to what the Aces, the last team he played for, have done for him.
“I don’t want to be overly critical but there a lot of great players that has come before me — fellow competitors that I have a great deal of respect for,” said the Michigan-born Filipino-American after the tribute, which took place during the halftime break of the Ginebra-Alaska bout at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
“There’s just a great number of guys that retire every year and nothing happens and there’s no recognition. It’s the talent in the league that carries the league, these are companies that owns this team,” the 2005 Most Valuable Player added.
As he made his point clear, the 16-year veteran — whose career started with Tanduay back in 1999 — could not help but cite one good example of another shoo-in legend, Danny Seigle, who is now part of the TNT Katropa.
“These guys, they get paid really well. But they also give a lot of honor to their companies,” the four-time PBA Champion explained.
“Like my good friend Danny Seigle, what’s gonna happen to him? He played 12 years in San Miguel and now he’s in TNT. Those two owners don’t like each other so is anybody gonna honor him? It’s been a little bit frustrating and that’s why I dont think anything will happen for me.”
But with the recent tribute that he received, Menk, who has career averages of 11.9 points and 8.1 rebounds, is full of hope that this will be the commencement of teams honoring their respective players that paved the way to success.
“Hopefully, this is the start of something really nice. It’s got a great response in the social media in the last few days. I think with the fans’ response, I think it will happen in the future for other great players when they retire,” the 10-time All-Star hopes.
Nevertheless, Menk is nothing but delighted with and grateful for the retirement ceremony he received, a perfect way to cap off a truly illustrious career.
“It was great. I’m so happy,” shared the former National Team campaigner. “The timing was perfect — second game on a Sunday, Alaska-Ginebra. It was great to see the fans, and the response I’ve gotten from Ginebra fans despite not playing there for five years.
“It’s overwhelming to see the crowd cheer one last time. I think Alaska did that on purpose — it’s very nice.”
