LA Tenorio is a freak of nature.
Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone offered as much after the 35-year-old played his 700th consecutive PBA game in their 2022 Philippine Cup opener versus Blackwater on Sunday night at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
The league’s most accomplished mentor mentioned his long-time guard alongside icon LeBron James and baseball’s own ‘Iron Man’ in Cal Ripken, Jr. for the exceptional durability they’ve all shown in their respective careers.
Ripken, Jr. holds the record for successive games played in the MLB at 2,632, all of which with the Baltimore Orioles from 1983 to 2001. And James, of course, continues to be a prime example of longevity in the NBA even at 37 years old.
As for Tenorio, he hasn’t missed a game in Asia’s pioneering pro league since being drafted fourth overall by San Miguel Beer in 2006.
“He’s a freak of nature. Some people just have a certain thing that’s different about them,” Cone said shortly after their 85-82 win over the Bossings, where Tenorio was feted at halftime for his remarkable accomplishment.
“You got LeBron James playing the way he can play at his size and strength. There’s a guy named Cal Ripken who played … 2,000 straight games or something like that. Those guys are just freaks of nature.
“They just have a different gene, I think, a different DNA than everybody else. And LA has it,” added the 64-year-old, who also set a record of his own on Sunday as he coached in his 1,700th game since 1989.
Cone even recalled the time when Tenorio joined Ginebra in its 2020 Philippine Cup bubble debut in Clark two weeks after a laparoscopic appendectomy as a testament to how tough the proud Batangueño is and has always been.
The Kings ruled that conference after dispatching rivals TNT in five games to bag home the Perpetual trophy for the first time in 13 years. And Tenorio was adjudged the PBA Press Corps Finals MVP, the fourth time he’s won the award.
“He’s just kind of a freak of nature — I mean he doesn’t get injured, knock on wood. I mean, he had appendicitis and he had an operation, and five days later he’s playing in a basketball game. He’s draining his wound while he’s playing,” he said.
“That’s not normal He’s not normal. He’s a great guy, though.”
Cone has known Tenorio for so long now — he has won seven PBA championships with him — and he’s a witness as to how and why the Gilas Pilipinas legend has remained an image of consistency in the league.
“He works for it. He works really hard,” he said. “We used to see him in an ice bath, up to here, and completely submerged up to his neck in an ice bath after every practice, you know. I can’t even put my little toe into it. And he submerges his own body and sits in there. He brings his own food at practice, you know, you never see him going and eating any fast food or anything like that.
“He really takes care of himself. And I think he and his wife really make plans on how they’re gonna do things to make sure he’s always right and ready. It takes a lot of great discipline as well that he has.”
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