Robert Vincent Salazar Jaworski Sr. (; born March 8, 1946), also known by his nicknames Sonny, Big J, and Jawo (), is a Filipino former professional basketball player, head coach and politician who served as a senator of the Philippines from 1998 to 2004. He played 23 seasons in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He is widely regarded as one of the best and most popular PBA players of all time. He was named part of the PBA's 40 Greatest Players and was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 2005.
Early life and college career Robert Jaworski was born in Baguio on March 8, 1946. He was born to a Polish American father, Theodore Vincent Jaworski, and a Filipino mother of Ilocano descent, Iluminada Bautista Salazar, Jaworski grew up in Beata, Pandacan. In high school, he played other sports such as baseball and softball. He also represented his high school, Roxas High School, in swimming and track and field events during public school meets. Before finishing high school, he grew taller, which led to him pursuing basketball.
At first, Jaworski tried out for the FEU Tamaraws. However, the roster for FEU was already full. Turo Valenzona, a player on FEU, saw his potential to play multiple positions and recommended him to coach Baby Dalupan. In 1964, he played for the University of the East Red Warriors in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). Known as "Big Jack", at first he played as a center; at that time, being just over six feet tall was often tall enough to play that position. Playing under Dalupan, he led them to three straight titles from 1965 to 1967. He also led them to several National Seniors titles, a tournament where they competed not just against college athletes, but also against commercial teams, government-sponsored teams, and even teams sponsored by movie and recording companies.
Basketball Amateur YCO Painters In 1967, Jaworski joined the YCO Painters under coach Carlos Loyzaga in the now-defunct semi-pro league Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA). He played for YCO during the 1967 National Seniors and National Invitational, both of which were won by YCO. That year, he and veteran internationalist Narciso Bernardo were named as members of the Mythical Five.
Meralco Reddy Kilowatts Jaworski then transferred to the newly formed Meralco Reddy Kilowatts (owned by public utility Meralco) in 1968 but was unable to play due to lack of release papers. He finally suited up for Meralco in 1970. He won the MVP award during the 1970 Presidential Cup.
In 1971, Jaworski was an MVP candidate once again, as he was the highest-scoring Filipino player with 15.2 points per game and also averaged 10.6 assists, 6.2 rebounds during the Reinforced (Open) Conference. During the All-Filipino Conference, he was averaging 15.7 points (eighth-best in the league), 10.1 assists (second only to YCO's Freddie Webb), 8.5 rebounds, and 3.0 steals (fifth-highest in the league) in eight games. On December 19, 1971, during a physical game between Meralco and the Crispa-Floro team, with Crispa up 65–50, he and Alberto "Big Boy" Reynoso assaulted two basketball officials, Eriberto Cruz and Jose Obias. Reynoso and Jaworski chased the two officials on the court and mauled them in front of the crowd. MICAA banned them for two years, but the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) raised it to a lifetime ban.
In February 1973, both players were reinstated with the help of then-presidential assistant Guillermo de Vega. They played for Meralco for a final time during an exhibition match against the Japanese national team, which they won. Meralco then quietly disbanded, due to the incident and due to the Marcos government taking over the public utility.
It was also around this time when the nickname "Big J" was given to him by play-by-play commentator Willie Hernandez, resembling the "Big O" tag given to Oscar Robertson who Jaworski played like.
Komatsu / Toyota Comets Jaworski and Reynoso, with other former Meralco players, Fort Acuña, Francis Arnaiz and Orlando Bauzon formed the core of the newly formed Komatsu Komets (later renamed the Toyota Comets). They first competed in National Seniors tournaments. He then led the Comets to the 1973 MICAA title. He would go on to play for them for 10 seasons, from 1973 to 1984.
Professional Toyota (1975–1984) Jaworski became a PBA player in 1975 after the Toyota Comets became one of the league's founding franchises when the league was formed the same year. Jaworski had for his original teammates Arnaiz, Reynoso, Reynoso's younger brother Cristino (Tino), Ramon Fernandez, Rodolfo "Ompong" Segura, Oscar Rocha, Joaquin "Jake" Rojas, and Orlando "Orly" Bauzon, along with imports Byron Jones and Stan Cherry. He later became the acknowledged leader of the team and a major player in Toyota's nine PBA championships. In that inaugural season, Toyota won two of the three conferences and finished second to Crispa in the third conference, coming close to a grand slam.
The following season, Reynoso and Jaworski separated ways when Reynoso joined the Mariwasa team. In the 1976 season, although they made it to the finals in all three conferences, Toyota did not win any titles, as Crispa won the grand slam.
The 1977 season was where Jaworski took on more of a leadership role. In the opening game of the season, Jaworski was among several players from both Crispa and Toyota who got into a massive brawl. The players were then detained in Fort Bonifacio. He led the team to a title in the 1977 Invitational over a guest team from Brazil.
Jaworski was named the league's Most Valuable Player in 1978. His MVP performance may arguably be considered as his best single season, averaging a career-high 20.2 points, 8.2 assists, 1.8 steals, and 10.2 rebounds per game. This was done despite the presence of tall imports with no height limit, and with Fernandez on the team.
Toyota made the 1980 Open Conference finals, but they lost to the U/Tex Wranglers in five games. In their matchup against Crispa during the 1980 All-Filipino Conference, Jaworski was benched in the first half. This led to their coach, Fort Acuña, to be fired at halftime. Team manager Don Pablo Carlos took over coaching duties. Jaworski then led Toyota to the comeback win. Although Crispa went on to win the title that conference, they were not able to sweep the tournament due to this loss.
Crispa and Toyota met one last time in the 1981 Open Conference finals. In that matchup, Jaworski was key to defending Atoy Co. Toyota won the series 3–2.
Throughout the 1982 season, Jaworski suffered multiple injuries, including a groin injury. He still made the All-Star team, but coached the team instead since he could not play. He averaged only 10.4 points, 4.9 assists and 4.8 rebounds, all PBA career-lows at the time. In his absence, Fernandez stepped up, leading Toyota to win two titles. When Jaworski returned in the 1983 season, tension began brewing between him and Fernandez, which was fueled by the media. Toyota didn't win a title that season, as Crispa won another grand slam.
Ginebra San Miguel (1984–1998) When Toyota disbanded at the end of the 1983 season, the team was sold to Basic Holdings, Inc., the company that owns Asia Brewery. Jaworski balked at the idea of joining Beer Hausen, the brand name of Basic Holdings after describing what he felt was a sale done without giving due respect to the personalities involved. Jaworski described the sale as a 'farce,' and that players like him should not be sold "por kilo." At that time, Beer Hausen was intent on making Fernandez as the franchise player of the team with Jaworski relegated in the background. Eventually, then PBA president Carlos "Honeyboy" Palanca III, owner of La Tondeña, Inc. which owns Gilbey's Gin (later Ginebra San Miguel) in the PBA, decided to take in Jaworski and Arnaiz to the team. This marked a turning point in the franchise's history and helped make Ginebra arguably the most popular team in Philippine basketball history with Jaworski at the forefront. This was also the start of the feud between him and Fernandez, which would fuel the Manila Clasico rivalry.
Jaworski and Arnaiz turned the moribund franchise into a competitive one almost overnight when in the First All-Filipino conference of the 1984 season, they led the team to a runner-up finish against powerhouse Crispa. However, he was not able to finish the season due to a knee injury. Gilbey's Gin was then coached by Valenzona, who had also teamed up with him during their MICAA days. Jaworski took over as playing coach of Ginebra San Miguel while Valenzona went to the Tanduay Rhum Makers in the 1985 season.
On October 22, 1985, Jaworski and Ginebra faced the Northern Consolidated Cement team, a team made up of members of the national team and naturalized players Jeff Moore and Dennis Still. In the second quarter, Ginebra was down when Jaworski was accidentally elbowed by Moore. This opened up a big cut on his lip, which made him leave the game. Assistant coach Quirino "Rino" Salazar briefly took over coaching duties. He was brought to Medical City, where he received around 10 stitches. Without Jaworski, NCC's lead went up as much as 15 points. Late in the third quarter, he made his return to the game to the delight of Ginebra fans. He then led a fourth quarter comeback by scoring all of his 17 points in that quarter to lead Ginebra to the 99–96 win. This game led to Ginebra's "Never Say Die" slogan and has been compared to Willis Reed's comeback in the 1970 NBA Finals.
Ginebra made the 1986 All-Filipino finals against Tanduay. Ginebra won the first game, but Tanduay won the next three games. In the final seconds of Game 4 of the best-of-five series, Jaworski reached for a steal on Freddie Hubalde, but was called for a foul. Despite protests that the steal was clean, Hubalde was sent to the line, where he made two free throws to give Tanduay a 93–92 lead. Down by one with six seconds remaining, Jaworski inbounded the ball, got it back, and drove to the basket. It was unsuccessful, as Tanduay won the championship.
Jaworski's first championship as a playing coach came in the 1986 Open Conference when he, alongside import players Michael Hackett and Billy Ray Bates, dominated the entire conference to win the championship finals at the expense of Manila Beer, then led by former Crispa players Abet Guidaben and Co, alongside imports Michael Young and Harold Keeling. In Game 4 of the finals, which went into double overtime, he played the entire game to beat Manila Beer 145–135, thereby taking a 3–1 lead. Jaworski was 40 years old at that time and yet became the PBA record holder for a while for most minutes played by a local in a game, with 58 minutes. This was later broken by Jaworski's wedding godson, Zandro "Jun" Limpot in his rookie season. Ironically, Jaworski owns the PBA record for playing the shortest time in a PBA game, at one second. In a game against the Alaska Milkmen in 1996, he fielded himself in to handle an inbound pass. Ginebra then won Game 5, 130–120, after being down by 18 for its first PBA title. This made him the first playing coach to win a PBA title.