Miami Heat coach and back to back NBA Champion Erik Spoelstra is proud to be a Filipino American.
His mother, Elisa Celino, is from the Philippines town of San Pablo and her son comes to visit his mom’s homeland as often as he can.
He was last there on a championship trophy tour after the first NBA Championship victory.
It staggers our players how popular the NBA is here,” said Spoelstra to the Gulf News. “I take a lot of pride that I’m the first Fil-American head coach in any American sports league to win a championship.”
You can read about Spoelstra’s path from point guard at the University of Portland to championship NBA coach in the Gulf News.