ON GLOBAL FILIPINOS  Clarkson and other FilAm standouts in the NBA

By Loida Nicolas Lewis

New Yorkers jumped up and down in rapturous joy upon the incredible win by the New York Knicks 94-90 over the San Antonio Spurs on June 13th. The Knicks’ tenacity of never giving up in the last quarter’s 16-point deficit proved the champions’ hidden weapon.

For the Filipino American community, the presence of Jordan Clarkson with the Knicks is a huge source of pride and kinship. Clarkson, who represents the Philippines internationally as part of Gilas Pilipinas, has been a standout cager and former NBA Sixth Man of the Year  in the 2020–21 season.

As noted in Wikipedia, “In Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Clarkson helped the Knicks achieve a 94–90 win and close out the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, 4–1, securing the Knicks’ first NBA championship in 53 years. He also became the first player of Filipino descent to win an NBA championship.”

“Clarkson was born in Tampa, Florida, to African-American Mike Clarkson and Filipino American Annette Tullao Davis. Davis’s mother, (Clarkson’s grandmother) Marcelina Tullao Kingsolver, was from Bacolor, Pampanga, Philippines…Both his parents served in the United States Air Force and divorced when Clarkson was young. He moved to San Antonio, Texas around age 6.”

In fact, in this year’s National Basketball Association, there are four other Filipino American players aside from Clarkson!

Dylan Harper (Guard, San Antonio Spurs) – Selected No. 2 overall in the NBA Draft. Born to a Filipina mother, he made an immediate impact in his rookie season, reaching the NBA Finals.

Ron Harper Jr. (Forward, Boston Celtics) – Son of five-time NBA champion Ron Harper and a Filipina mother, he is the older brother of Dylan Harper.

The Harper brothers’ father, Ron Harper, played 15 seasons in the NBA and won five NBA championships. Their mother, Maria (née Pizarro), is from Bataan, Philippines, and played college basketball for the University of New Orleans as a freshman in the 1993–94 season. She is a former head coach of the DePaul Catholic High School girls’ varsity team in New Jersey and an assistant coach for the boys’ team at Don Bosco High, where she coached Dylan and his brother, Ron Harper Jr.

The Harpers’ maternal grandfather represented the Philippines in Basque pelota at the 1968 Summer Olympics. Ron Harper Jr. played college basketball at Rutgers and now plays for the Boston Celtics.

Jalen Green (Guard, Phoenix Suns / Houston Rockets) – The high-flying scorer traces has a part-Filipino mother, Bree Purganan, but her paternal grandfather is Filipino.

Jared McCain (Guard, Oklahoma City Thunder) is another highly-touted young player in the league who proudly embraces his Filipino heritage. McCain is of mixed race but identifies as African-American. He was born on February 2004, in Sacramento, California. Interestingly, the youngster recently acknowledged his Filipino ethnicity! In a locker room video that’s making the rounds on the Internet, he can be heard saying, “Shout out to my Asian community… [I’m] Probably like 10% Filipino, but that counts, right?”

These young NBA professionals acknowledge their Filipino ancestry with pride and respect. Their Filipina mothers or grandmothers raised them well.