The San Miguel Corporation-Collegiate Press Corps (SMC-CPC) will present a Special Citation Award to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in recognition of its century feat of excellence as the country’s oldest collegiate league.
In its centennial year, the ‘Grand Old League’ continues to be a bastion of collegiate sports excellence, honing the skills of every aspiring athlete across different sporting disciplines from high school to the college level.
With the theme “Siglo Uno: Inspiring Legacies,” the NCAA Season 100 further changed the game spanning generations, producing standout athletes who brought pride and honor to the country.
Comprising 10 schools, the NCAA has become a source of some of the country’s greatest basketball players now donning colors either in the PBA, international leagues and Gilas Pilipinas national team.
The NCAA served as the home for legends such as Caloy Loyzaga, the first Filipino FIBA Hall of Famer and King Lion from San Beda University in the 1950s, and Lauro Mumar of Colegio de San Juan de Letran, a two-time Asian Basketball champion who happened to be from the same decade of NCAA’s golden era.
In its Season 100, the NCAA basketball tournament saw Mapua University end its 33-year title drought by preventing San Beda’s back-to-back championship feat.
Before joining the UAAP, the classic rivalry of Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University also thrived first in the NCAA. It now features an equally iconic San Beda-Letran showdown.
