Ambrosio Padilla

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = Ambrosio B. Padilla


honorific-suffix =
imagesize =
small

caption =
order =
office = Senator of the Philippines
term_start = 1957
term_end = 1972
birth_date = December 7, 1910
birth_place = Lingayen, Pangasinan, Philippines
nationality = Filipino
party =
spouse = Lourdes de las Alas
relations =
children =
alma_mater = Ateneo de Manila University
University of the Philippines
University of Santo Tomas
occupation = Basketball player, Politician
profession = Basketball player, Civil Servant
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Ambrosio Bibby Padilla (born December 7, 1910 in Lingayen, Pangasinan - died in the late 1990s) was a former Filipino basketball player and former elected member of the Senate of the Philippines. He was one of the most important figures in the Asian basketball development.

Padilla was born as the eighth of eleven children of Dr. Nicanor Padilla and Ysabel Bibby. He married Lourdes de las Alas on May 4, 1941. Padilla fathered 10 children: 6 boys and 4 girls.

Padilla captained the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles in the late 1920s and led the team to capture the 1928 NCAA Philippines Basketball Championship under coach James Martin, S.J.. Later, he studied law at the University of the Philippines became a varsity player of the university's baseball team in the early 1930s.

In 1930, Padilla played for the Philippines to capture the Far Eastern Games basketball gold medal in Tokyo, Japan and played alongside Jacinto Ciria Cruz and Mariano Filomeno. In 1934, he helped the country retained the Far Eastern Games basketball championship held at home for the final time.

In 1936, Padilla was the team captain and led the Philippines to a fifth place finished in the 1936 Summer Olympics held at Berlin, Germany. It remains the best finish by an Asian country in men's Olympic basketball history. The team was coached by Dionisio Calvo and, aside from Padilla, boasted of great players like Ciria Cruz and Charles Borck.

Padilla retired from basketball and became the chairman of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) Basketball Committee from 1938 to 1954. He was later elected senator in 1957 and once served as the Solicitor-General.

The international governing body, FIBA, appointed Padilla as its Vice President for Asia from 1956 to 1964. He was one of the forefathers and later elected President of the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC), now known as FIBA Asia, from 1960 to 1966 with his former coach Dionisio Calvo as the Secretary-General. When he finished his term, he served as the ABC president emeritus from 1967.

He was then, became the seventh President of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation, the forerunner of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), in 1972.

Padilla, who died sometime in the late 1990s, was inducted into the Philippine National Hall of Fame in January 1999 along with other Filipino basketball legends like Carlos Loyzaga, Lauro Mumar, Jacinto Ciria Cruz, Charles Borck, Edgardo Ocampo, Mariano Tolentino, and his own Olympic coach Chito Calvo. The Ateneo de Manila University's "Ambrosio Padilla Award", which is given out annually to the university's best academically performing college varsity player from any sport, is named in his honor.

A classroom at Malcolm Hall of the University of the Philippines College of Law is also named in his honor.

Padilla is the father of Francisco "Frank" Padilla, Servant General of the Catholic renewal group Couples for Christ Foundation Inc.

Awards and achievements

*1928 NCAA Philippines champions
*1930 Far Eastern Games champion
*1934 Far Eastern Games champions
*1936 Summer Olympics, fifth place
*Philippine National Hall of Fame (1999)