Virgilio Lobregat

Virgilio Lobregat
Lobregat in his La Salle uniform
Born	(1901-05-23)23 May 1901 Murcia, Spain
Died	30 August 1944(1944-08-30) (aged 43) Manila, Philippines
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Association football career Position(s) Center Forward Youth career La Salle Nozaleda Senior career* Years Team Apps (Gls) 1918–1927 Bohemian ??? (???) Manila Nomads ??? (???) Casino Español ??? (???) International career 1919-1925 Philippines ??? (???) Medal record Philippines Far Eastern Championship Games 1919 Manila Team 1925 Manila Team *Club domestic league appearances and goals
Military career
Allegiance	Philippine Commonwealth
Years of service	Until 1944
Battles/wars	World War II Japanese occupation of the Philippines

Virgilio Lobregat (23 May 1901 – 30 August 1944) was a Filipino sportsman best known as a football player. He played for Bohemian S.C., Manila Nomads Sports Club and Casino Español de Manila. At international level he competed for the Philippines national football team at the Far Eastern Games. During World War II, he fought the Japanese as he joined a guerrilla led by Juan Miguel Elizalde, after he was executed in August 1944 along with Elizalde and 70 other prisoners at the Manila North Cemetery.

Early life and education

Virgilio Lobregat was born in Murcia, Spain on 23 May 1901 but stayed there shortly as his family took him and moved to the Philippine Islands in 1904.

La Salle basketball team in 1914, Lobregat sitting first from right

Lobregat, after being settled in the country he first attended the La Salle Nozaleda institute in second grade, in 1911. He showed early signs that he was already a phenomenal athlete succeeding in multiple sports and became the nucleus of the champion teams that La Salle turned out to be in that decade. He then graduated from La Salle high school in 1918.

Sporting career

Football

Virgilio Lobregat in his time at Bohemian SC

Virgilio Lobregat in the 1925 Far eastern games

"Virgilio Lobregat. I consider him the best Filipino player during my time" — Joaquín "Chacho" López

Virgilio Lobregat is regarded as the best Filipino player in the pre-World War II period after Paulino Alcántara by the PFF and one of the best Filipino football players of all time. He was given the recognition by the PFF with the title of "Football Player of the Half Century". Lobregat, still in his teenage years, became part of the Bohemian Sporting Club where he spent most of his football career at and was one of the most important component of the team that dominated the late 1910s and 1920s. In his first years at the club he was able to distinguish himself from the others as an outstanding athlete at 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) playing as a forward and successfully filled in the role left by Alcantara after he left Bohemian. Lobregat helped the club win the National Open Championship five times in 1918 completing Bohemian's incredible four-peat (1915, 1916, 1917, 1918) and also led the team to another three-peat in 1920, 1921 and 1922 before winning his last Championship title in 1927. After spending almost a decade as a Bohemian from 1918 to 1927, he then left to play for the Manila Nomads and later on for the Casino Español de Manila. Lobregat was also part of the Philippines national team at the 1919 and 1925 Far Eastern Games capturing, both times, a silver medal.

Others

Lobregat wan an all-around athlete and aside from football he also played basketball as a 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) center and played baseball as a home run batter. He was also a track and field athlete and competed as a long-distance runner and high jumper. He also won the pentathlon and decathlon events during the initial years of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Federation.

Other involvements

Virgilio Lobregat as DLSAA President

Lobregat became a member of the De La Salle Alumni Association in 1920 and served as its president from 1930 to 1932. He was awarded by the association in 1961 with the DLSAA Distinguished Lasallian Awardee and in 1993 he was inducted in the DLSAA Sports Hall of Fame.

At some point in his life he would become the Vice President of the Elizalde Group of Companies, a post he would serve until his death.

World War II, death and legacy

Lobregat displayed athleticism in his period of life but also true heroism and patriotism during the war. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II he joined Juan Miguel Elizalde and his guerrilla and fought against the Japanese while also serving as a spy. He was caught and detained at Fort Santiago by the Japanese as a prisoner of war who, after, beheaded him in August 1944. along with Elizalde and 70 other prisoners at the Manila North Cemetery. According to his grave also at the same cemetery, Lobregat died on 30 August 1944.

Lobregat, basketball player Jacinto Cruz and swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso were named the "Outstanding Athletes of Half-A-Century" by the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation. He was also named as the "Football Player of the Half Century" in the 1970s by the Philippine Football Association. A football field in Makati where a statue of Benigno Aquino Jr. is situated, and the Lobregat Cup, a football tournament held from the late 1940s to 1970s was named in honor of him.

Honors

Bohemian S.C.

• United States Philippines Championship (5): 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1927

Philippine national football team

• Far Eastern Championship Games: (Silver medal) 1919, 1925

External links

• Virgilio Lobregat at Find a Grave