Prieto, Leopoldo L.
HS 1940
DECEASED
1981
DLSAA Distinguished Lasallian Awardee
1994
DLSAA Sports Hall of Fame Awardee
Football, Basketball, Coach
Leo Prieto played for the La Salle Green Archers that won the 1939 NCAA Championship and the 1939 National Seniors Open Championship. He coached the Philippines men's national basketball team in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, leading them to a seventh-place finish. He also coached the YCO Painters in the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) which he led to seven straight national titles. He is acknowledged by some as “the father of the PBA,” having served as the first commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association upon its founding in 1975 until his resignation in 1983. He was also president of the Manila Jockey Club and an avid supporter of football in the Philippines. He was inducted into the DLSAA Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. He was also a first ballot inductee into the first ever PBA Hall of Fame in 2005.