By Karl A. Parker
Guest Column
I do not have many heroes outside of my father and older brother. However, Muhammad Ali is one of them. Since my father was a super boxing fan, I had the opportunity to watch many Ali fights on close circuit TV and once in person in Cleveland, when he stopped Chuck Wepner on March 24, 1975.
The Rumble in the Jungle when Ali knocked out George Foreman is my favorite fight. A close second is Ali’s rubber match against Joe Frazier in the Thrilla in Manila!!! I watched that fight at the Toledo Sports Areana with my father, oldest brother, and other friends. It was a grueling special fight that I will never forget.
I was so happy when Frazier finally quit after the 14th round giving Ali the win!! The build up to the fight was outstanding. The overview of the venue and the host country piqued my curiosity of what it would be like to visit the Philippines one day to see where the fight occurred.
Additionally, for those who are baby boomers there were so many news stories in mid-seventies and early eighties regarding President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda Marcos. The media bombarded the world with how many shoes Imelda purchased.
Up to that point I had yet to meet anyone from the Philippines. However, one day in the fall of 1984, while I was president of the Black Student Union at the University of Toledo, I met two beautiful Filipina twin sisters Teresa and Isabell Yuzon in the Black Student Union office.
They had recently moved to Lorain with their parents from the Philippines. I was introduced to them by one of their friends as the BSU president. I will never forget hearing Teresa say to her sister El Presidente while pointing to me.
Eventually, we had an opportunity to connect outside of the BSU office where they provided me with a broader overview of their home country which included the unfortunate political turmoil that existed during that time.
We did not develop a profound friendship and as life evolved, we went our separate ways. However, meeting them once again piqued my interest in one day visiting Manila.
Ironically, I did not have regular interaction with another person from the Philippines until 2005 when my immediate supervisor at GE Military Systems was a descendant of the Philippines and US Military officer. We worked together for about 14 months until I moved on from GE in 2007. Once again, my interest to visit the Philippines was enhanced.
My desire to visit the Philippines became more profound when I lived in Saudi Arabia from 2014 to 2024! While there I had an opportunity to meet and interact with a multitude of Filipinos.
Saudi Arabi has a large population of OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) which include nurses, engineers, nannies, house cleaners, bus drivers, waiters, massage therapists, secretaries, finance and human resources analyst, strategy professionals, cooks, etc.
I developed a remarkably close bond with the Filipinos that I played basketball with, especially Ritchie Pragale. We played on different teams during the 2015 summer basketball league. He played for a team called the Dragons and my team was Helter Skelter. Ritchie suggested that we merge our team to win championships, we did and formed Controlled Chaos!!
If you did not know, basketball is the #1 sport in the Philippines. From 2014 to 2015 I played basketball weekly with so many Filipinos and learned so much about the culture, language (Tagalog, Bisaya), food (Jollibee, Adobo, Pancit) etc.
There are so many stories regarding what I learned that would need to be shared in another article or podcast. At any rate, my desire to visit the Philippines continued to grow. Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to visit the Philippines while working in KSA. However, once I retired from Saudi Aramco 7/31/2024 I made visiting the Philippines a number one priority.
Upon my return to the USA in August 2024, I accepted a job to teach as adjunct professor at Owens Community College. Initially, I was scheduled to teach an eight-week course that would have concluded the second week in October and thus I had tentatively planned to travel to the Philippines at the end of October.
However, the department chair asked me to teach two – 16-week courses that would end on December 6, 2024. Therefore, I changed my plan to travel to the Philippines from the end of October to December 8, 2024. I was finally going to travel to Manila to experience the culture and more importantly have a chance to visit where the Thrilla in Manila was held. I was so happy and fired up!
I was excited. Ritchie provided suggestions on where to stay. Other Filipino friends provided me an overview of the things and places that I should see as well. I was all set to roll out! Then a super bucket list surprise emerged.
My daughter Tanisha Parker, a national trainer for mental health and wellness was selected to travel to Hawaii to certify regional trainers from December 8 to December 12, 2024. She decided to bless me and take me to Hawaii with her!! Therefore, my plan to visit the Philippines shifted again! Thus, I enjoyed several days in Hawaii with my beautiful daughter at Waikiki Beach.
Then I booked a ticket on Philippines Airlines from Hawaii to Manila! It was an 11-hour flight. For some reason, I thought it would be shorter. At any rate, I was presented with a surprise at the airport in Hawaii that I thought would derail my trip.
I will continue the story about my journey to the Philippines in Part 2.