Norwood ready for PBL 'wars'

People's Journal
October 19, 2007

Fil-Am Gabe Norwood arrived late Wednesday and declared his readiness to play for Hapee Toothpaste in the 2008 PBL V-Go Exteme Energy Cup which starts tomorrow at The Arena in San Juan.

Norwood was met by Hapee team manager Bernard Yang at the airport and again expressed his gratitude to team owner and PBL Chairman Cecilio Pedro for making him the No. 1 pick in the recent Rookie Draft.

“He’s the perfect epitome of a basketball player. He’s very humble and a nice person,” said Yang of the former George Mason University star. “He’s our guy.”

The 6-foot-5 Norwood, who played for the all-pro Philippine team in the FIBA-Asian Championship in Japan last July, is not promising anything for his new team but he vowed to do whatever it takes to bring Hapee to the championship again.

“I’ll play whatever position my coach will tell me,” said Norwood, who trained at Penn State University in Pennsylvania to keep him in shape.

“I also trained with some friends because I want to be in top shape always,” said the 22-year-old Norwood, whose mother hails from Pangasinan.

When asked why he decided to come back to the country, Norwood said: “I saw the sincerity of Hapee management in getting me that’s why I decided to come back here.”

And he has a bright future in the country since some pro teams have already expressed interest in getting his services.

But Norwood is not in a hurry. For now, he’s all focused to bring back the happy days of Lamoiyan franchise.

“I have to help Hapee Toothpaste before thinking of playing in the pro league. Right now, I’m happy to be back in Manila,” said Norwood.