Elias Tolentino

Elias Tolentino played basketball for the Philippines at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Tolentino helped win an NCAA juniors basketball title with Jose Rizal College in 1959. He also competed in the 1960 NCAA senior finals with the JRC Heavy Bombers, but the school lost to the Letran Knights.

In the MICAA Tolentino played with the Crispa Redmanizers in the 1961-62 season, helping them win the title. He later played from 1963-74 with YCO Painters, helping them win one league title. In 1963 he played for the Philippine team that won the Asian Basketball Conference (ABC – now the FIBA Asia Cup) title in Taipei. He also played for the national team at the ABC in 1969 and at the 1970 Asian Invitational in Manila. Tolentino finished his club career in the Philippine Basketball Association playing for Toyota in 1976 and Seven-Up in 1977.

Tolentino later entered politics at the local level, becoming a barangay captain and city councilor of Makati. He was known as “The Mikado Man” because he did product endorsements for a brand of Mikado noodle.