List of Filipino American sportspeople

This is a list of American sportspeople of Filipino ancestry.

Baseball

• Chris Aguila – outfielder (Filipino father)
• Benny Agbayani – outfielder
• Bobby Balcena – outfielder
• Jason Bartlett – shortstop (Filipina mother)
• Bobby Chouinard – pitcher
• Chase d'Arnaud – shortstop
• Travis d'Arnaud – catcher[1]
• Geno Espineli – pitcher
• Tim Lincecum – pitcher (Filipina mother)[2]
• Kyle Lohse – pitcher[3]
• Addison Russell – infielder (mother is Filipina)
• Tyler Saladino – shortstop
• Brandon Villafuerte – pitcher
• Jordan Yamamoto – pitcher[4]

Basketball

• Jimmy Alapag - former Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters and Gilas Pilipinas guard. Head coach of San Miguel Alab Pilipinas of the ASEAN Basketball League.
• Chris Banchero - guard for the Alaska Aces of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Nic Belasco - 8-time PBA Champion.
• Jason Brickman - guard for the Mono Vampire of the ASEAN Basketball League. Played college basketball for LIU Brooklyn.[5]
• Noy Castillo - 3-time PBA All-Star.
• Jeffrey Cariaso - retired professional basketball player and former Alaska Aces shooting guard; currently serves as an assistant coach for the Alaska Aces of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Jordan Clarkson - guard for the Utah Jazz.[6] Represented the Philippines in international competition as part of Gilas Pilipinas.
• Mike Cortez - guard for the Blackwater Elite of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Aaron Craft - guard for the Aquila Basket Trento of the Lega Basket Serie A. Played college basketball for the Ohio State Buckeyes and also played for the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League.[7]
• Joe Devance - forward for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Michael DiGregorio - guard for the Blackwater Elite of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Jared Dillinger - guard/forward for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Chris Ellis - 3-time PBA All-Star and PBA Slam Dunk Champion (2013).
• Simon Enciso - guard for the Alaska Aces of the Philippine Basketball Association. Played Division II basketball for Notre Dame de Namur.
• Matt Ganuelas-Rosser - forward for the San Miguel Beermen small forward of the Philippine Basketball Association. Played Division II basketball for Cal Poly Pomona.
• Jalen Green - one of the top recruits for the class of 2020. FIBA Under-17 Basketball World Cup MVP representing the United States in 2018.
• Davonn Harp - 2-time PBA Commissioner's Cup Champion.
• Brian Heruela - guard for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Michael Holper - PBA Champion.
• Isaac Holstein - 3-time PBA Champion.
• Marcio Lassiter - guard for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association. Played college basketball for Cal State Fullerton.
• Chris Lutz - 3-time PBA Champion. PBA All-Star.
• Rashawn McCarthy - guard for the Columbian Dyip of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Eric Menk - PBA MVP. Also a two-time member of the Philippine national basketball team.
• Sol Mercado - guard for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Kelly Nabong - forward/center for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Chris Newsome - guard for the Meralco Bolts of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Gabe Norwood - guard/forward for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters of the Philippine Basketball Association. Played college basketball for the George Mason Patriots and also represented the Philippines in FIBA sanctioned and international competition as part of Gilas Pilipinas.[8]
• Jason Perkins - forward for the Phoenix Pulse Fuel Masters of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Hernando Planells - basketball coach.
• Stanley Pringle - guard for the GlobalPort Batang Pier of the Philippine Basketball Association. Represented the Philippines in international competition as part of Gilas Pilipinas.
• Chris Ross - guard for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Andy Seigle - a two-time member of the Philippine national basketball team.
• Danny Seigle - 8-time PBA Champion. A two-time member of the Philippine national basketball team.
• Greg Slaughter - center for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Erik Spoelstra - head coach of the Miami Heat.
• Raymond Townsend - UCLA Bruins and Golden State Warriors guard[9]
• Moala Tautuaa - American born with Filipino and Tongan descent. Center/forward for the NorthPort Batang Pier of the Philippine Basketball Association.
• Josh Urbiztondo - PBA Champion and PBA All-Star.
• Jay Washington - forward for the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters of the Philippine Basketball Association. Played Division II basketball for Eckerd College.
• Kelly Williams - forward/center for the TNT KaTropa of the Philippine Basketball Association.

Chess

• Wesley So - chess grandmaster, born Filipino with Chinese descent.

• Dwayne Alejandrino - chess grandmaster, born Filipino. Chess Balladier. Magaling sa grob.

Combat sports/martial arts

• Romie Adanza – kickboxer
• Chris Cariaso – mixed martial artist
• Arianny Celeste – UFC's octagon girl and model
• John Dodson – Mixed martial artist, UFC fighter. Ultimate Fighter 14 winner.
• Glenn Donaire – Nonito Donaire's older brother, also a boxer in the flyweight and junior flyweight classes.
• Nonito Donaire – Four-Division Boxing World Champion (112 lbs,118 lbs,122 lbs and 126 lbs.)
• Adriano Directo Emperado – one of five martial artists who developed the Kajukenbo self-defense system
• Andrew Ganigan – former boxing lightweight contender.
• Dan Inosanto – Head of Bruce Lee's JKD, Head of Lacoste / Inosanto FMA.
• Tito Jones – mixed martial artist[10]
• Ana Julaton – Boxer[11][12]
• Robbie Lawler – mixed martial artist, UFC Welterweight Champion. Lawler is a quarter Filipino through his mother's side.[13]
• Troy Mandaloniz – mixed martial artist
• Paige McPherson – 2012 Summer Olympics Taekwondo bronze medalist[14]
• Yancy Medeiros – mixed martial artist
• Mark Muñoz – mixed martial artist
• Phillipe Nover – mixed martial artist
• Jesus Salud - 1989 WBA super bantamweight champion
• Elena Reid - professional boxer and mixed martial artist
• Shane Del Rosario – mixed martial artist
• Brandon Vera – mixed martial artist
• Brian Viloria – US Olympic boxer, former WBC light-flyweight champion
• Eddie Yagin – mixed martial artist
• Ernie Reyes Jr. – martial artist
• Ernie Reyes, Sr. – martial artist

Cycling, Road, BMX, and Track

• Coryn Rivera – professional USA women's racing cyclist (Team Sunweb)
• Daniel Caluag – 2012 Summer Olympics BMX Cyclist from Philippines Team

Fencing

• Lee Kiefer – US olympic fencing team

Figure skating

• Amanda Evora – U.S. Olympic figure skater (pairs/ice dancing)[15]
• Tai Babilonia – Olympic figure skater (African American mother; Filipino and Hopi-Indian father)
• Christopher Caluza– 2013 Lombardia Trophy silver medalist
• Elizabeth Punsalan – U.S. Olympic figure skater (pairs/ice dancing) (Filipino father)
• Kristine Musademba – U.S. figure skater (Filipino mother)

Hockey

• Mathew Dumba - Minnesota Wild defensemen National Hockey League (Filipina mother)

American football

• Eugene Amano – former NFL offensive guard/center. [16]
• Tedy Lacap Bruschi – former NFL All-Pro linebacker, New England Patriots.[17]
• Doug Baldwin – former NFL wide receiver who spent his entire career with the Seattle Seahawks.[18]
• Matt Castelo – former linebacker, San Jose State Spartans.
• Aaron Francisco – former NFL safety.[19]
• Roman Gabriel – former NFL quarterback, Los Angeles Rams.
• Chris Gocong – former NFL linebacker who split his 6 years in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland Browns.
• Jordan Norwood – former NFL wide receiver and punt returner, he set a Super Bowl record for the longest punt return at 61 yards while playing for the Denver Broncos who won Super Bowl 50.[20]
• Chris Rix – former quarterback, Florida State Seminoles (Filipina mother).
• Steve Slaton – former NFL runningback.[21]
• Tim Tebow – Former NFL Quarterback with the Denver Broncos

Golf

• Jason Day – professional golfer, PGA
• Dorothy Delasin – professional golfer, LPGA
• Jennifer Rosales – professional golfer, LPGA

Gymnastics

• Kyla Ross – member of the Fierce Five, the gold medal-winning US Women's Gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
• Ava Verdeflor – Philippines national team member training in Allen, Texas. 2014 Youth Olympics competitor.

Poker

• Noli Francisco
• Toto Leonidas

Skateboarding

• Henry Gutierrez – professional vert skateboarder
• Sean Malto – professional skateboarder
• Pat Ngoho – professional vert skateboarder/artist
• Lizzie Armanto – professional vert skateboarder
• Adrian Demain – professional vert skateboarder/artist[22]
• Willy Santos – professional skateboarder[23]
• Sergie Ventura – professional vert skateboarder[24]
• Doug Saladino – professional vert skateboarder[25]

Football/Soccer

• Joshua Alcala – American born Hispanic/Filipino soccer player.[26] Has played in the United States Soccer Leagues D1 & D2.
• Henry Brauner – has played in the USL Premier Development League and the Philippines national team.
• Heather Cooke has played for the Philippines national team.
• Anton del Rosario – American born. Played NCAA soccer for Skyline College, Notre Dame de Namur University, and Philippine national football team.
• Natasha Kai – American soccer player and member of the United States women's national soccer team.
• Nick Rimando – Filipino, Mexican American soccer player who currently plays for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer.[27]
• Tiffany Roberts – American soccer player and former member of the United States Women's National Soccer Team (Filipina mother).[28]

Speed Skating

• J.R. Celski – 2014 Winter Olympics silver medalist & 2010 Winter Olympics bronze medalist for short track speed skating.[29] and five-time world champion medalist.

Track & Field

• Rene Herrera
• Eric Cray
• Trenten Beram

Table tennis

• Angelita Rosal – Four times U.S. National Table Tennis champion.[30]

Tennis

• Cecil Mamiit
• Treat Conrad Huey
• Lilia Osterloh
• Eric Taino
• Riza Zalameda

Volleyball

• Liz Masakayan – Professional beach volleyball player.[31]
• David McKienzie – member of US national team.

Water sports

• Victoria Manalo Draves – diver who was the first Asian American gold medalist, and first woman to win two gold medals in springboard diving at the 1948 Olympics in London.
• Sunny Garcia – surfing world champion, surfing legend.
• Malia Jones – surfing model, People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.
• Natalie Coughlin – International swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist (with Filipino ancestry)
• Nicole Oliva - swimmer
• Henley Masa – surfing world champion, WSL U.S. Open Champion

Wrestlers

• David Bautista – former professional mixed martial artist, and former professional wrestler best known for his time in the WWE under the ring name Batista. He is a six-time world champion, winning the World Heavyweight Championship four times and the WWE Championship twice.[32]
• Michael Paris – better known as DJZ for his time with TNA Wrestling. Currently signed with WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Joaquin Wilde.
• Benny Cuntapay – also known by his ring alias B-Boy. Performer in CZW or Combat Zone Wrestling, also wrestled as Bael in Lucha Underground but was killed off in a storyline angle.
• T. J. Perkins – best known as the Inaugural WWE Cruiserweight Champion.[33] Performed in WWE's Raw brand under the name TJ Perkins.[34] Also a former wrestler for TNA Wrestling formerly known as Suicide. Perkins is also known by his ring aliases Pinoy Boy and Puma.
• Kris Hernandez – better known by the ring name Kris Wolf[35]

References

1. Marc Carig [@MarcCarig] (18 August 2013). "Travis d'Arnaud, part Filipino, now catching a pitcher named Rice. God, I love my job" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
2. Jun Medina, Fil-Am major league pitcher wins baseball's top award Archived 2011-01-19 at the Wayback Machine (November 16, 2008), Manila Times.
3. Nickel, Lori (25 April 2013). "Brewers' Lohse another product of Chico". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 15 October 2014. But for Lohse, that's not the whole story. There's a whole other community pulling for him because he is one of just a handful of Native Americans to be playing major-league baseball. His mother is half Filipino and half Native American; the Lohses are members of the Nomlaki tribe.
4. Lacques, Gabe (July 5, 2019). "Part of the Christian Yelich trade, Marlins rookie Jordan Yamamoto inspires hope in Miami". USA TODAY. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
5. http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/top-fil-am-jason-brickman-headed-for-russia-after-bid-to-play-for-gilas-fails-to-pan-out
6. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/06/27/14/new-nba-draft-pick-clarkson-proud-his-filipino-roots
7. http://www.philstar.com/sports/2013/06/01/948766/craft-confirms-pinoy-lineage
8. http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/117006/sports/norwood-given-green-light-to-join-pba-draft
9. http://alumni.ucla.edu/share/alumni-stories/stories/raymond-townsend.aspx
10. What All 10 SHOWTIME Fighters Had To Say Archived 2009-05-19 at the Wayback Machine
11. Lauren Smiley. "The Eyes of the Hurricane". SF Weekly. March 10, 2010.
12. "Ana Julaton: Her Side of the Ring". Mightygloves.com. November 28, 2009.
13. "Robbie Lawler: I'd knock out GSP if he comes back to the UFC". MMA Digest. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
14. New, Brent W. (January 14, 2013). "McPherson enjoying her rise in taekwondo". The Gazette. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
15. http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100412&content_id=9243626&vkey=ice_pressrelease
16. http://www.titansonline.com/news/article-1/Eugene-Amano-Makes-First-Return-Trip-to-Philippines-Receives-Warm-Welcome/9a65a400-7839-4405-b0bf-ab7fdb427601
17. http://asianjournal.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/nfl-hero-is-filam/
18. Doug Baldwin Jr [@DougBaldwinJr] (25 November 2012). "@FilAmDevil yes I am!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
19. Pinoys in the NFL Archived 2010-12-13 at the Wayback Machine
20. http://filamstar.net/index.php?id=4292
21. http://lubbockonline.com/stories/081109/spo_480452127.shtml
22. The Answer is Never: A Skateboarder's History of the World
23. Willy Santos
24. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oQeOYya5G0
25. http://www.grindtv.com/skateboarding/skateboarding-pioneer-doug-saladino-talks-raising-kids-and-baseball-pro-nephew/#uByBMbjYj2CMrEQu.97
26. "2007/08 Squad Profiles - Palace USA". CPFC.co.uk. 23 May 2008. Archived from the original on 5 September 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
27. Joaquin Henson (1 December 2009). "Fil-Am thwarts Beckham's goal". The Philippine Star. Archived from the original on 2012-05-25. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
28. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2011-06-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
29. Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics | Olympic Games Photos, Videos, & News
30. Liverti, Rita M. (2004). "Angelitta ROSAL BENGTSSON". In King, C. Richard (ed.). Native Americans in Sports. London: Routledge. p. 262. ISBN 0-76568-054-8.
31. Smith, Shelley (1993-07-05). "Liz Masakayan And Karolyn Kirby". Sports Illustrated (5 July): 78. Retrieved 18 October 2009. and
    "Filipino American History". Cynful Productions. CSU Chico. 29 January 1998. Retrieved 18 October 2009. and
    Ronald S. Buenaventura (31 May 1996). "Our History is No Mystery". epilipinas.com. San Diego Chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
32. "Former WWE wrestler Batista proud of his Pinoy blood". filipinotimes.net. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
33. http://www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/other-sports/146296-perkins-wins-cruiserweight-classic
34. WWE
35. クリス・ウルフ. World Wonder Ring Stardom (in Japanese). August 22, 2014. Retrieved July 26, 2017.