Ronald Fredrick William Nathanielsz (November 3, 1935 – November 11, 2016), was a Sri Lankan-born Filipino sports journalist, commentator and analyst.
Early life
Nathanielsz was born in
Ceylon (now
Sri Lanka) in 1935. He was the eldest son of Elmo Nathanielsz and his wife Phyllis (
née Labrooy) of Colombo.
He and his brother-in-law, Annesley 'Bunny' Joseph, belonged to the same boxing club in their youth. They trained under former Ceylon flyweight champion Henry Young, who thought that Ronnie had the potential to become an Olympic boxer. However, at age 17 or 18, Nathanielsz was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, ending his boxing career.
Career
In 1965, Nathanielsz was working for radio station
DZHP. He worked as a columnist for the sports section of the ''
Manila Standard-Today
The ''Manila Standard'' is a broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines. , it is owned by the Romualdez family. The Romualdezes, through incumbent speaker of the House Martin Romualdez, also own Journal Publications, Inc., the owner of tabloid pap ...
'' and ''
Philippine Daily Inquirer
The ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' (''PDI''), or simply the ''Inquirer'', is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines' newspaper of record. The newspaper is the most awarded br ...
'' newspapers.
For Inquirer, he wrote the section ''Inside Sports'' back in 2011. He was also involved in various sports promotions in boxing. At the
Philippine Basketball Association
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...
from the 1980s until the early 1990s, he covered basketball matches on camera. He primarily focused on covering the sport of boxing in his whole sports journalism career.
Then-President
Ferdinand Marcos granted Philippine citizenship to Nathanielsz on May 14, 1973, through Presidential Decree 192.
In 1975, Nathanielsz was appointed by then-President Marcos as a liaison officer between the Philippine government and the organizers of the
Thrilla in Manila boxing match (
Muhammad Ali vs.
Joe Frazier).
A few years later, he became the news director and general manager of the Maharlika Broadcasting System, the former brand of
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
.
His staunch loyalty to Marcos received some criticisms. In
GTV-4's ''Face of the Nation'', a talk-show that Nathanielsz hosted, his independence was challenged by
Benigno Aquino Jr.
Benigno "Ninoy" Simeon Aquino Jr., (; November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac. Aquino was the husband of Corazon Aqui ...
He turned down an offer from his father's friend to handle a weekly boxing show in Australia, much to the annoyance of his father.
Personal life
He was married to Amelia with whom he had a son
and a daughter.
[ He and his family moved to the Philippines in 1962.]
Death
Nathanielsz experienced chest pains on November 3, 2016, while en route to Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, where he was scheduled to join a TV broadcast panel, to cover Manny Pacquiao
Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...
's fight against Jessie Vargas
Jessie Vargas (born May 10, 1989) is an American professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBA (Regular) and IBO super lightweight titles in 2014, and the WBO welterweight title in 2016. As of Aug ...
on November 5. He was then brought to the intensive care unit of the Mills-Peninsula Medical Centers in Burlingame, California. He later died on November 11, 2016 (Pacific Standard Time), of a cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and poss ...
. He was 81 years old.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathanielsz, Ronnie
1935 births
2016 deaths
Sri Lankan emigrants to the Philippines
Filipino columnists
Filipino people of Sri Lankan descent
Filipino sports journalists
Naturalized citizens of the Philippines
Philippine Basketball Association broadcasters
Boxing commentators
Philippine Daily Inquirer people
People from Colombo