Former two-time International Basketball Federation head Gonzalo “Lito” Puyat II, in whose term the proposal to open basketball competitions to professional players was made, died of asthma early yesterday morning.

A scion of rich and powerful Puyat and Gil families in Manila, Puyat,. who was elected as FIBA top honcho in 1976 during the Montreal Olympic Games and was re-elected  in 1984, had just turned 79 last May 21.

‘Spar’ to friends, Puyat was  the first and only Filipino and Asian to have been voted as head of world basketball’s governing body .

It was during Puyat’s second term as FIBA president when serious efforts made basketball open to both amateur and professional players in all regional and international competitions.

Puyat, then FIBA honorary president, along with long-time secretary general Boris Stankovic, saw his bid for the pros to see action in all FIBA-sanctioned tournaments get the green light in 1989.

The FIBA approval of the proposal paved the way for the birth of the first U.S. “Dream Team”made up of Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan Larry Bird,  Charles Barkley, among others, to see action in the 1992 Olympic Games.

Puyat also earned the distinction as the longest-serving president of the now-defunct Basketball Association of the Philippines which he served from 1969 to 1995. Puyat was responsible for the Philippine’s hosting of the 1978 world championship considered as the most successful ever.

Arrangements for viewing and interment will be announced later.          (Eddie Alinea)