You seldom heard the name of Dexter So in the sports community in the past because he was just a nice kid around with his late grandfather So Kim Cheng, the first president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) Bureau 11, later renamed the Davao City Sports Council Inc. and the only Davao City-based national sports leader as president of the Table Tennis Association of the Philippines (Tatap).
Dexter would sometimes hang out at his grandpa’s store on Uyanguren Street, the Modern Time Trading, and there you would see a shy, but very observant, boy.
When the sports philanthrophist died 16 years ago, sports leaders, with the approval of the family, organized the SKC Sports Awards to honor Davao’s outstanding athletes and to remember Mr. So on his birthday, July 22.
From then on, it has become a sports tradition hereabouts.
In 2006, Dexter came back to Davao after finishing his studies away from home, first at the Australian International School in Singapore in his high school years and eventually at the University of Sydney, Australia, to help in the family business, the Modern Time Enterprises Inc. which features furniture and handicraft items.
It was in that year that he started representing his father, So Peng Kee, president of the SKC Sports Foundation, in meetings prior to the SKC Awards to make sure that everything was in order by July 22.
This time, you could see that the shy boy had emerged as a confident individual and speaks the English language well with a little bit of an Aussie accent, sometimes. Despite his credentials, he has remained humble all these years and even reluctantly took up the game of golf.
But golf is a sport that suits a businessman. So, he learned to play well and recently partnered with another young businessman, Jasper Huang, to win the class C division title of the 1st Banana Tee Open Best Ball Tournament at the Davao City Golf Club.
The shy boy started to really enjoy playing golf. Whenever his work allows it, Dexter leaves the SPK Building in Lanang to play golf to improve his game.
If the late sports leader were alive today, he would be one very happy and proud grandfather to see a grandson becoming a responsible, humble sportsman like him. [MOSES P. BILLACURA]
