Sonny Alvarado

Earl Sonny Alvarado (born January 15, 1973) is a Puerto Rican former basketball player who played in the Philippine Basketball Association for the Tanduay Rhum Masters. He was known as "The Punisher".

Sonny Alvarado

Personal information
Born	(1973-01-15) January 15, 1973 (age 52)
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
College	Long Beach State (1991–1992) New Mexico JC (1992–1993) Gavilan (1993–1994) Texas at Austin (1994–1996)
PBA draft	1999: 1st round, 1st overall pick
Selected by the Tanduay Rhum Masters
Playing career	1996–2000
Position	Center / power forward
Career history
1998–1999	Explosivos de Moca
1999–2000	Tanduay Rhum Masters
Career highlights and awards
PBA All-Star (1999) PBA Mythical First Team (1999) PBA Scoring Champion (1999)

Player profile

Alvarado played for multiple colleges in NCAA, and ended up at University of Texas at Austin. He played for Spain, Mexico, China, Japan, Taiwan, and Puerto Rico pro ballclubs.^[1]

Alvarado was drafted by Tanduay Rhum Masters as first overall. In his first year, he led the team to a Finals finish lost to Benjie Paras-led Formula Shell.^[1][2][3] In his time with Tanduay, he was a front-court tandem with Eric Menk.^[4]

Controversy

Main article: Fil-sham controversy

In the middle of the 2000 PBA All-Filipino Cup semifinals against Purefoods, Alvarado found without any evidence or document that he has a Filipino citizenship. He was deported by the Department of Justice Bureau of Immigration. The sweep of the team against Purefoods were later voided, and Purefoods eventually marched to the Finals.^{[1][5][3][6][7]}

PBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Season-by-season averages

Year	Team	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1999	Tanduay Gold	48	43.8	.450	.213	.689	13.1	3.9	2.2	1.0	22.9
2000	Tanduay	17	39.5	.451	.338	.722	13.4	3.5	2.2	1.2	24.1
Career		65	41.6	.451	.276	.706	13.3	3.7	2.5	1.1	23.2

References

1. "PBA is reluctant to relax its rules on Fil-foreigners because of this". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
2. "Sonny Alvarado". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
3. "Stanley Pringle is oldest rookie top pick in PBA. Guess who he beat for the record". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
4. Villar, Joey. "Menk to strut stuff in Negros?". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
5. "Balingit return to PBA put on hold". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
6. "Bernardino: We'll come out stronger". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
7. Beltran, Nelson, Villar, Joey. "'This one for you'". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-03-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

Sonny Alvarado