NORMAN VENZON HENSON, overcame a difficult childhood to become a world-class Olympian, thanks to gymnastics. Henson was born in Barrio Mesulu, Arayat, Pampanga.
Born on 3 Mar. 1950 to parents Domingo Henson and Leonora
Venzon, the young Henson grew up
in the sleepy barrio of Mesulu, in
the foothills of Arayat town. He grew up in comfortable surroundings; his
father was a member of the landed Henson brothers who owned vast farmlands and
many businesses including operating a major bus line.
One would expect a Henson
son to walk the straight and narrow path, but for some reason, Norman Henson would stray from that
road, and at a very you age, fell into the company of wayward boys his age that
would cause a rift between him and his parents. So the young Henson did the unthinkable—he ran away from
home. The delinquent child who was not even in his teens, was found by his
distraught parents after some time, but he kept running away, beyond their
control.
In the end, Henson
was taken by his parents to Manila Boys
Town, a place for voluntarily
surrendered children, orphans, vagrants and teens. Boys Town was to build a reputation as a reformatory school for
errant boys because of its sports and education programs. Ran by priests headed
by Fr. Ricardo Mirasol, Boys Town proved to be safe haven where
boys could discover and develop their sense of self-worth and belonging.
One sport discipline that the institution was known for
was gymnastics. By 1960, under Fr. Mirasol,
Boys Town had produced competitive
gymnasts that were good enough to compete at the national level, and before
long, they were winning championships.
As a ward of Boys
Town, Henson enrolled in the
sport, and before long, he was hooked in gymnastics, having found an enjoyable
outlet for his energy, at last. At just
5 feet 3 and a half inches tall, and weighing 128 pounds, Henson’s physique was perfect for the sport. Slowly, he learned to
build his strength by chinning bars, and learned to leap, tumble, flip and
somersault. By so doing, Henson also
learned to build his character, self-discipline, and his spirit of
sportsmanship.
In 1962, to promote the sport, the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines (GAP) was organized,
headed by Julian Malonzo as its
first President. Sotero A. Tejada—who would be
acknowledged as the Father of Philippine
Gymnastics---was elected Secretary-Treasurer,
while Boys Town coach, Fr. Mirasol became Chairman of the Men’s Technical Committee.
The first National
Competition was launched in 1963 by the GAP, open to secondary public schools. Gymnastics then was already
a staple sport at the UAAP. Norman
Henson was named to the Boys Town
Team, along with Ernesto Beren and Julian Indon. The trio of teens created
a sensation when they swept all their events in their age division.
Philippine gymnastics got a major boost when, in the same
year, GAP applied for international
affiliation with the Fêdêration Internationale de Gymnastique
(FIG), the world governing body for
that sport. Sec. Sotero Tejada not
only got a membership, but also convinced the world federation to allow Filipino
gymnasts to compete in the next year’s Olympics
to be held in Asia for the first
time. And so, in 1964, 3 Filipino gymnasts made history by competing at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics—a first for the
Philippines: the FEU champion Evelyn Magluyan, Fortunato Payao, and Demetrio Pastrana.
Norman could have easily qualified with his superb
gymnastic skills, but at 14, he was too young to compete in the Olympics. Although
enrolled at the Gregorio Perfecto
High School in Tondo, he continued
to step up his training. In 1967, Norman and his teammates—Ernesto Beren, Raul de Belen and Rolando Mirasol—were invited to compete in Copenhagen, Denmark which was hosting the International School Games—the Hapniad, as it was called-- held in
connection with the city’s 800th anniversary. It was an exciting time for Henson as it was his first time to
journey to Europe. When it was his turn to take his place on the gymnasium mat,
Henson mesmerized the crowd with a Floor Exercise routine that garnered
him the Gold Medal, besting gymnasts
from ten countries.
Finally, the Olympic year arrived in 1968 and, at age 18,
Norman V. Henson, with his Boys Town team mate Ernesto Beren, were named to the Philippine National Team to compete in Mexico City, Mexico. It was a year
of many firsts-- the 19th edition of the Olympics was the first Olympic
Games to be staged in Latin America,
held from October 12-27, the first to be held in a Spanish-speaking nation. For
the Philippines, it marked the first
time that a Filipino sat in the gymnastics judging panel, in the person of Sec. Sotero A. Tejada, and only the
second time that the country sent its male
gymnasts to the quadrennial event.
Of his star athlete, Sec.
Tejada opined,” Norman Henson is expected to make a good showing in the floor
exercises and rings”. At the National
Auditorium, with the world’s best gymnasts participating, 14 different
artistic gymnastics events were contested, eight for men and six for women. Henson saw action in the Men’s Rings, Parallel Bars, Horse Vault,
Floor Exercises and Individual All-Around. The valiant duo gave their best,
but at the end of their routines, their scores put them in the last 2 places of
their qualifying events.
Post-Mexico, Henson continued to be active in
competition. He practically trained and lived at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, which would be the venue of the 1971 National Open Gymnastics Championship held from April 29-May 1, 1971.
This time, he was narrowly beaten in the All-Around
by rising star Rolando Albuera. He would
devote his time in the sport that he loved, and became a trainor and coach of
many budding gymnasts in the 1980s, including members of the Philippine National Gymnastic Team. He,
himself, was married to Teresita Jose,
a former gymnast from the University of
the East, whom he met back in high school. They would have 4 children: Norman Jr., Ethelson, Jacqueline and Pauline.
His coaching career was hampered by a series of strokes,
and he would pass away in April 2014. Henson
may not have won an Olympic medal, but
he certainly gained something of greater value from gymnastics, making a complete
turnaround of an early life that was threatening to go awry. The redemptive power of sports put him back on
track, enabling Norman V. Henson to win decisively, in the game of Life.
SOURCES:
Special Thanks to: ETHELSON J. HENSON, son of Norman Henson, for additional information about his father.
Special Thanks to: ETHELSON J. HENSON, son of Norman Henson, for additional information about his father.
About GAP: http://philippinegymnastics.org/about-gap/
Manila Boys Town Complex: https://www.coursehero.com/file/p613gnt/Manila-Boystown-Complex-is-a-government-owned-institution-and-facility-is/
Boys Town Regrets Over Lost Glory: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2006/06/14/341837/boys-town-regrets-over-lost-glory
Sunday Times Magazine, “Well Balanced: Ph Gymansts in the
Olympics”, Oct. 13, 1968. P. 34
