Venancio Johnson Paras, Jr. (born October 2, 1968), better known as Benjie Paras, is a Filipino

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

  professional basketball player of the Philippine Basketball Association

Philippine Basketball Association

The Philippine Basketball Association , is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 10 company-branded franchised teams. It is the first and oldest professional basketball league in Asia and the second oldest in the world after the NBA...

 (PBA) turned actor. He is the only PBA player to win both Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors, in a single season (1989). As its star center, Paras led the Shell Turbo Chargers to championship titles.
A prized recruit from San Beda High School

San Beda College

San Beda College or Dalubhasaan ng San Beda in Filipino is a Private Benedictine college run by the Benedictine monks in the Philippines. It is located on Mendiola Street in San Miguel, Manila...

, Paras started as center for University of the Philippines

University of the Philippines

The ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...

 Fighting Maroons, where he once scored 19 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, and blocked seven shots against rival Far Eastern University

Far Eastern University

Far Eastern University in the University Belt area, West Sampaloc, City of Manila, is a nonsectarian, private university in the Philippines. Created by the merger of Far Eastern College and the Institute of Accounts, Business and Finance, FEU became a university in 1934 under the guidance of...

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