It started, like most ideas, out of need. The U.P. fighting maroons men’s basketball team needed financial support. So Bong Somera, one of the team managers, a board member of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association, and a veteran of fund-raising activities for various organizations, harnessed the idea of print advertisements to raise funds.
But he expanded this idea, until it became larger than the usual souvenir program, larger even than just the men’s basketball team. With the support of Chitong Rivera, UPAA’s Centennial President, it became what Maroon Pride magazine is today - a collaborative effort of U.P. students and alumni featuring the U.P. varsity teams and athletes, their training and trials, their accomplishments and victories. But even more than that, Maroon Pride has become a catalyst for the development of the sports program of U.P., one of the essential components for determining the completeness of a university as an institute of learning.
