Daddy Butch

IT’S CLOSE to midnight, and we’re talking with Ray Louis “Wee” Gamboa at the wake of his father last year at Arlington Memorial Chapel on Araneta Avenue in Quezon City. He and his older sister Tintin are still entertaining friends and family who trickle in even at this late hour to pay their respects to their recently departed parent. You can tell that Wee remains in awe of him as he fondly talks about his legacy.

Viewing the many framed photos of Ray Butch Gamboa at that chapel where separate urns lovingly hold his and his wife’s ashes, it becomes immediately evident that his was a life well lived.

Mr. Gamboa had covered and helped to grow and define the Philippine motoring beat along with the veterans we look up to. Hard to believe, but there was a time bereft of the sight of dedicated motoring sections. Motoring coverage in the dailies then was tucked into business pages.

Wee said he wished he knew how his father did it as a multi-hyphenate motoring personality in whatever medium you can think of. He and Tintin have big shoes to fill, Wee admitted — along with a Daddy Butch-sized hole in their hearts and, indeed, in the hearts of those who knew, loved, and respected the man who left his mortal coil late last year.

Daddy Butch.

I took to calling him that, too, and I asked Wee if he knew how his father felt about that moniker. “I think that’s accurate,” he shared recently. “And I know he was honored by that.”

Ray Butch Gamboa was a true pioneer. He started on his long-running Motoring Today (which also featured the late great motoring icon Pocholo Ramirez) before I even started my college education, and long before some of our newer colleagues now were even born. To be honest, I was a bit intimidated by the tall, well-dressed man when I first met him all those moons ago as a newbie in the motoring beat. You see, I had been in the lifestyle beat many years before I ventured into motoring. That intimidation was short-lived, and foolish. When he looked at (and not through) you and talked with you, there was nothing but respect. He was listening to what you said, and a politeness and kindness that’s rare these days underscored his manners.

Daddy Butch was also known as the Elvis of the beat, not just because he was always well-groomed with a head of hair that seemed ever in pristine place, but because he was a fan of the king of rock and roll.

Like Tintin, Mr. Gamboa was in radio, too. A piece penned by Epi Fabonan III revealed, “Sir Butch started in the media industry at a fresh age of 16 as a disc jockey for radio stations DZBM and DZLM of Mareco Broadcasting Corp. His career (in) radio also included DJ-ing for Uncle Bob Stuart’s musical show in DZXX… before capping it with his disc-jockeying tenure at ABS-CBN’s DZYL and DZQL stations. His early exposure and enduring career (in) radio are a testament to his passion for broadcasting and hosting.”

Daddy Butch was described as a “strict and perfectionist boss” while enabling his people’s creativity — and confidence — to flourish.

“I can consider him a perfectionist because that’s what he always told me. Do your best and not just ‘yung pwede na (what is acceptable). But I must say that his being a perfectionist has taught me to be on my toes all the time. He was a good teacher, in fact, he considered me his protégé. In some ways, I have now imbibed his way of thinking,” said Jenny Bleza-Pineda, who has risen from the ranks since starting out as a production assistant in 1988 to become “the invisible hand behind the show’s production and execution.”

I’m old enough to remember the days when everyone knew everyone in the motoring beat. It was a small community where you had to earn the respect and trust of older hands. Don’t get me wrong: Newbies were not expected to keep their head down, but they were counted upon to comport with a generally accepted code of conduct. And I guess we were spoiled in that we had no shortage of responsible and reputable elders to emulate. Daddy Butch was one of those we held in high regard.

I also have had the privilege of writing, as Daddy Butch did, for The Star, and that allowed me the luxury to consider myself to be at least in his proximate orbit. I noted with equal parts sadness and pride that his final column for the “Wheels” section, which ran on Nov. 17, came out when I coincidentally had a piece there as well. His column was about his perennially successful project, the Auto Focus Pre-Christmas Test Drive Festival. “Wheels” Editor Manny De Los Reyes admitted to understandably feeling drained and exhausted as he put that issue to bed knowing that it featured Daddy Butch’s final article.

With a hug and handshake, we bode Wee goodnight and mouthed our condolences, expressing our confidence he will continue to make his father proud. Daddy Butch is driving off to a better place, surely donning his best threads and that immaculately styled hair.

Thank you, good sir.