Jesús Cacho

Jesús Cacho y Soriano (7 November 1894 – 5 May 1967) was a Filipino international football player who played for Bohemian SC and represented the Philippine Islands football team in the Far Eastern Championship Games. Besides his football career, he was a successful businessman and philatelist.

Early life and education

Jesús Cacho was born in Iloilo on 7 January 1894 to Francisco Tejedor Cacho, a pharmacist native of Tiedra, Spain, and Candelaria Ditching Soriano, owner of the Panay Electric Company from 1927. Jesús Cacho later moved to Manila where he studied at the Ateneo de Manila, San Juan de Letran College and then transferred to the University of Santo Tomas, where he obtained his B.S.C. and LL.B. degrees.

Club career

Bohemian Sporting Club

Jesús Cacho was one of the early players of Bohemian Sporting Club. He joined shortly after the club was founded and at the beginning of the first National Football Championship in 1911. He achieved recognition as a Filipino Champion in 1912 and also earned a call up to participate in the Far Eastern Games held in Manila, the year after, in 1913. After winning the tournament, he, alongside his Bohemian teammates, faced South China AA for the "Campeonato del Carnaval" and added another continental success under their tally. Cacho, that year, won as well his second National Title, winning a total of three trophies. In 1914, the team was unable to achieve another gold, with the Manila Nomads stripping Bohemian of their title. The following years he took part in the run of that Bohemian team that won four straight Philippine Championships in 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918.

International career

1913 Far Eastern Championship Games

Cacho, along with many of his Bohemian teammates, was called up to represent the Philippine Islands football team in the first edition of the Far Eastern Games in 1913 held in Manila. The match was against China and ended in favor of the home side with a 2–1 score, resulting in a gold medal, the first and only, for Cacho. During the half-time of the game, him, along with the other members of the team were accused by the Chinese of not being "natives" of the Philippines and caused the birth of a rivalry between the two teams.

1915 and 1919 Far Eastern Championship Games

He represented the country for two more tournaments in the 1915 Shanghai edition and in the
1919 Manila edition while he did not make it to the 1917 edition. In Shanghai the Filipinos faced the host team three times, in the first the islanders were defeated by one goal and the game proved to be the decisive one as the other two games ended even with a 0-0 and a 1–1 score, thus, resulting in a silver medal for Cacho and his team. He gave his last appearances for the National team in the tough three games, again, against China held in Manila. The first game saw the Filipinos dominate the first half but in the second the game took another turn. China were able to score 2 goals and win the game, due to the mistakes of the very own Cacho for the first goal, when he missed the ball when attempting to clear it and the second due to an error of his goalkeeper teammate, also at Bohemian, German Montserrat. The game after was won by the Filipinos by 2-1 and took it to a third game to decide the gold medalist side, however, after a bright start from Cacho and company who were leading the match in half time, saw the score turned around in favor of the Chinese meaning that the Philippines would end up with a silver medal.

Post football career

After football Jesús Cacho began his new life as a businessman. After becoming one of the owner of PECO, he also proceeded to own the family printing firm Cacho Hermanos Inc. and other organizations as well. He became the executive manager of lmprenta "Germania" and a director of the Santa Ana Race Club and the Club Filipino.

He was able to combine his work with his philatelic passion. Cacho began collecting stamps during his time as a young footballer, and he went on to become the president of the two national philatelic associations, the Asociacion Filatelica de Filipinas and the Philippine Air Mail Society. He won the Grand Award at the Far Eastern Philatelic Exhibition which was the first international philatelic show held in the country and was the president of the First Philippine Airmail Exhibition, held in February 1939. Cacho became an honorary member of the Elizalde Stamp Club when the Elizalde & Co. Inc. employees decided to organize it. Among them, Cacho would found a former teammate and friend at Bohemian, Eduardo Yrezabal, who was the stamp club president and shared his passion of collecting. He was also member of the American Air Mail Society, as well of the Philippine Philatelic Writers' Club and was also one of its co-organizers. In 1952, he took part at the First Pan Asian Philatelic Exhibition (PANAPEX) held in Manila where he won 13 First Prizes, 1 Special Prize, 2 Honorable Mention and the Grand Award.

His collection included many rare Philippine stamps, including the First Flights of the Country with the Extreme Orient as his sideline. Philately was his mainly passion but he was still an athlete inside and throughout his life as he took part at the sporting activities of the Casino Español de Manila in the meantime.

Honors

Bohemian S.C.
* United States Philippines Championship (6): 1912, 1913, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918
* Campeonato del Carnaval: 1913

Philippine national football team
* Far Eastern Championship Games:
**(Gold medal) 1913
**(Silver medal) 1915, 1919

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cacho, Jesus
1894 births
1967 deaths
Sportspeople from Iloilo City
Filipino men's footballers
Philippines men's international footballers
Filipino people of Spanish descent
20th-century Filipino businesspeople
Bohemian S.C. players
Men's association football forwards
Ateneo de Manila University alumni
Colegio de San Juan de Letran alumni
University of Santo Tomas alumni
National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) players