| Jerwin Gaco | |
| Number: | 91 |
| Position: | Power forward |
| League: | Pilipinas Super League |
| Team: | Davao Occidental Tigers |
| Nationality: | Filipino |
| Birth Date: | 17 January 1981 |
| Birth Place: | Alabat, Quezon, Philippines |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 4 |
| Weight Lbs: | 180 |
| High School: | San Mateo National High School (San Mateo, Rizal) |
| College: | PUP (1998–2003) De La Salle (2003–2004) |
| Draft Year Pba: | 2005 |
| Draft Pba: | Undrafted |
| Career Start: | 2009 |
| Years1: | 2009–2010 |
| Team1: | Philippine Patriots |
| Years2: | 2010 |
| Team2: | Barako Energy Coffee Masters |
| Years3: | 2010–2016 |
| Team3: | B-Meg Llamados / San Mig Coffee Mixers / San Mig Super Coffee Mixers / Purefoods Star Hotshots / Star Hotshots |
| Years4: | 2017 |
| Team4: | Tanduay Rum Masters |
| Years5: | 2018 |
| Team5: | Go for Gold Scratchers – College of Saint Benilde |
| Years6: | 2018 |
| Team6: | Imus Bandera |
| Years7: | 2018–2019 |
| Team7: | Pasig Pirates |
| Years8: | 2019–2020 |
| Team8: | Nueva Ecija MiGuard |
| Team9: | Davao Occidental Tigers |
| Team10: | JPS Zamboanga City |
| Years9: | 2020–2021 |
| Years10: | 2021 |
| Years11: | 2021–present |
| Team11: | Davao Occidental Tigers |
| Highlights: |
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Jerwin A. Gaco (born January 17, 1981) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Davao Occidental Tigers of the Pilipinas Super League (PSL). He was an undrafted player in the 2005 PBA draft.
After playing in semi-professional leagues and in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), he was acquired by the Barako Energy Coffee Masters during the 2010 PBA Fiesta Conference before being signed by the B-Meg Derby Ace Llamados for the 2010–11 season. Since then, he has won championships in the PBA, PBA D-League, Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL), and PSL.
Gaco grew up the eldest of four children.[1] Before he had turned 19, he had lost his father to cancer, and his mother to leukemia. With the family now orphaned, he became the breadwinner of that family, with his basketball earnings helping to send his sisters and brother to school.
After playing in Palarong Pambansa, Gaco got offers from different universities.[2] He was given an invitation to try out for the UE Red Warriors, but since he did not know where the campus was, he was not able to go. Instead, he played for the PUP Maroons for three years.
After graduating college, Gaco still had two more playing years left. He spent his last two years with the De La Salle Green Archers in the UAAP. He joined a rookie class that included JVee Casio and Ryan Arana.[3] They had a record of 7–7, allowing them to make the Final Four. In their first Final Four game against the Ateneo Blue Eagles, he was punched by Eagles guard LA Tenorio.[4] He then nudged Tenorio, and La Salle's bench stormed the court. Tenorio was given a one-game suspension, while Gaco was given a technical foul. La Salle went on to win that game in overtime, but lost the next game to Ateneo. The following season, in 2004, the Archers won the championship.
After going undrafted in 2005,[5] he played for the Harbour Centre franchise in the Philippine Basketball League, where he honed his skills as an enforcer. He won multiple championships in his time there.
Gaco also saw action for the Laguna Stallions in the semi-professional Liga Pilipinas regional league.[6]
Gaco played for the Philippine Patriots in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), winning a championship with them in 2010.
After his time in the ABL, Gaco entered the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) when Barako acquired him. This happened during the 2010 Fiesta Conference, when he was 29 years old and five years after he had gone undrafted. He had a PBA career-high 14 points in his time there.[7]
Gaco then signed a contract with the B-Meg Derby Aces Llamados.[8] In his sophomore year, he played in the Rookie-Sophomore Blitz Game, scoring 19 points in that game.[9] His first PBA championship came in the 2012 Commissioner's Cup. Despite being a bench player, he was seen by fans as the "lucky charm" of the team.[10] These fans called themselves the "Gaconatics", after sportscaster Mico Halili gave them that nickname. Team governor Rene Pardo called him "the team's glue guy". He then went on to win a grand slam in 2014 with that franchise. He stayed with the team until 2016, when he was left unsigned by them.[11]
After attempts to return to the PBA, Gaco signed with the Tanduay Rum Masters for the 2017 PBA D-League Aspirants' Cup, who had a two-game losing streak at the time. He had a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds in his winning debut over the Batangas EAC Generals, while his former teammate at Star, Mark Cruz, had 29 points.[12] He became one of the team's leaders as they went on to claim a twice-to-beat advantage.[13] [14] In the quarterfinals, they beat the AMA Titans, with him scoring 16 points.[15] In the semifinals, they lost to the Cignal-San Beda Hawkeyes in three games.[16] Still, he credited his stint with them for helping him gain his confidence back.
Gaco, as a veteran role player, helped the young Go for Gold team win the 2018 PBA D-League Foundation Cup over the Che Lu Bar and Grill Revellers.
While Gaco was playing for Go for Gold in the D-League, he also played for Imus Bandera, starting from the 2018 Datu Cup.[17] He was originally supposed to play for the Manila Stars, but they cut him before final rosters were submitted.
Gaco was then placed into the dispersal draft, where he was picked first by the Pasig Pirates.[18]
Gaco then played for the debuting Nueva Ecija MiGuard in the 2019 Lakandula Cup.[19] In his first game for them, he had 17 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. He played seven games for them in the 2020 Lakan Cup before he and the team mutually agreed to part ways.[20]
As a free agent, Gaco signed with the Davao Occidental Tigers. At 40 years old, he added another championship to his collection when the Tigers defeated the San Juan Knights in the finals of the 2020 MPBL Lakan Cup. Before the following season, he, along with eight other players, were cut from the team.[21]
In the 1st conference of the VisMin Super Cup, Gaco joined the Zamboanga City JPS. He had a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds in a win over the MisOr Brew AuthoriTea.[22] He made that conference's Mythical Team, along with Hesed Gabo, Michael Mabulac, James Castro, and John Wilson.[23]
Gaco rejoined the team for the FilBasket Subic Championship.[24] That team made it to the semifinals.[25]
The Tigers then moved to the PSL. He only played one game for them in the first conference.[26] Davao won the conference championship, giving him his 17th championship overall.[27]
He was set to play for them once again as the rebranded Davao Pilipinas were originally picked to represent the Philippines in the ABL.[28] However, those plans fell through and the Zamboanga Valientes became the new Philippine representatives for the ABL.[29]
A single parent, Gaco has two daughters.[30] He also invests in condominium units, and promotes small-time local businesses on his social media accounts.[31]
|-| align=left | | align="left" | Barako Energy Coffee Masters| 15 || 13.9 || .536 || .000 || .541 || 3.5 || .2 || .1 || .1 || 5.3|-| align=left | | align="left" rowspan="6" | B-Meg / San Mig Coffee / Purefoods / Star| 40 || 12.1 || .531 || .000 || .512 || 3.2 || .3 || .1 || .1 || 4.0|-| align=left | | 14 || 5.0 || .375 || .000 || .500 || 2.0 || .1 || .1 || .0 || 1.3|-| align=left | | 24 || 5.7 || .448 || .000 || .462 || 1.5 || .2 || .1 || .0 || 1.3|-| align=left | | 20 || 4.4 || .524 || .000 || .500 || 1.0 || .2 || .2 || .0 || 1.4|-| align=left | | 7 || 3.6 || .500 || .000 || .750 || 1.1 || .3 || .2 || .0 || 1.9|-| align=left | | 4 || 1.8 || .000 || .000 || .150 || .3 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .3|-class=sortbottom| align="center" colspan=2 | Career| 124 || 8.2 || .510 || .000 || .519 || 2.2 || .2 || .1 || .1 || 2.7