MANILA, Philippines -- The long and illustrious history of Xavier School’s sports program will soon be immortalized in a coffee table book entitled “Golden: A Celebration of the Xavier Golden Stallions.”

The project was announced Monday morning at Xavier School by its alumni association. Journalist Rick Olivares was commissioned to write the coffee table book, which is expected to be released to the public by Chinese New Year in 2019.

“We have produced outstanding athletes who have excelled in their endeavor,” said Reginald Yu, president of the Alumni Association of Xavier School. “We discovered that we have not documented all of these achievements.”

“The objective here is not just to have a coffee table book, but to help document all the achievements that we had, and to be an inspiration for more figures in the future,” he explained.

Olivares said the book is geared towards celebrating the long history of Xavier sports, and will feature interviews with several athletes and coaches who have donned the blue-and-gold over the past decades.

It will briefly touch on the history of the Xavier School, but will mostly focus on the Golden Stallions’ campaign in the Chinese Basketball League -- a precursor of the Tiong Lian Basketball League.

It also tells the story behind such men as Fr. Rafael Cortina, SJ, and former coach Maximo Cinco who were later aided by coaches like Joe Lipa in putting up the Xavier Basketball Academy.

The book will not be all about basketball, however, as spotlight will also be shone on Xavier’s successes in other sports such as football and badminton.

“Xavier sports is not just the past 20 years. It’s been here since the early ‘60s,” said project manager Kenneth Ti. “We also want to say that the common unifying theme of all Xavier athletes is the Xavier education, Xavier values -- they play a big part in who they are and how they compete.”

• READ: Isaac Go reveals rare skin condition

Among the younger athletes who will be featured in the book are Isaac Go and Tyler Tio, who have since taken their talents to Ateneo de Manila University in the UAAP after superb performances in Xavier’s high school basketball team.

“A lot of us, growing up in Xavier, we didn't really get a chance to read about our history, didn't really learn about beyond what was presented to us maybe 20 years ago,” said Go, who graduated from Xavier in 2014 and became one of the heroes of Ateneo’s run to the UAAP Season 80 men’s basketball title.

“So to be able to learn more about the history of our school, through its sports, through other players, and to hear their stories, it's gonna be amazing to read,” he added.

Tio, for his part, said the book will certainly serve as an inspiration to incoming Xavierians.

“I think it's definitely an honor to be a part of it. I think it's not only meaningful for those who are actually in the book. I think it will also be good for the younger generations to maybe draw inspiration from some of the stories in the book,” said Tio, a member of Xavier’s 2016 class.

Still in production, the book will have 250 pages. Aside from basketball stars such as Go, Tio, Chris Tiu, Joseph Yeo, and brothers Jeric and Jeron Teng, the book will also highlight the achievements of swimmer Axel Ngui, tennis player Roland So, and badminton star Kennevic Asuncion.

Already, Go and Tio are looking forward to reading about Jeron Teng’s epic 104-point game back in January 2011, which Go can still remember with clarity.

“I really didn't play much that game, but just sitting on the bench and watching history happen, you never get to see that kind of point-explosion, ever,” said Go.

Tio also hopes that the book will touch on their campaigns in lesser known leagues, such as the Passerelle.

“We had some memorable games there,” he said.

“We took every tournament seriously,” added Go. “So we have memorable games from each tournament, each league, each championship.”

For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.