Conrado "Sluggo" Nicolas Rigor, Jr.
Email: sluggor@hotmail.com
Address: Seattle, Washington
Home Phone: (206) 781-9628
Birthday: September 13
Conrado "Sluggo" Nicolas Rigor, Jr.
Email: sluggor@hotmail.com
Address: Seattle, Washington
Home Phone: (206) 781-9628
Birthday: September 13
After graduation from high school, I was excited to get to the College of Fine Arts in Diliman where I took up my BSFA major in Advertising Design. Throughout college, I was an active Beta Sigma Fraternity man and was baptized into the newly-emerging martial arts circle on campus. After college, I got my baptism into media as a nervous, eager-beaver production assistant to the late great dancing sensation, Chito Feliciano, at the old Republic Broadcasting System (RBS) Channel 7.
What followed in my search for a perch in the sun were stints with DRB Marketing Corp., National-Festival (under the wing of Bobby Friedlander) and then into Radiowealth Inc. as product man. But the pull of creative work in an ad agency setting was stronger than just pencil pushing. A short stint with the ad agency of the Guevara Enterprises led to my becoming Advertising Manager for DMG, Inc., the Philippines' Volkswagen distributor. I stayed in that firm for some 19 years and left as Marketing Services Director.
I also created and drew for one year a fun cartoon series for the sports magazine, Sportsworld, which I dubbed "Basketboy." Hoops buffs lapped it up but I could not sustain it. Too demanding. In 1982, I went to San Francisco, CA., as a marketing communications appointee of the Office of the Press Secretary. Homesick three months later, I decided to return to Manila and was Creative Director of Advertising & Marketing Associates (AMA), the largest Filipino-owned ad agency in Manila handling Nescafe, Milo, National-Panasonic among other accounts. I also joined Heraeum Management as advertising/public relations consultant managing TV coverages of the UPAA and NCAA basketball tournaments.
In 1985, when Marivic discovered she was an American citizen, we migrated to Seattle where I have been based since then. In Seattle, I publish and edit the Filipino-American Bulletin and host/produce a pioneering weekly radio program, Filipino-American Radio. I was program coordinator for the Seattle-based Filipino Youth Activities (FYA) for 14 years.
Now I direct programs for a seniors-family facility funded by the City of Seattle and the United Way. Civic work, human services and volunteerism occupy a great deal of my time and attention. It is a deeply fulfilling job. I married a great lady in 1966 - The former Maria Victoria Medrano Friedlander, a general's daughter, is a childhood sweetheart from the old Fort William McKinley where we both grew up., the mother now of five happy, healthy, good-looking children. We also have a lanky, athletic 18-year old grandson now. Another 6-month old baby, son of one of the twins, is a recent addition to the clan.
Marivic is a thoroughbred St. Theresa's College (STC) - Manila product as I am a thoroughbred U.P. product (elementary, HS to college), the beautiful Marivic is the eternal joy, center-of-gravity and inspiration of my exciting life. Last year she opted for early retirement after 20 years as University of Washington curriculum coordinator of the Dept. of Asian Languages & Literature.
Forty-eight or so years since those carefree, breezy days amidst the acacia trees of Ft. McKinley, we both still feel the same: enthusiastic, happy and devoted to each other. Many friends and associates describe me today as a fellow who is up to his ears in humor, laughter and joy. (In a high-pressure trade like advertising, practitioners must latch early on to the Bandwagon of Humor or else go nuts. You could say that I have become a creature of that fun mix.) And of course I've always believed in my heart that contentment is directly proportional to one’s humor quotient, values and breeding. As an Army Brat who has been reared in traditionalist military surroundings: Camp Spencer, Camp Allen, Camp Murphy and Ft. McKinley, I feel blessed with countless great kababata. I tell you, nothing matches the crowd I grew up with in Ft. William McKinley, a hallowed ground in our collective memory. Indeed, God has been good.
