Manuel Nieto (born 1892)

Manuel Martínez Nieto Sr. (born Manuel Nieto y Martínez; June 13, 1892 - September 15, 1980), also referred to as Manolo Nieto, was a Filipino footballer, businessman, Philippine Commonwealth Army officer, politician and diplomat. An academic and cultured man, his father was owner of the tobacco estate businesses and controller of the monopoly around Northern Luzon, especially in Isabela which Nieto inherited. During his younger days he was a refined athlete as well who competed in track and field but was best known for his football talent. As a football player of the 1910s and 1920s he spent his years at Bohemian SC as a Defender and was widely regarded as the best Filipino full-back of all time in the eyes of the sports journalists, watchers and athletes of that period. He participated also at the two most remembered Far Eastern Championship Games in 1913 and 1917, football-wise, all while he continued his studies and from time to time having to take brakes from the sport. In that stretch of years, in 1916, he met Manuel L. Quezon at the time elected as Resident Commissioner to the United States and, right after his graduation from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran, he offered his services to him. The two became close friends and formed a strong bond between them. So Manolo, as how he was called by his close acquaintances, began his life as a public servant when he was first appointed by Quezon as a secretary of the Senate while also continuing his father business and studies. From there he became member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and when Quezon became President of the Philippines Nieto started the Officer's Training Camp in Baguio, where he graduated and was commissioned as the Captain of the Philippine Army in the Reserve Corps. Right after, he was named his aide-de-camp and then his Cabinet Secretariat, roles that he served until President Quezon's final breathes. He continued afterwards to serve the country becoming an ambassador to Spain, a duty he covered two times and the last until he passed away.