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[Percival O. Flores]

Any section that deals with the PBA's past should have a thread on the Crispa Redmanizers, the PBA's greatest team, bar none, past, present or future.

Prologue:

The history of the Crispa Redmanizers did not begin with the PBA. Just like the rest of the PBA's nine original teams in 1975, Crispa's roots are rooted in the old Manila Industrial and Commercial Atheltic Association (MICAA). Crispa was the team I rooted for in those days.

The first MICAA championship series I followed was the 1971 Open championship which Crispa lost to Meralco 64-58. Their players then were: Reynaldo Alcantara, Rudolph Kutch, Ernesto de Leon, Rodolfo Soriano, Danilo Florencio, Johnny Revilla, Adriano Papa, Jr., William Adornado, Virgilio Abbarientos, Danilo Pecache, Domingo Celis, Jr., and Rey Franco. They were reinforced by imports Tom Cowart and Paul Scranton. The coach was Virgilio "Baby" Dalupan and the manager was Valeriano "Danny" Floro.

In the 1971 ABC, three Crispa forwards Adornado, Papa and Florencio were members of the national team that placed second to Japan. They also played in the 1972 Munich Olympics, the last time the Philippines represented Asia.

In 1972 in the aftermath of the lifetime suspension imposed on Meralco's Robert Jaworski and Alberto "Big Boy" Reynoso, Crispa had become the dominant team in Philippine basketball and they won the Philippine Invitationals, Challenge the Champions and the MICAA All-Filipino.

In 1973, after the 1972 ABC Youth Games, Mapua hotshot Fortunato "Atoy" Co, Jr. joined the Redmanizers. After a riotous championship series against Mariwasa which they lost to Mariwasa Honda, it was discovered that six of the players, namely: Soriano, Florencio, Papa, Kutch, De Leon, Alcantara, and Abbarientos conspired to drop the series for which they were meted lifetime suspensions.

With their line-up decimated, Crispa replenished its ranks with star collegians like Dave Brodett from San Beda, Boysie Henares and Horacio Moreno from Ateneo, Reynaldo Pages of La Salle, and Alberto Guidaben from the Colegio de San Jose Recoletos. Since the team was composed mostly of collegians, Crispa proved no match to Toyota with a core of former Meralco players, which won the 1973 MICAA.

Thus a historical footnote, it may be said that the Crispa-Toyota rivalry had its start also in the MICAA.

Despite this, two Redmanizers: Adornado and Guidaben were named to the Philippine team that won the 1973 ABC in Manila. They also played forthe national team in the 1974 Mundo Basket (the World Championship) held in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In 1974, Crispa was strengthened with the arrival of Jose Rizal's Philip Cezar, David Cezar, Cristino Calilan, Edgardo Carvajal, and Jesus Sta. Maria. Later on Alfredo Hubalde, Virgilio de la Cruz, and Bernard Fabiosa, fresh from their stint with the RP Youth team joined the Redmanizers. With this mix of veterans and collegians finally jelling at last, Crispa won the 1974 MICAA summer championship. Six of its stalwarts: Adornado, Co, Cezar, Soriano, Revilla and Philip Cezar were named to the national team which placed 4th in the 1974 Tehran Asian Games.

PBA Years:

1975, First Season

In 1975, the PBA was born. Crispa, while being part of the league's nine original teams, fielded a team of no-names and second stringers like Pages, Calilan, Sta. Maria, Cesar Ijares, Eric Leaño, Alex Azurin, Joel Gomez, and Rey Vallejo. This was the original Crispa line-up in the PBA. The official reason why their star players did not join then was to make them available for the national team. I've always thought that this was a ruse, the real reason was to hide the star players from the "Protect 8" dispersal rule that the PBA had.

1975 First Conference

1st round eliminations

With this weak line-up, Crispa lost its first very first game to Noritake (with Cisco Oliver) 108-131. They also their next two games. But after Crispa won the 1975 Invitational by beating Manilabank, an amateur tournament sanctioned by the BAP, the star players: Co, Guidaben, Cezar, Fabiosa, Hubalde, Soriano, and Fabiosa were signed to professional contracts and made their debut by defeating Great Taste 113-102. On 26 April 1975, Adornado finally joined the Redmanizers scoring 32 points in leading Crispa over Tanduay 122-100. On 10 May 1975, the first official Crispa-Toyota game was played which the Redmanizers won 139-133 at the sweltering Rizal Coliseum.

2nd round eliminations

On 15 May 1975, Philip Cezar recorded the very first triple-double in PBA history by scoring 23 points, pulling down 16 rebounds and blocked 10 shots as Crispa won over Royal-Tru Orange, 122-106. On 18 May 1975, they lost their first game (after Co and company joined the team) to Tanduay 121-122 . On 8 June 1975, Crispa once again won over Toyota 143-139 in overtime, despite the presence of import Byron "Snake" Jones.

In June, 1975 the PBA took a break from its wars to accomodate a group led by Walt Frazier of 30 barnstorming NBA and ABA (Bob Netolicky and George McGinnis who played for Royal Tru Orange) players who were to play a series of exhibition games with each other and against PBA teams. Notable NBA players who wore the Crispa jersey were Ron Behagen, Walt Frazier and Clifford Ray.

Also in another side event, on 30 June 1975, Manuel Paner of Royal defeats Philip Cezar 20-17 to become the PBA's first one-on-one champion.

Semifinal Round

Toyota finally beats Crispa in their first semif0nal meeting, 106-104. (15 July 1975). Five days later, Toyota again beats Crispa 114-102. Crispa defeated Utex 121-113 in the first ever-play-off for the right to meet Toyota which had earlier clinched a Finals berth.

Finals:

Crispa and Toyota met in the first PBA finals. Toyota which had import Byron "Snake" Jones in its line-up dispatched the Redmanizers 3-1:

July 24 Game 1 - Crispa 107 Toyota 103
July 28 Game 2 - Toyota 88 Crispa 87
July 29 Game 3 - Toyota 109 Crispa 105
July 31 Game 4 - Toyota 117 Crispa 96

Second Conference

Prior to the start of second conference, it was reported that Rudy Soriano and Johnny Revilla longtime teammates in UE and Crispa figured in a fight during one of the team's practice sessions. Revilla was promptly sent to the CFC prestos.

In between conferences, Crispa defeats the US NCAA selwection 111-109.

In the second conference, Crispa was now reinforced by inmports Johnny Burkes and Pete Crotty (a Caucassian or white). On 14 september 1975, Crispa defeats Seven-Up 117-102 at the Wesleyan Gym in Cabanatuan City in the first PBA out-of-town game.

Semifinals:

On November 7, Crispa again lost to Toyota, 105-109 in the first round of the semifinals in ag ame played at the University of San Agustin Gym in Iloilo City.

Finals

Crispa once again figured in a finals match-up with Toyota (Jones now being joined by Stan "Sweet" Cherry). The game scores of that series:

Game 1 November 16 - Toyota 98 Crispa 96, there was a fight involving Soriano, Jaworski and Fernandez.
Game 2 November 18 - Crispa 101 Toyota 91
Game 3 November 20 - Toyota 115-102

With Toyota leading the series 2-1, on November 21, Crispa management asked for a change in the system of choosing referees. This was denied by PBA Commissioner Leo Prieto. Crispa then informed the PBA that it would not show up for Game No. 4. The PBA forfeited the game and the championship series in favor of Toyota. Crispa was assessed a P82,000 fine representing lost revenue in gate receipts and TV advertising.

The All-Philippne Championship

In the third conference dubbed as the All-Philippine Championship, only the top four teams of the two previous conferences participated: Crispa, Toyota, Utex and Royal Tru Orange. In the single elimination round Crispa won over Toyota 118-109.

Finals:

Game 1 December 6 - Toyota 99 Crispa 97
Game 2 December 8 - Crispa 111 Toyota 107
Game 3 December 10 - Crispa 101 Toyota 93
Game 4 December 12 - Toyota 79 Crispa 77
Game 5 December 14 - Crispa 96 Toyota 91

Crispa won that series 3-2. Crispa finally beat Toyota in a series which featured many free for alls, the most memorable of which took place in the last game.

Adornado was named PBA MVP and he joined Atoy Co in the PBA's very first Mythical Team. Adornado led the league in scoring average with 26.9.

An All-Star series sponsored by Ovaltine culminates the league's first season. Ovaltine Browns coached by Baby Dalupan wins over Ovaltine Yellow of Dante Silverio. The Crispa players who participated in the first All-Star games were: Adornado, Soriano, Co, Franco, Hubalde (Browns) and Guidaben (Yellow). Philip Cezar who was suspended for his involvement in the fights in the last championship series was ineligible to play and his spot in the Yellow All Stars was taken over by U-tex's Romeo Frank.


1976, The First Grand Slam

In 1976, the PBA's second year, Crispa acquired the services of UE guard Luis "Tito" Varela.

In the First Conference (an All-Filipino affair although they didn't call it as such i those days), they defeated Toyota 3-1, clinching Game No. 4 101-100 (11 July 1976). It was their second consecutive title.

The game was highlighted by Adornado scoring 24 points to become the first player in PBA history to score 2,000 points. On the other hand, Toyota's Ramon Fernandez failed to score on two free throws with no time remaining that could have tied or won for Toyota the game.

Adornado was named MVP. He was joined in the Mythical team by Redmanizer teammates Atoy Co and Philip Cezar.

In the 1976 Open, Crispa was reinforced by imports Cyrus Mann and William "Bill" Bunton. The team also acquired Gregorio "Joy" Dionsio from Carrier to beef-up its backcourt line. It was also in this conference that Adornado suffered a knee injury that would sideline him for 1 and1/2 seasons. Atoy Co however took the leadership role for the Redmanizers. Led by Co, they won the 2nd Conference title by beating Toyota (reinforced by Byron "Snake" Jones and Howard Smith) 3-1. The deciding game was played on 12 November 1976 and Crispa defeated Toyota 103-94. It was also Crispa's third straight title

In the All-Philippine Championship. Crispa overcame a 0-2 deficit and won the last three games to achieve the PBA's First Grand Slam. On 21 December 1976, they defeated Toyota 110-102 to clinch the title and the Grand Slam. It was Crispa's fourth consecutive title.

For the record, the Crispa Redmanizer roster that won the PBA's first Grand Slam are as follows:

5. Alberto Guidaben
6. Fortunato Co, Jr.
7. Rodolfo Soriano
8. Reynaldo Pages
9. Gregorio Dionisio
10. Alfredo Hubalde
11. William Adornado
12. Virgilio de la Cruz
14. Luis "Tito" Varela
15. Bernard Fabiosa
18. Philip Cezar
19. Rey Franco
23. Cris Calilan
24. Bill Bunton
25. Cyrus Mann

1977, Six Consecutive Championships

In 1977, Crispa acquired the services of Armando Torres.

17 April 1977, Opening day game between Toyota and Crispa, which Crispa won 122-121 culminated in a free-for-all at the dug-out when the players were exiting the court after the hard-fought match. Main protagonist in the post-game fight were Atoy Co and Toyota's Ramon Fernandez.

Two days thereafter, the two teams (including the waterboys and towel boys) were all invited by Metrocom Chief Prospero Olivas for questioning at the Ft. Bonifacio, where they were detained for one night. The only time in PBA history that players were detained because of fights. No charges were pressed. They were given lectures on the virtues of the New Society and how fights like this spoil the thrust and image of the Marcos dictatorship of a reformed and disciplined Philippine society. They were released soon thereafter (to play basketball and fight again for another day). Both teams were however fined by Commissoner Leo Prieto P5,000 each for the melee.

On 12 July 1977, Mariwasa Honda led by import Billy Robinson defeated the Toyota Tamaraws in the semifinals match, 121-114, setting the stage for the first non Crispa-Toyota title showdown. in the finals of the 1977 All-Filipino. Mariwasa was reinforced Robinson in what was supposed to be an All-Fililipino affair. On 24 July 1977, Crispa defeated Mariwasa 139-128, to clinch the All-Filipino title. It was also Crispa's fifth consecutive championship.

Alfredo Hubalde now operating on his own due to Adornado's injury became the league's third MVP. Hubalde was joined in the mythical team by Fortunato Co, Jr.

On August 7, another All-Star series took place sponsored by cigarette comany's Trust and Most. The Trust All-Stars was composed of a Crispa nucleus of Co, Hubalde, Guidaben, Cezar Fabiosa, and Soriano. Most was dominated by Toyota players. The Trust All-Statrs won Game 135-124 to also clinch the series 2-1.

In the 1977 Open, Crispa's imports were the returning Cyrus Mann and his friend Rick Hicks. Crispa won over U-tex 3-2 to acquire its sixth straight championship. U-tex with Byron "Snake" Jones and point guard Charlie Neal playing together earlier eliminated Toyota (imports John Irving and Bruce "Sky" King for the right to meet the Redmanizers. On 29 November 1977, Crispa defeated U-tex 90-88, despite the handicap. Mann playing virtually single-handedly battled Jones and Neal. It was Crispa's sixth straight championship.

The 1977 Invitationals marked the first time that Crispa did not even make the finals, which Toyota won over Emtex. By then Ricky Hicks was replaced by Cris McMurray who earlier played in the Open for Seven-Up. They even lost in the play-offs for third place to Tanduay (imports: Eugene Moore and Bernard Harris), It was the end of the Redmanizer's amazing run of six straight conference championships.


(To be continued)

[omeng]

:thumbup galing naman pare! i'm sure, hindi nagkakalayo age natin.. ako kasi, i started watching the pba late 70's, and i was rooting for Toyota. sana naman in the future, meron ding mag-post ng ganito, much like dun sa nag-post ng ginebra sa TOYOTA. :clap

[nastrans]

Nice read to pero can you elaborate on the time when both Crispa and Toyota were sent to jail.

[nastrans]

BTW, ang Crispa pala naglaro rin sa PABL after their disbandment and led by coach Atoy Co (or is he?) the Redmanizers won a PABL crown.

You are going ahead of the story, man. Nasa 1977 pa lang ako. This happened in 1986

:) Percy

[Jay P. Mercado]

Great thread as expected from Atty Flores himself.

While a lot here would probably think that I used to be a rabid Ginebra fan starting 1986, I am one of the many disciple converts of Jaworski that originally rooted for Crispa at the start of the PBA season. While my favorite players then were Atoy Co and Philip Cezar, it was actually Jaworski that held me in a spell more. My roots with Crispa go a long way back 1975 and being a 7 year old kid at that time, I remember cheering for the team because my other favorite team, the Chicago Bulls, had their name start with a C - similar to the Redmanizers. Shallow it may sound but that's how I got to love this team.

Some points I remember from circa 1975-1977:

1. Pete Crotty and Johnny Burks were a coffee-cream import combine of Crispa. Crotty, the caucasian one was 6'9 to the African-American Burks who was 6'6. While Burks was relatively athletic, Crotty was a gangling center that couldn't seem to get his Toyota counterpart Byron Snake Jones from his sweet spot. Crispa was also in a disadvantage since Burks was relatively shorter than his opponents (Stan Cherry was 6'8, Carl Bird was 6'8, Jones was 6'9). Good thing the Redmanizers were able to stop the Comets from winning what possibly could have been the first grandslam in league history.

2. While I've always believed that Cyrus Mann was the best center ever to play in the league (I regarded Andy Fields as the best power forward, Carlos Terry as the best small forward, Billy Ray Bates at offguard and Tony Harris at the point), he was also the main instrument for Crispa's grandslam success in 1976. He and fellow import Bill Bunton couldn't play together and Mann normally took up 30-35 minutes per game with Bunton relieving him. Mann was so dominant that Jones, who was 1975's most dominant important, didn't hold a candle against him. It would have been nice to see Mann go up against Fields when both were at their peak conditions (Fields was at his best in 1981 and 1982) but then, we'll never know who could really have been better.

3. One of my most memorable recollections of Atoy Co was his patented left handed jumpshot from the arc. This was the only guy capable of running a break and finishing it not with a layup but with a jumper from 20 feet out. His shooting accuracy was truly a marvel to witness, and I considered him then as the 2nd best shooter (Adornado remained to be the best in my books). During the time when long-tom artists were the fashion statements (players like Botchok Delos Santos, Jun Papa, Lim Eng Beng were just some of the finest shooters we had back then), this recognition of Co should be treated highly.

4. Ricky Hicks was probably the most pathetic excuse for an import in Crispa's history. This guy was just awful as he couldn't do anything right for the team, averaging within the 10-12 point range and more often than not ended up in single digits. Good thing Crispa didn't need too much of an offensive import back then, and with Mann in the middle, they still were dominant. Good thing the 6'7 Chris McMurray was still in town back then after a brief stint with the Uncolas of 7/Up. Though not exactly in the caliber of Toyota's John Irving, he was at least not a lemon.

5. Baby Dalupan would probably be acknowledged by my friend Percy as the best coach of the PBA bar none. Although I disagree with him in this regard, he has basis for his opinion. His biggest strength was his eye for local talent, and his ability to use these talents and mesh them together effectively. But while Dalupan knew his locals well, it wasn't the same with some of his imports. Over the years, Crispa was mired with lemon imports, the first being Crotty, then Hicks. McMurray and Bernard Harris, who suited up for Crispa in the 1978 season after a sojourn with Tanduay, were quite effective but not exactly goldmine talents. Original finds like Irving Chatmann, Clarence Kea, Kirk Gibson, etc. were some of the reasons why Crispa failed to secure titles in import-laced conferences as well as Toyota's. They had some degree of success with Glenn Hagan, Al Green (he powered Crispa to the very 1st Reinforced Conference crown in 1981), and James Hardy (another personal favorite who played for them in 1981) but overall, their import choices were duds. Sylvester Cuyler and Glenn Mosley, Crispa's reinforcements in the 1979 season, were quite average but never got to propel the team to a championship.

More to come...

[Percival O. Flores]

[Percival O. Flores]

Continuation....

1978 Season - First No Championship Season for the Redmanizers

Pre-season:

1978 began auspicously enough for the Redmanizers as it beat a PBA-All Star team 3-2 . The PBA All-Stars were culled from all the other seven teams of the PBA but with Toyota players as the nucleus. The line-up was composed of Jaworski, Arnaiz, Fernandez, Abe King, new recruits Danny Florencio and Estoy Estrada, with the addition of Rudolph Kutch and Lim Eng Beng from U-tex, Adriano Papa from Filmanbank, and Manny Paner and Johnny Revilla from Great Taste. Its coach was Dante Silverio. From what I recall Klim was the corporate sponsor of this event.

Although Crispa may have won the series, the All-Stars got the pot money as under the rules the cumulative total points of the two team in the five games they played determined who will get the money. So Crispa geot the prestige while the All-Stars got all the money.

Crispa recruited Wilfredo Tanduyan of the Imperial Textile Mills (ITM) and Jaime Javier from its amateur team in the MICAA. Gone from the Redmanizers was Cris Calilan.

All-Filipino

Toyota displayed its new found strength by blasting Tanduay 127-120 on Opening Day, 16 April 1978. This was the best game ever played by Israel Catatcutan of Tanduay. In the second game of the double-header, Crispa with the comebacking William Adornado in its line-up lost to U-tex 94-103.

This was a bad All-Filipino for Crispa. Not only were they out of contention by the semifinal round, but the team even managed to lose the play-offs for third place against Tanduay for the second straight conference.

On the other hand archrival Toyota won the championship by defeating the Billy Robinson-led Filmanbank 3-1.

1978 was Jaworski's MVP year. He was the first PBA MVP who came from a team other than Crispa Redmanizers. Crispa's Hubalde and Cezar were also named to the Mythical Team.

Open Conference

This was a conference dominated by the U-tex Wranglers all the way, led by the combination of Byron "Snake" Jones and ex-Celtic Glen McDonald. The top 4 finishers of the All-Filipino: Toyota, Filmanbank, Tanduay, and Crispa were handicapped in that they could play their imports only one-at-a-time while Utex and the other bottom 4 finishers could field their imports simultaneously.

In this Conference Crispa was reinforced by ABA veteran Ansley Truitt and Paul Mills. They helped Crispa get into the Finals but Jones and McDonald proved too much even for Crispa. U-tex won the series by a sweep 3-0. It was the first championship ever won by a PBA team outside of Crispa and Toyota. Utex won Game No. 3 on 14 November 1978 by beating the Redmanizers 104-96.

It was also U-tex's way of avenging the loss it suffered to Crispa in the 1977 Open
championship series.

Invitational Conference

This tournament dubbed the Invitational Conference even in the absence of guest foreign teams had the better teams of 1978 as the invited teams: Toyota, Filmanbank, Crispa, Utex and Tanduay.

There were no handicapping rules this time and all five teams could field their imports at the same time. Truitt and Mills as a tandem performed creditably enough but in the single-round elimination format, they were ambushed by Tanduay (imports: ABA veteran Eugene Moore and David Payne, the brother of Yco resident import James Payne). In that game, Tanduay beat Crispa 74-70 which up to that point was the PBA's lowest scoring game up to that point.

Crispa with Truitt and Mills playing at the same time got back at U-tex (McDonald at 6'6" had a hard time matching up against the taller imports, which without the handicap could now play together). They salvaged third place by beating the Wranglers.

Toyota won this conference by beating Tanduay 3-1.

1978 marked the first season in Crispa's four years of participation in the PBA where it did not win a single championship.


(To be continued... 4 seasons down, 6 more seasons to go)

[kulitz]

i really like this topic. me too im an avid and solid crispa fanatic! i remember when crispa and toyota battling for the championship. crispa's import was tony hardy while for toyota was andrew fields. for me this is the most fiercely fought battle between this two very good imports. theyre dunking each other, battling for rebounds and alas, wala talagang nagpapatalo sa kanilang dalawa. matira ang matibay talaga. ang galing ni hardy even andrew fields but as far as i know toyota won that championship coz of hardy's lack of willingness to win(pero marami ang nagsasabi dat tym na hinulog ni hardy yung natitirang laro nila sa series kasi nainis sya sa mga teammates nya na nagbebenta ng laro during finals kasi confident ang crispa noon na kahit magpatalo sila kaya nilang mapagchampion ang team nila kaya ganun na lang ang asar ni hardy sa teammates nya na talaga namang kumakayod sa laro. :)

[Percival O. Flores]

[kulitz]

correct atty. i was shifted to jaworski's team coz i really hate mon fernandez that time although i admire his style and finesse of talent. remember that fernandez is the arch rival of philip cezar w/c is my idol during that time.

since crispa is already disbanded, i put myself on the living legend to start my cheering career with ginebra. :thumbsup