Column: 8th title for Redmanizers (Dec. 15, 1980)

Bulletin Today sports editor Lito Fernandez with a look back at the 1980 PBA season that ended with Crispa’s triumph in the All-Filipino Conference.

8th title for Redmanizers

NEUTRAL CORNER
By Lito P. Fernandez

Bulletin Today

Published Sunday Dec. 15, 1980

By winning the 1980 Philippine Basketball Association All-Filipino title, the Crispa Redmanizers took their eighth PBA crown, increasing their overall lead to two over the Toyota Tamaraws who have won six PBA championships.

Only three other teams, including one foreign squad, have won titles in the country’s play-for-pay loop, which started in 1975 and has held 18 conferences since.

The U-Tex Wranglers broke the Crispa-Toyota stranglehold by winning the PBA second conference in 1978 and repeated the feat by winning the first conference this year. Royal Tru-Orange joined the list of champions in 1979 when it won the second conference. Last September, Nicholas Stoodley became the first foreign team to win a PBA crown when it topped the second conference.

Although Crispa and Toyota have dominated the first six years of the PBA, each has suffered a shutout in full season. The Redmanizers failed to win any championship in 1978 while the Tamaraws did not win any title this year, placing second in each of the three conferences.

The Redmanizers, who have won four All-Filipino titles, hold the record for consecutive wins, having won six straight crowns starting from the third conference of 1975 up to the second conference of 1977. Crispa, the only team which played under one coach for full six years, scored a grand slam in 1976.

Other highlights of the 1980 season:

1. William Adornado’s blazing comeback in U-Tex uniform. A Crispa discard, the former University of Santo Tomas ace regained his former position as one of the country’s top cagers and helped the Wranglers win the 1980 PBA first conference.

Last month, Adornado matched the all-time scoring record in the PBA All-Filipino conference when he unloaded 64 points against the San Miguel Beer and for a while led the race for the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

2. Crispa set a record of 19 consecutive victories. Their bid for a 20-game sweep of the All-Filipino was thwarted by the Toyota Tamaraws, who beat them, 97-94, in the series.

3. The firing of Fortunato Acuna as Toyota coach during the third game, touching of a heated controversy that almost overshadowed the title playoffs and confirmed management’s support for Toyota superstar Robert Jaworski.

However, controversies are nothing new to the PBA. It seems the association thrives best on controversies — the game-fixing and point-shaving charges, the free-for-alls and player fights, poor officiating, etc. In fact, there was not one single season in the PBA which was not marked — or marred — by a controversy.

The PBA will deviated from its regular format next year. The invitational tourney has been scrapped, leaving only two conferences.