Sunday, January 23, 1977

Super Coach (Jan. 23, 1977)


The Philippine Panorama, the Sunday magazine of Bulletin Today, ran a feature of coach Baby Dalupan after steering the Crispa Redmanizers to the 1976 PBA grand slam.

SUPER COACH

By Chelo R. Banal
Philippine Panorama
Published Sunday January 23, 1977

IT was the best of times. Crispa overpowered stubborn Toyota 11 times during the 1976 pro basketball league to sweep to an overwhelming triple victory. Needless to say, it was a grand slam, a sensational season, a mind-blowing performance and, in a very sweet sense, an everlasting Crispa thrill.

After a cold start in the pro (it was the fourth in team standing in the PBA's first conference first round), the Crispa Redmanizers recovered the fire of their MICAA days to become the Toyota Comets' archrivals for the first and second tournament titles. The rivalry would long be cherished. Finally, Crispa dethroned two-time champ Toyota during the 1975 third conference and since then never went down from its Number One post.

The Redmanizers won 39 of their 57 games during the PBA's first year series. Changing names to Crispa Denims (for advertising purposes since the Crispa-Floro factory in Pasig started milling out denim materials), the quintet bagged 46 of its 61 games during the PBA's second year. Four championships out of six conferences in the Philippine Basketball Association so far. The statistics make Virgilio ' Baby' Dalupan the winningest coach in the league.