Alaska Aces 25 years: Above All, Doing Things Right

MANILA, Philippines - 1986 was an era of great change for the Philippines. Almost a quarter of a century ago, the EDSA People Power Revolution swept the country, blew in a new wind of change, and showed the world democracy in action. Little did we know that, in that year, the landscape of Philippine basketball would be forever changed, as well.

The Early Years

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) was still in its infancy, barely a decade removed from the old MICAA. Asia’s first professional basketball league enjoyed great success, but was still groping for form. With no salary cap and draft yet in place, it was essentially dominated by two teams: the Crispa Redmanizers and the Toyota Comets, powerhouses by any stretch of the imagination. But Alaska Milk Corporation’s patriarch Wilfred Uytengsu, Sr. saw great potential in being involved in the nation’s passion.

Wilfred Jr. or Fred, a national swimmer who had just spent ten years studying and working in the US, had very little

Jojo Lastimosa

awareness at the time, but saw the league’s value from a marketing standpoint.

Needless to say, the PBA of 1986 was a far cry from what it is today. We all know the players wore skimpy, shiny shorts, and ran up and down the floor relentlessly. At the time, training methods were sparse, punctuality was optional, players smoked, and defense was not a part of their vocabulary. This was the atmosphere Alaska was invading, and there was some culture shock at first.

“Work ethic to us was number one,” Fred remembers clearly. “In the early days, when we lost a game, I actually took it personally. If I was upset, I wanted everyone to lose sleep over it, too.”

The first Milkmen were a collection of rugged tough guys typical of that era, coached by Tony Vasquez. Among them: “The Destroyer” Rudy Distrito, and “The Bruise Brothers” tandem of the Bicolano Superman Yoyoy Villamin and former Toyota power forward Ricky Relosa. Although not yet experienced in basketball itself, management was already clear on the kind of values it wanted to impart to everybody.

“I learned so much then,” recalls NCAA commissioner Aric del Rosario, who joined Alaska after the first season as an assistant of Bogs Adornado, who succeeded Vasquez. “Mr. (Fred) Uytengsu didn’t want us to go to gatherings alone. You had to be with your family. The spouses and children were at the games as one group. That’s where I learned to love my players like family.”

Johnny "The Flying" Abarientos

But the search for a coach who had the passion and the will to innovate was not yet over.

The First Championship

Into this gap walked Tim Cone, a former basketball player, high school coach and Fred’s schoolmate, who was a constant – and vocally critical – supporter of the team. A stern advocate of team defense, Cone constantly preached how the team could play better by working hard on both sides of the floor. His constant presence led to him gradually becoming a more and more important part of the team, One day, he got his chance to lead. Tim wasn’t the only one who came aboard. Genial Joaqui Trillo joined the team as manager, creating a balance and completing the trio that would guide Alaska to new standards of professionalism. 

At first, there was a lot of resistance to Cone, because of his youth, his citizenship, and most of all his rigid, disciplined training methods. The older players balked at doing drills they used to do in college. But management stood firm behind their new coach. Then newer players took to the training regimen more easily, and scores of other teams started coming down to earth. Alaska was on to something. Finally, the Milkmen won the Third Conference championship in 1991, their first ever.

After winning its first title and learning the ropes of the PBA, Alaska was in a position to create its own culture, its own way of doing things. To do that, they had to trade today for tomorrow, dismantling its team of veterans to make room for a new system. But the team needed a coach who would share the new vision of creating a new system that would elevate their play.

“Winning the championship made our players highly valued by other teams,” explained Cone. “We realized that, to go to the next level, we needed their value to be high so we could trade for what we wanted. That’s a harsh reality of the sport.”

The Grand Slam

Then Tim discovers the triangle offense, designed by then-Chicago Bulls assistant coach Tex Winter in 1955. The

Sean Chambers

mysteriously complex system would lead Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson and the Bulls to six NBA championships in the 1990’s.

“To this day, I tell my players: when other teams play, they just play basketball. When the Chicago Bulls played, they danced,” Cone recalls.

To learn it, though, would take time. Alaska would have to be prepared to lose before they could win.

“If that were any other coach, they would have given up,” recalls “Mang Tom” Urbano, the jolly jug-eared practice referee and trainer who has been with the franchise since its first season. “Coach Tim believed that it would work, and he never gave up.”

Alaska already knew what kind of direction to take its franchise. Slowly but surely, they introduced a new culture, centered on doing what was right, beyond just doing the right things.

“We wanted to incorporate the team as part of a corporate initiative to build a brand,” Fred Uytengsu elaborated. “What do we want to stand for? We want a clean-cut team, players your kids could model themselves after.”

Gradually, new personnel were drafted or recruited, not just talented players who would fit the system, but more importantly, the right people for the company’s image and direction. The high-scoring, free-wheeling days of the PBA were numbered, and Alaska was leading the charge into scientific, defense-oriented play.

In 1991, Jojo Lastimosa joined the team in a trade from Purefoods. Johnny Abarrientos was drafted near the top of his class in 1993. Bong Hawkins came over from Sta. Lucia in 1994. The other pieces were already in place. In 1994, Alaska won the Governor’s Cup, and placed in the other two conferences. In 1995, Jeff Cariaso entered the draft along with Poch Juinio. The Milkmen made the finals of each of the three conferences that year, gaining valuable experience. In Governor’s Cup, the Milkmen came back from a 2-3 deficit to beat San Miguel Beer and successfully defend their title. The triangle was working.

“We were always the underdog,” remembers Bong Hawkins, part of the deadly triumvirate with Abarrientos and Lastimosa. “If you looked at our line-up, you wouldn’t say there were any superstars.”

The Milkmen rose to face perennial All-Filipino Finals mainstay Purefoods, towed by Alvin Patrminio and Jerry Codinera. With Johnny Abarrientos having fouled out and Jun Reyes making a great shot and subsequent pass, in the final seconds of the final game of the Finals, Cariaso was fouled, needing to make both free throws to clinch the title for the Milkmen, their first ever All-Filipino trophy.

The Commissioner’s Cup was a different challenge, as import Derrick Hamilton was sent home midway through the tournament. Despite not being in game shape and facing 6’6” imports, 6’1” Sean Chambers returned to action, boosting Alaska to the Finals early.

“Having Sean just relieves so much anxiety for us. He knew our system so well,” Cone smiles. “We didn’t realize it at the time, but it was a great advantage to have him come in early. He always played bigger than he was, anyway.”

The experience provided Alaska a massive edge against the rest of the field in the Governor’s Cup. Once again, Alaska reeled off a dominating performance and made the Finals , setting up a clash with crowd-favorite Ginebra. The Milkmen were unfazed, and Chambers playing in his eighth straight Governor’s Cup, was outstanding. The Milkmen battled Barangay Ginebra and won the first three Games, finally clinching their historic sweep of all three conferences in Game Five.

Alaska thus became only the third team in PBA history to win a Grand Slam.

The PBA’s post-season awards also showed that a team could reap individual rewards, as well. Jojo Lastimosa and Bong Hawkins were named to the Mythical Team, led by Most Valuable Player Johnny Abarrientos, the smallest player ever to be named the league’s best. Ironically, the votes were not divided among the three, but seemed to have multiplied.

“I can’t explain how we reached those accomplishments,” Abarrientos says. “If you look at us, we weren’t a dominant team. Probably it was the desire of each player to step up and sacrifice to be part of the chemistry that Alaska built in the 1990’s. When we saw a mismatch, we sacrificed our own scoring for our teammate.”

A Higher Calling

It was more than just the winning that drew fans and even players to Alaska. It was something intangible, hard to explain. A quiet confidence anchored not in arrogance, but in pride. The team expected to do well, simply because they had done everything that successful organizations do to stay on top, each sacrificing himself for the better of the team.

“There was something about Alaska that players from other teams hated,” admits Kenneth Duremdes, who joined the team after the Grand Slam and won an MVP award as an Alaska Ace. “But I realized it was wrong. They weren’t boastful. When you had a leader like Jojo Lastimosa, youjust felt you would win, because he would never let you down. He’d look after you.”

The players, coaches and management genuinely cared for each other, not merely as teammates, but as members of the family. That was most evident as Alaska became the most feared team on the road, unbeatable outside Metromanila for a very long time.

After repeating as Governors Cup champions at the end of 1997, the following year Tim Cone and Alaska answered a higher calling, taking responsibility for the Centennial Team that would proudly wear the Philippine colors in the Asian Games. It was a moment of outstanding pride for the company, and the team.

That was also an opportunity for the rest of the basketball community to see the underlying strengths that were designed to be the bedrock of Alaska’s success: pride, professionalism, teamwork. Doing things right, not just doing the right things. Along the way, Alaska claimed two more championships, the All-Filipino and the Governors Cup, capped with a bronze medal at the Asian Games, the last time a Philippine team medaled at the quadrennial meet.

That stellar year also signaled a period of transition for Alaska. The Milkmen soon became Aces, adding a new dimension to the vernacular translation of “alas ka”.

The New Millennium

The team of the 90’s now had new obstacles to hurdle, as times impelled it to evolve yet again, ending one and

Alaska celebrates its 13th chmapionship

beginning another. Bigger, stronger mixed-race Filipinos flooded the PBA. Changes had to be made to stay on top. And they weren’t easy.

“You cannot be successful if you aren’t relational, if you don’t invest in the people you work with,” Cone adds. “But all relationships have to end. There is a finite time you can keep doing what you’re doing in basketball.”

Despite the changing times, the Aces were always at or near the top, and almost never out of the playoffs. Championships came in the 2000 All-Filipino, the 2003 Invitational, and the 2007 Fiesta Cup. Along the way, the Aces pulled the trigger again, bending with the times, even acquiring players who would prove just how flexible the team was.

“We used to joke about who would be the first to get a “special timeout”,” laughs Willie Miller, the wise-cracking PBA MVP who became Alaska’s version of Michael Jordan in the triangle. “Coach Tim would call a timeout not because of anything else, but because you were messing up. And I was the one who usually got the special timeout.”

The Lucky 13th

As the first decade of the 2000’s neared its conclusion, Alaska approached its first quarter of a century with some setbacks. After sweeping Ginebra in the semifinals, the Aces in turn were painfully swept by Purefoods in the 2010 Philippine Cup.

“I think that was the best thing that could have happened to us,” declares team captain Tony dela Cruz. “We had been told ‘You cannot walk through a Finals.” It gave us a mission to come back more intensely in the next conference.

Meanwhile, bridges to the past were also being crossed with finality. Alaska Milk Corporation’s patriarch, Wilfred Uytengsu Sr. passed away, making the 2010 Fiesta Conference that much more meaningful. Fred asked the team to honor his father’s memory by wearing his initials on their jerseys.

As if that weren’t enough motivation, Jeff Cariaso, the last active player from the Grand Slam era, announced his retirement. Alaska aimed for its 25th Finals appearance in 24 years, and was gunning for its lucky 13th championship. The mantra was simple: WE BEL13VE.

In the face of all these changes, Alaska now had an oral tradition, passed down from the people who had been there from the start, and the players who were now coaches themselves. They showed the players what Alaska was all a bout through their example, their work ethic, and most of all, through their principles.

“Having Jeff around was a huge, huge thing, especially for me,” dela Cruz continues. “He taught me so much about leadership, what to do in certain situations. Playing without him now will be a big adjustment for us.”

 The new leaders of the team felt the burden of responsibility, but were also lifted by the unbreakable vow of support from the team, the company, the family they had joined.

“There was pressure, also because I had never won a championship,” says LA Tenorio, who was handed the reins of the team after his first year.

In the Finals, the Aces squared off against the only other team that had been around longer, the San Miguel Beermen. With all the incentives to win, the Aces found one more to fan the flames of victory. Right before Game 1, SMB’s Jay Washington was announced as Best Player of the Conference, over LA Tenorio.

They had the best player, but it made Alaska burn to show that they had the best team.

Dominating performances by LA and an unleashed Cyrus Baguio would propel the Aces to impressive wins in the first two games. The teams split the next two games, putting Alaska one win away from the trophy.

Making crucial adjustments in Game 5, Alaska fought San Miguel Beer down the wire. With time almost gone and the Beermen up by two. Tim Cone did the unexpected, putting the game in the hands of Alaska’s most promising newcomer. (Cyrus takes a three and barely misses.)

Then another unexpected twist of fate cropped up. Team captain Tony dela Cruz was diagnosed with sore eyes. Again, Alaska made the hard decision. Tony could not play the rest of the series.

In Game 6, however, the story would be different. The young guns took over, anchored on their gem, Diamon Simpson. Alaska would win convincingly, their lucky 13th. LA and Cyrus would be proclaimed Finals co-MVP, another undeniable symbol of the supremacy of the team over the individual.

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Alaska’s first 24 years in the PBA have been filled with many pioneering moments. The company was the first to fully integrate members of the team not just as athletes, but as brand ambassadors and image-builders. Each player who joins the Aces is fully briefed on what is expected on him as a professional, and as a role model. They are told what is expected of them, as high-profile athletes, and as regular citizens and members of the family.

The Aces were the first team to hand out championship rings to its players; the first to retire jersey numbers; the first to insist on a dress code, on and off the court. Even players’ sneakers have to match the team colors. It’s just the way things are done at Alaska.

Alaska has also never been afraid of making the right decision, even when it is the tough decision, because good enough never is. From Milkmen to Hills Brothers to Air Force to Aces, Alaska has been guided by its values of integrity, teamwork, hard work, a family atmosphere that has the players longing to stay even after their playing days are over.

No matter the challenges, no matter the odds, no matter the   changing times, one thing remains the same. Entering its 25th season and beyond,    Alaska wins as a team unflinching and steady in its timeless values.