Crispa-Toyota glory days

Today, the Toyota franchise (Komatsu Komets, Tamaraws, Super Corollas) celebrates its 50th anniversary with a reunion of most of its players. The team first played in the defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association or MICAA, then later became one of the founding members of the Philippine Basketball Association. The PBA was organized as a professional league when MICAA team owners sought to escape being obligated by the Basketball Association of the Philippines to lend their best players to the national team, which was then purely amateur. It was unfair that they were paying the players’ salaries without having them available to play. Many times, players would return to their mother teams injured.

This writer was 10 years old when the PBA was launched in 1975. If you can imagine a time during Martial Law when television and radio were greatly limited, curfews were in effect, and no events were taking place, what a brave thing it was for a new basketball league to launch. The league’s first commissioner, Leo Prieto, envisioned a pro tournament with colorful personalities and compelling rivalries. In Crispa and Toyota, he got it.

The circumstances were perfect. Each team had immense talent, and their packages were perfect in dichotomy. Toyota represented a multinational corporation, Crispa a local clothing manufacturer. With dapper Dante Silverio coaching and the triumvirate of Robert Jaworski, Ramon Fernandez and Francis Arnaiz, one side had the good-looking mestizos who were perceived to be more upscale when compared to the street smart likes of coach Baby Dalupan and the likes of Atoy Co, Philip Cezar and Bernie Fabiosa. Of course, the differences were all mere perception, as the players mostly came from the same backgrounds, the same schools. It was a grittier, less regulated time, where the basketball (and the rules) were rough, raw and evolving. The players received the sum of about ? 2,500 a month, and if they were lucky, a car. Very few players suited up for both sides, as the rivalry became personal.

The two teams split 13 of the first 15 PBA championships. Crispa (also later known as Walk Tall Jeans) won a total of 13 titles, Toyota 9. There was also the time both teams spent a night in jail, after fighting at the end of the 1977 season opener. As the story goes, both teams were visited by the police at practice the next day and “invited” to Camp Crame. When Philippine Constabulary Chief Gen. Prospero Olivas lectured both squads on setting a good example, he reminded them that they could be arrested. Some of the players allegedly scoffed, and the irate commander had them fingerprinted and herded off to be incarcerated. Fortunately, they were released early the next morning. Lesson learned.

On the court, their intensity was unrivaled and riveting. The pace and physicality was unmatched. In those early years, both teams could outbid everyone else for the best talent. Even their imports became household names: Andy Fields, Snake Jones, Cyrus Mann, Billy Ray Bates, Donnie Ray Koonce, Al Green, each with his own style and swagger. Those fans who couldn’t afford tickets to the games watched on ancient rabbit-eared televisions. Those who didn’t have TVs sat outside appliance stores, who generously left their display sets on during the games. This way, they would never get robbed, as well.

As the global economy’s dependence on oil proved difficult, the price of gasoline quadrupled, decimated businesses in the Philippines. That caused Toyota to temporarily cease operations in the Philippines. The players were split in a tempestuous tug-of-war over their contracts. Fernandez and company obeyed the corporate sale and played for the new team owner Asia Brewery, while Jaworski and his clique ended up with Añejo, later Ginebra San Miguel. But for almost a decade, these gladiators gave Filipinos the most indelible, emotional battles we had ever seen. For that, we will always be grateful.