Crispa vs Toyota

[Toto Battung]

The history of Philippine Basketball won't be complete without the games between the storied teams of the PBA, Toyota vs. Crispa. It captured the attention of the whole archipelago in the 1970's and the 1980's. Even now it is still talked about and the internet is making it known to the whole world of it's part of the lore of Philippine basketball. My hope for this thread is to be able to get all the games the two teams played in the PBA posted in this thread. To start I need all the help from Gameface members to check with friends, office-workers, grandfathers/mothers if they have stored clippings of Toyota-Crispa games and other stories, so we can have them posted here at Unrivaled Rivalry: Crispa-Toyota. Hoping for the best.

Here's the last game they ever played: The Classic Reunion of 2003

TOYOTA EDGES CRISPA IN CLASSIC REUNION MATCH

May 29, 2003- 2003 PBA All-Star Weekend

When the game is on the wire, you'd like the ball in the hands of your biggest player. And nobody else could be bigger than Robert Jaworski.
The current Senator of the Republic, playing for the first time in a long, long while, hit a three-point shot off an assist from Ramon Fernandez and led Toyota to a 65-61 win over archnemesis Crispa last night in the reunion match between the two rival teams that highlighted the start of All-Star weekend at the Araneta Coliseum.
Jaworski's triple came with 23.3 seconds left, icing the final score, and Bogs Adornado sealed Crispa's doom with a missed triple on the other end.
"The option was there. Alangan naman ipasa pa natin eh open naman," Jaworski said.
The assist from Fernandez brought back memories of the 1989 All-Star game, when Jaworski hit his former rival and teammate with a pass that led to the basket that won the game. This time, the roles were reversed.
"It's just fitting that I return the favor. I wanted to draw his man to keep him open and just like the Big J of old, he hit the shot," said Fernandez. "Parang scripted eh," said Jaworski.
"We couln't ask for a better ending," said Philippine Basketball Association commisioner Noli Eala.
Of course,it doesn't mean it's the end.
"Kailangan may rematch," said Crispa defender Philip Cezar.
"Kailangan bumawi kami," said Atoy Co, who missed several jumpers before nailing two clutch ones in the stretch, both which gave Crispa two point leads.
Oscar Rocha, unheralded as the stars that surrounded him, countered with two clutch shots that answered Co's sudden awakening to keep Toyota in contention late in the game.
Terry Saldana had a three-point play and Rocha had two free-throws as the Tamaraws, who led by as many as 13 in the third, blew off a one-point deficit and took a 62-58 lead, 54 seconds left in the game.
Adornado buried a triple to cut the lead to one but on the return play, Fernandez posted Abet Guidaben and hit Jaworski for the key triple.
Saldana led Toyota with 15 points and 15 rebounds while Chito Loyzaga added 14 and 15 boards. Guidaben led Crsipa with 17 points and 15 rebounds.
As expected several players got into heated confrontation, but only because of the passion with which the two teams play against each other. (See..only an exhibition but it seems the PBA title is on the line. What more when they were younger!)
The scores:
Toyota 65 -Saldana 15, Loyzaga 14, Rocha 6, Herrera 6, Camus 4, Marcelo 4, Fernandez 4, Cordero 4, Cortez 3, Gil 3, Segura 2, Rodriguez 0, Bauzon 0, Reynoso 0, Clarino 0, Legaspi 0 ( The total is correct but where's Jaworski's scoring?)
Crispa 61 - Guidaben 17, Co 8, Adornado 7, Cezar 7, Cristobal 5, Mamaril 5, Dela Cruz 4, Hubalde 4, Esguerra 2, Pages 2, Dionisio 0, Brodett 0, Varela 0, Franco 0, Tanduyan 0, Fabiosa 0, Cruz 0.
Quarter: 16-14; 34-25; 47-42; 65-61 (toto battung)

[Emon74]

The first match in the 1977 season of the PBA, where for the first time three referees were called to officiate the game-the common practice being two, Crispa vs Toyota, Game was tied at 121.

Spectators at the Araneta Coliseum were at the edge of their seats, all tense. the most crucial, nobody exactly knew what was going to happen in the dying seconds, or who would win. until a call by referee estefanio bernos.

Fort Acuna was trying to score underneath the basket, four seconds left in the game, when he was slapped with a charging foul, this drew the ire of coach dante silverio, who did not have any qualms voicing his objection, In response, a technical foul on the Toyota coach was called, sending Atoy Co to the free throw line.

The last single shot by Co marked the end of the classic and first encounter in the All filipino conference of the PBA on April 18, 1977 with the score, 121-122 in favor of the defending champion Crispa, officially, that is on the tally sheets of the PBA.

Not so on police records.

For on the way to the locker room, all players from both camps, except bogs adornado who was then indisposed, figured in a 10 minute fight, Jaworski, Rudolfo Segura and Ramon Fernandez of Toyota and Co, Rudolfo Soriano and Reynaldo Franco of Crispa were those pointed out to have joined in the rumble.

That brawl sent all of the 13 Crispa and 10 Toyota players locked up in the stockade of Camp Crame for 13 hours on the charge of "alarm and scandal" A far cry from the mere warning that they receive from then PC chief Fidel V. Ramos when both camps figured in a similar but on the court fight in December of 1976.

Fifteen months earlier, then defense secretary Juan Ponce Enrile ordered a directive "warning basketball players against fighting under pain of arrest and detention."

when the investigation got underway, none of the countless witnesses wanted to testify. some thought have pointed to Fernandez and Co to have started it all.

Basketball experts, however, claimed that the fight would not have occured at all if not for the poor officiating, specially in the closing minutes.

Danny Floro, team manager of Crispa, responded positively on the experience: he directed all his players not to engage in any fight and that anybody found violating such would be kicked out from the team, on the other hand, he emphasized that Crispa never started any fight in two years that it was organized, that they only responded to the provocations of Toyota.

[Emon74]

Heroics

Just when everybody thought that things were beginning to crumble for the Toyota Superdiesels, Big J and company came through in the clutch and successfully delivered the goods.
Without the PBA crown the year before, a silent feud brewing between its ace star and mentor, and the shocking death of their former bench boss, all these the Superdiesels bucked down to play as a cohesive unit and beat archrival Crispa Walk Tall Jeans for the 1981 PBA Open Conference crown.
Jaworski was again a pillar of strength in the Toyota backcourt during the championship series. Despite a seeming decline in his style of play and decreased playing time, the Big J was a key factor in ending the Superdiesels' title frustration. proving he was still an important man on the Toyota bench, Jaworski made his presence felt for the Superdiesels in the course of the Best of Five series.
Despite an anemic four-point performance from Jaworski in the first game, Toyota won the match, 123-116. But then, Walk Tall Jeans came roaring back in Game 2 with a 126-124 win to level the series at one win apiece.
In Game 3, disaster would struck the Superdiesels as Jaworski didnt see action due to an ankle injury. The Result was a disaster for Toyota as it lost, 126-116, to trail Crispa at 1-2. The Superdiesels thus were on the verge of losing another championship opportunity.
Through favoring his ankle injury, the Big J had no choice but to play the remaining games of the series to avoid another title shutout. In Game 4, the Big J came prepared. Teaming up with center Ramon Fernandez, Jaworski scored 16 points to power the superdiesels to a 116-98 morale-boosting win that sent the series to a no-tomorrow championship game.
The rest was history. The Superdiesels beat Crispa, 103-97, in the series finale behind the 20 big points of Fernandez. Jaworski finished the game with only 13 markers but was the glue that kept the Superdiesels together during the crucial stretch of the ballgame. Jaworski's heroic act in the series put an end to speculations regarding the Big J's rift with mentor Ed Ocampo as the power-playing guard readily gave the former Olympian a title in his very first conference with Toyota.
Although Ocampo did mention Jaworski as a big part of his team's success, the Toyota mentor, however, more than acknowledged the job provided by his men off the bench. "Crispa has a lot of good players, and I know we cant match up with them man for man. That's why I intently used my second stringers against them instead of relying more on my star players. Fortunately, they didnt fail us," Ocampo said.

[Emon74]

PANORAMA
Sunday Magazine of the Bulletin Today
January 11, 1976

"We're no. 1,"

There's jubilation now in the Crispa quarters as there should be when a team feels vindicated. Twice the Crispa boys were close to it. Finally the pieces fit, the poem ryhmed and they took the PBA All-Philippine championship title.
Never mind the bruises, they'll heal in time and the fines, it's only money and Philip Cezar's suspension, he'll only miss half the '76 PBA's first conference. For the moment, the Redmanizers are ready to paint the town red.
Don Pablo and his eldest son Ernesto gave pep talks during their dinner meetings. Old man Floro would even call his boys and before they retired at night to boost their morale, recalls Danny. He was so enthusiastic the boys just couldn't break his heart. They rather broke their heads or their limbs than lose the deciding game. Rocha, Clarino, and the Reynoso brothers, tagged as the bad boys of basketball by even the most avid of Toyota fans, gave the Crispa boys the business? but Crispa's victory was beyond control. In the end, even the Redmanizers, including the usually tame Adornado, were also using more brawn to hit the opponents than the basket.
Danny Floro recalls that in the entire season of the PBA, whenever trouble erupted within the court, the Crispa players stayed in their bench while the Toyota boys rushed inside. He says he kept reminding his boys that they should be suspended if they joined the melees "Ngayon huli na lang pumasok ang mga Crispa players, masyadong agriabyado na kasi" he explains.
All Crispa's 15 years, since its MICAA involvement, Floro missed only three Crispa games, once because he was in the hospital and the two other occasions because he was abroad. He cares that much, he says and there's good enough reason to do so. Having a basketball team means goodwill from and towards the Floro companies, which include Floro Cement Corporation, Floro Textiles, P.Floro and Sons, and the Crispa department stores in Makati, Ermita and Dasmarinas.
Dalupan's plays are marvelous, hurricanes that destroy a slow-paced opposing team. Crispa storms into the court with speed and skill, a combination that is difficult to match. There's not a team hereabouts that's more solid than Crispa and even their arch-rivals, the Comets, admit that individually the Redmanizers are A-one players.
Philip Cezar stretches and jumps like no other Pinoy player and gave Toyota's Snake Jones a hell of the time at the backboards, together with Crispa's imported center Pete Crotty or Johnny Burks, William Adornado is a consistent scorer and hold's the PBA's record in highest point average. Rey Franco, Crispin Calilan and Alfredo Hubalde more thna make up for their lack in height with effective dash and ballhandling. Abet Guidaben, Rudy Soriano, Virgilio Dela Cruz, Bernard Fabiosa and Atoy Co are all-around in the trade.
No wonder the Seven-Up All-Filipino sports award for the team of the year went to Crispa. Some people are saying that it shouldnt be so because the Redmanizers only won the third conference while the Comets got both the first and second conference titles. but there's more to the third conference than meets the eye.
To explain: the PBA is like the NCAA in that it has two rounds to determine which teams qualify in the final championship round. "the only difference," Floro pointed out, "is that the PBA gives away trophies for winners of the first and second conferences while the NCAA doesnt."
"We're no.1," the Redmanizers proclaim as they pose for magazine and newspaper and calendar photographers. Back at the Crispa quarters, there's jubilation now. And a string of TV appearance to boot. And a wedding (Abet Guidaben's) to reunite the Redmanizers once more off the basketball arena. But it is in their union in the hardcourt that they have strength.

[nastrans]

Here's a story made by the legendary Vic Villafranca for Sports Weekly Magazine during Crispa's historic win in the 1980 PBA All-Filipino Conference. This was also the famed ouster of Toyota coach Fort Acuna at halftime of Game 3 which saw the Tamaraws spoiling the Redmanizers' bid for a 20-game sweep.

NO BIG 20 BUT IT'S STILL CRISPA ON TOP AT THE WIND UP
ON THE LINE by Vic Villafranca
Sports Weekly Magazine Vol. VI No. 342 Dec 19-26, 1980

Nine-thirty Thursday evening, December 11 was supposed to have been the time when the clock was to toll midnight for the Crispa Redmanizers in their mind-blowing bid to win their fourth PBA All-Filipino championship on the wings of an unprecendented 20-game sweep.

But in the night of shocks, both on the hardcourt and away from it, the Redmanizers saw their awesome winning streak snapped at 19 by the Toyota ballclub that lost its coach, Fort Acuna, at halftime only to make up for that loss with a resurgence in its old fighting heart to win, 97 to 94, and send the best of five playoffs to Game 4.

It was a terrible comedown for a team that looked like it was poised to keep its date with PBA history following solid wins over Toyota in the first two games of the playoffs. And as to what happened, why that sudden descent of the Redmanizers into the league of ordinary mortals, Coach Baby Dalupan attributed it all to the pressure that dogged his boys since the countdown began for their entry into the world where no other team in local basketball had been before.

"The pressure was too much for the boys," said the man who along with team manager Danny Floro had steered Crispa to seven PBA championships since the PBA began in 1975. "They lost their composure and became over-eager with their shots."

Although the setback stung, Floro took it well. "Let's forget the 20-game sweep, let now concentrate on winning the championship."

* * * * *

And that was what the Redmanizers did two nights later, on Saturday, the 13th of December, as they threatened a walkaway with a 24-point lead in the second and then stood their ground against a last-ditch Toyota bid to turn the game around early in the fourth to prevail, 105-91, before an enthralled turnout of 25,000 at the Big Dome in Cubao.

It was the Redmanizers' 20th win in 21 games, and although they were frustrated from their bid to hit a big 20 on their way to the title, the feat remained a monumental one for a ballclub which never got to make the pennant playoffs of the PBA's first and second conferences this year.

It was a stunning comeback from the depths of two earlier third place finishes for Crispa, and as to what brought it about, both Coach Dalupan and Manager Floro had only one interpretation.

From a splintered group, the Redmanizers that set out on their campaign for greatness in the 1980 All-Filipino became one big solid family.

"Team harmony did it," said Floro. "Gumanda ang samahan."

Floro added that one other factor that made Crispa the cohesive outfit that it was in the All-Filipino was the way the players managed to change their attitude towards the coach and the players to the coach.

Other than the team's "magandang samahan," Dalupan attributed it success to an improvement in its defense. "It was a tremendous improvement," said Baby, who along with Floro, got the traditional joy ride even before the horn had sounded to end the game and signal the New Year's eve merrymaking that punctuated the Crispa camp's celebration of an epic All-Filipino conference campaign.

* * * * *

Following their numbing loss to Toyota in Game 3 of the series, the game, if they had won it, could have earned for them a coup equally as towering as their unforgettable grand slam feat in 1976, it looked as if the Redmanizers would be going into Game 4 feeling very much under the gun.

But when they shot off to an 11-point lead late in the first quarter and then blew that to 24 by outscoring the Tamaraws, 31 points to 19, going into the second quarter, they had the cushion they needed to absorb whatever shocks Toyota would still generate in the homestretch.

It was Arnold Tuadles, last year's rookie of the year, who singlehandedly almost wiped out what Crispa had labored so hard to erect in the first two quarters by leading a Toyota comeback that saw the Tamaraws bring down Crispa's lead to only four points, 81-77, as the game moved into the homestretch.

It looked to a pointas if the Tams were headed for a big comeback, but it turned out to be Toyota's last hurrah as Atoy Co, Freddie Hubalde, Joy Dionisio and Philip Cezar put together a 9-2 crusher that sent Crispa out front by 11 and inexorably on its way to the championship it also won last year over Toyota.

A crush of well-wishers crowded the jubilant champs at the wind-up and among them, was the man who found himself thrust in the role of acting Toyota coach when he fired Acuna for insubordination and for placing his personal interest over the interest of Toyota to give the public a good game always - Don Pablo O. Carlos Jr., Delta Motors Corporation executive vice president.

Showing all the attributes of a gentleman and a sportsman, Don Pablo laboriously made his way to the Crispa bench and offer his hand in congratulations to Danny Floro.

Later, he paid tribute to the champs. "Our boys tried their best," he said," but Crispa played like the champions that they are."

* * * * *

As for Jaworski, whose benching in the first two quarters by Coach Acuna was likened by Carlos to cheating the public and which eventually led to Acuna's summary dismissal at the halftime break, he said he was happy Toyota was able to give the crowd a good game.

"We got tired but I'm happy that the team gave its best and the public enjoyed the game. Basically, that was what we were after," said Jaworski, who earlier in the day of Game 4 found himself defending himself from the accusations hurled against him by his coach and former teammate.

* * * * *

And so it's all over - one of the most unforgettable All-Filipino tournaments of local pro basketball. It was a series that started out on a humdrum note, but picked in intensity and suspense as Crispa scored one win after another in its bid to accomplish what had looked like a mission impossible and then was capped by that Toyota sideline drama that led to the ouster of a coach in midstream and eventually, Crispa's ascencion anew to the pinnacle of what had always been considered the PBA's most prestigious and toughest to win tournament.

* * * * *

The day after the championship match, Toyota added a new dimension to its role as good losers by coming out a full page ad that drew praises from both the average fan and the Crispa camp for its message.

The ad, a first in the history of the PBA, conveyed Toyota's congratulations to the victorious Crispa Redmanizers, "our arch rivals, yet our sporting friends."

"That was a very touching gesture of sportsmanship," said Danny Floro and joining him in the sentiment were Coach Dalupan and team skipper Atoy Co.

* * * * *
Here are some of the more memorable quotes that came after the moment of high drama in Game 3 of the playoffs:

"If I was there, I could have kicked ass," - Delta President Ricardo Silverio in a statement supporting the ouster of Coach Fort Acuna.

"He could not deliver the many responsibilities of a coach. He lacked professionalism, the skills needed in the position of personal relationship with the players. - Pablo P. Carlos Jr. on Fort Acuna.

"I believe he's insincere and immature." - Ousted Toyota Coach Fort Acuna on Jaworski.

"Me, insecure and immature? He must be talking of another person. He must be talking to himself." - Jaworski on Acuna.

* * * * *

We wish to acknowledge the congratulatory letters sent by the following on the Crispa victory: Nars M. Ramos, Jojo Mendoza, Larry Hernandez, Bing Solicito, Ernie de Dios, Maximo Relosa, Jose Agbayani, Mimi Zelda and the National Crispanians.

[MonL]

^Sadly, this episode ended in death, as Fort Acuña later took his life rather than continue bearing the public humiliation of his firing.

[pio_valenz]

^There's another story behind Acuna's tragic suicide, and it involved something personal with Jawo. It actually explains why Acuna really benched The Big J in Game 3 of that finals.

[Emon74]

"I believe he's insincere and immature." - Ousted Toyota Coach Fort Acuna on Jaworski.

One of the more famous Quotes during that time, It is also said that when Acuna was fired as Toyota coach, he never watch a single PBA game on TV from thereafter, he was so depressed.

Acuna's tragic passing happen on the morning of July 7, Toyota was scheduled to play a semifinals game against arch rival Crispa that day, and the Tamaraws was somewhat affected by the shocking news earlier, losing to the Redmanizers, 133-118.

[pepman]

"I believe he's insincere and immature." - Ousted Toyota Coach Fort Acuna on Jaworski.

One of the more famous Quotes during that time, It is also said that when Acuna was fired as Toyota coach, he never watch a single PBA game on TV from thereafter, he was so depressed.

Acuna's tragic passing happen on the morning of July 7, Toyota was scheduled to play a semifinals game against arch rival Crispa that day, and the Tamaraws was somewhat affected by the shocking news earlier, losing to the Redmanizers, 133-118.

From what I heard, he drank Baygon and commited suicide.

[AnthonyServinio]

June 21, 1979

Crispa beats Toyota, 172-142, behind 50 points of Atoy Co negating the 60-point effort of Abe King. Read More.