by Henry Liao
The Yco-Ysmael Steel rivalry was the fiercest rivalry in the commercial leagues from 1958 to 1967.
The MICAA (Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association) and all-comers National Senior (National Open) competitions were the main battle ground.
The Don Manolo Elizalde-owned Yco Painters, bannered by FIBA Hall of Famer Carlos Loyzaga, won seven consecutive National Senior championships from 1954 to 1960. Then it was the YS Admirals owned by Felipe (Baby) Ysmael Jr. That copped the National crown from 1961 to 1966.
Ysmael Steel, behind Narciso Bernardo, Jaime Mariano, Alfonso Marquez, and Adriano Papa Jr. Joaquin (Jake) Rojas Jr., Felix Flores, Manny Jocson, Engracio Arazas, Hector Hipolito, Alberto (Big Boy) Reynoson and Orlando Bauzon, was looking to equal Yco’s seven-year National title feat in 1967, but the Admirals got ambushed in the four-team championship by the Yutivo Opels, 74-64, and Yco, 67-65, after Painter Ed Roque faked Arazas for the game-winning twinner.
Dethroned, Ysmael Steel players and the coaching staff led by Valentin (Tito) Eduque (once the bench honcho of Yco) went into their third-place game against Roehl Nadurata-led Puyat Steel bald and salvaged a 75-74 victory.
The Painters, now already mentored by Loyzaga, defeated the Opels, 73-63, to complete the final round with a 3-0 record. Robert Jaworski topscored for Yco with 18 points, followed by Danilo Florencio and Roque with 11 apiece.
In the one-game finals at the Rizal Coliseum, Yco routed Yutivo, 96-78, to regain the crown it last held in 1960. Again it was Jaworski who was the high-point man for the Painters with 24.
Other Painters at the time included Ed Ocampo, Renato (Sonny) Reyes, Elias Tolentino Jr., Freddie Webb, Edgardo Gomez, Orlando Castelo, Eddie Pacheco, Guillermo (Billy) Manotoc and Wilson.
For Yutivo, the top stars included Rogelio (Tembong) Melencio, Clemente Bargas, and Julian Macoy.
Ysmael Steel, though, exacted revenge by beating Yco in the MICAA finals before the Admirals disbanded at the end of 1967.
That same year, Loyzaga was named head coach of the team for the 1967 Barcelona, Spain tournament for world players before 6 feet and, in September of that same year, also got the coaching job for the Philippine national team that copped the gold in Seoul against host South Korea in the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) tournament (the precursor of the FIBA Asia Cup).
The “Dirty Dozen” as the PH ABC was fondly monikered about as the top-grossing movie in the country that year, beat the South Koreans, 83-80, in the finals behind the crucial four points off the bench by Florencio following the exit of the team’s top players due to five fouls and finished with a perfect 9-0 record.
Members of the last “homegrown” national squad (the country won the ABC diadem in 1985 in Malaysia with the help of two naturalized players in Americans Jeff Moore and Dennis Still. Arthur “Chip” Engelland, now an NBA assistant coach, was ineligible to play as the FIBA allowed no more than two naturalized players at the time; now it’s down to one) included six players from Ysmael Steel (Bauzon, Bernardo, Mariano, Papa, team skipper Reynoso and Rojas), five from Yco (Florencio, Jaworski, Ocampo, Reyes and Roque, and one from Yutivo).
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