Traditionally, April 9 has been a “red-colored” national holiday in the Philippines as we Filipinos commemorate the fall of Bataan to the invading Japanese military forces during the four-year World War II hostilities.
On February 18, 1984, Shareholdings Inc. gave Robert Jaworski, Francis Arnaiz, Arnulfo Tuadles and Chito Loyzaga the green light to negotiate with other teams although all could have ended up with Gilbey’s Gin.
It was to be an enchanting Lovers Day get-together. Ouch, it was not to be. There were no lollipops and roses on Valentine’s Day of 1984 for players and team staff of the Toyota Super Corollas (Tamaraws) who were told of the shocking news of the disbandment of the Delta Motors franchise in the PBA after a nine-year stay in the pro league during a team gathering for what was supposed to be a happy occasion for all.
Collecting 50 points in one game may be one of the measurements of offensive wizardry, yet some of the legendary players in Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) history never reached the plateau during their illustrious careers.
![Blackwater Bossing [PBA Images)]](https://sportsbytes.com.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PBA-Images4-400x200.jpg)
In PBA history, the Walk-Tall Jeans/Crispa Redmanizers own the longest winning streak at 19 games. It happened during the All-Filipino Conference (third conference) of the 1980 season from September 30-December 9.
This is a ticklish question: Is the authority of management, specifically a club owner, abused when it meddles in the game strategies and player substitutions of his team’s head coach?
In the opening game of the best-of-five finals in third conference (Invitational), Crispa blasted Toyota, 129-101, as the Tamaraws played without Ramon Fernandez, Abe King and Ernesto Estrada. The three were benched by head coach/team manager Dante Silverio, who had returned to the bench midway through the second conference for “not playing their best.”
More than 140 players crossed their Rubicon in shedding their amateur status to turn professional in the inaugural season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in 1975.
It was the Crispa-Floro Redmanizers and the Toyota Comets/Tamaraws that romanticized PH basketball for more than a decade.
In local sports, the date April 9 also is special to hoops fans. A momentous occasion moment it was forty-six years ago on that day for it marked the birth of professional basketball in the Philippines.
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