Recognizing A Different Era for Ginebra

No Underdog in Caguioa

Now that we're just a few days away from celebrating and paying tribute to the man who is/was widely recognized as the face of Philippine basketball, it's high time to set the record straight when it comes to the team that he left behind and the immense popularity that they enjoy to this very day.

We're talking about no less than the legendary Robert Jaworski, Sr., whose jersey will officially be retired not by his mother team but by the Philippine Basketball Association as a whole. We're also talking about the Barangay Ginebra Gin Kings, the only team he has ever played for/ coached outside the Toyota days.



In a nutshell, the 6"1 point guard was big, strong, had great looks and charisma that were well ahead of his time. The individual accolades speak for itself, highlighted by awards such as UAAP Most Valuable Player and PBA Most Valuable Player and of course, being picked to handle the country's Men's team. He's also one of a handful of Filipino players who could proudly say that they have TWO FIBA-Asia Gold Medals at home.

The Never-Say-Die battle cry has become a trademark of Jaworski, Sr., with his teams not really belonging to the upper echelon talent-wise. They'd hit gold here and there (coached Ginebra from 1985 to 1998, won only FOUR titles) and played more like a group of friends rather than a systematic ensemble like their sister team San Miguel.

But fans didn't mind, it's the helter-skelter, physical, "larong buko" brand of play that they ate up and behind all of that was Jaworski. When he left the team in 1998, the holdovers from his last title in the 1997 Commissioner's Cup namely Marlou Aquino, Bal David and Noli Locsin carried the fight as long as they could. They even got lucky and broke through in 1999 by famously making then young Asi Taulava cry in the playoffs.

Fast track to 2001 and the Kings chanced upon an unheralded guard named Mark Caguioa. The Blonde Bomber was so good that he ended up eating into aging Vergel Meneses' minutes which ultimately made the Hall of Famer expendable. Then came Jayjay Helterbrand, Eric Menk and later on a couple more power players such as Rudy Hatfield, Rico Villanueva, Billy Mamaril, Mike Cortez and even guys like Ronald Tubid, Willie Miller and Cyrus Baguio.

From Jaworski's underdogs, Ginebra became THE franchise to beat. The only reason that they weren't winning as much was more of their stars being injured at one point or the other-- or questionable coaching strategies that ruined the team's confidence.

People still cheer, but when was the last time that you really felt that Ginebra was an underdog going into a match-up? Certainly not versus Powerade, Alaska, Rain or Shine, Air21 or even Barako Bull. Probably when Caguioa went down with a nasty eye socket injury last conference but even then, they lost more on terrible TERRIBLE coaching rather than not having the talent.

Personally, it's great that the league is paying tribute to Jaworski and what he has done for the league and its fans over the years. Should he make a comeback (like the Lina franchise teased years back during the peak of the Ube Republic-- you know, when we were convinced that they'd make title runs behind Gary David-Arwind Santos-Ranidel de Ocampo)? Yes, it will be great for the game and its young players to learn that they're not only basketball players, but sports ambassadors as well.

But make no mistake about it, today's Ginebra, is no where near the Ginebra of old. Not when they have one of the league's best in the fold (something Jaworski's team never enjoyed, not even when they had Marlou Aquino at center-- Dennis Espino was the under rated best C during the 90s).

We're not saying that there's anything wrong with their current set-up, it's just "misplaced" is all. Still, happy for all the Ginebra faithful who stuck with their team through the good and bad years, and were or still are being rewarded by great basketball play to this day thanks to guys like Caguioa, Dylan Ababou and Allein Maliksi.