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Arturo “Turo” Valenzona, 82, still remembers how unforgiving players defended each other when the PBA became Asia’s first professional basketball league exactly 50 years ago.
Best known for his multi-titled coaching career that includes three championships with Tanduay in the 1980s, Valenzona was also one of the PBA’s pioneer players whose team U-Tex took part in the inaugural double-header on April 9, 1975 before some 18,000 fans at the Araneta Coliseum.
“When the PBA first came out back in the day, it was no harm, no foul,” Valenzona told Rappler in Filipino. “It was difficult to shoot because the defense was too tight.”
According to Valenzona, rules back then prohibited zone defenses, prompting teams to play man-to-man instead.
The first two games, which pitted Mariwasa-Noritake against Concepcion Carrier, and Toyota versus U-Tex, did not disappoint.
Concepcion Carrier guard Gregorio “Joy” Dionisio made history as the first player to score a PBA basket, but the Weathermakers ended up losing a close one as Mariwasa-Noritake escaped with a 101-98 win behind a herculean effort from import Cisco Oliver.
Oliver, picked in the 10th round by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1970 NBA Draft, dropped 48 points for the Porcelainmakers, while Adriano “Jun” Papa chipped in 17 points.
Jaime “Jimmy” Noblezada paced Concepcion Carrier with 24 points followed by 17 points from Jimmy Mariano and 10 points from Dionisio.
It was the same nip-and-tuck contest in the main game, with Toyota hacking out a 105-101 win over U-Tex.
The game featured four players who were named to the original 25 Greatest Players feted in 2000: Ramon Fernandez, Robert Jaworski Sr, Danny Florencio, and Francis Arnaiz.
Florencio fired a game-high-tying 29 points, although in a losing effort for the Weavers, while Arnaiz (22 points), Fernandez (13), and Jaworski (11) all scored in double figures in the win, which was the first of many for the storied Toyota franchise that played a pivotal role in shaping the early years of the PBA.
The Comets also drew a stellar performance from Rodolfo “Ompong” Segura, who delivered a team-high 23 points.
Although his side fell short, Valenzona took pride in being part of history.
“I’m happy that I was one of the players included in the opening of a pro league,” said Valenzona.
‘Significant moment’
The birth of the PBA came on April 9, months after the nine founding teams broke away from the now-defunct Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA).
In an attempt to be independent from the Basketball Association of the Philippines, which was then the ruling body for amateur hoops in the country, the teams — namely, Mariwasa-Noritake, Concepcion Carrier, Toyota, U-Tex, Crispa, Seven-Up, Tanduay, Consolidated Food Corp, and Royal Tru-Orange (now San Miguel) — formed the PBA.
A copy of a 1975 newspaper owned by memorabilia collector Michael Rico Mesina shows a story about the forming of the PBA. The PBA, which had Mariwasa-Noritake team owner Emerson Coseteng as first president and Leo Prieto as first commissioner, earned the distinction of not only being Asia’s first play-for-pay hoop action, but also as the second-oldest professional basketball league in the world, only after the USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA), which was founded in 1946.
A copy of a 1975 newspaper owned by memorabilia collector Michael Rico Mesina shows a story about the first PBA game day. “It was very significant. You have to understand, at that point in time, there was nothing much really as far as entertainment is concerned, particularly sports entertainment. It was very minimal. Why? It was martial law at the time,” said long-time PBA fan and historian Jay Mercado.
“There was no form of entertainment that you could do at the time. You would go home and just watch TV.”
PBA games were first telecast on Kanlaon Broadcasting System, which eventually became RPN.
“It was a significant moment. Aside from the 18,000 fans that trooped to the Araneta Coliseum to watch the games, millions more were also watching in their TVs,” said Mercado.
The 1975 First Conference marked a new beginning for the searing rivalry between Toyota and Crispa, the two teams that dominated the league throughout its first decade.
Mentored by Dante Silverio, Toyota captured the First Conference crown by beating Crispa in the finals then repeated the feat in the Second Conference as the two clubs met anew in the championship series.
Crispa, led by the likes of icons Fortunato “Atoy” Co, William “Bogs” Adornado, Alberto “Abet” Guidaben, Philip Cezar, Freddie Hubalde, and Bernie Fabiosa, and coached by the legendary Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan, redeemed itself in the season-ending All-Philippine Championship and denied Toyota the Grand Slam with a 3-2 win in the finals.
The two fabled franchises once again faced each other in the finals of all the three conferences the following season — a stretch that saw Crispa repeatedly assert its mastery over Toyota as it lifted the first of only five Triple Crowns in league history.
Toyota and Crispa tangled in the finals three more times in the following years before they left the league in 1984 and 1985, respectively. Crispa bagged 13 championships, including another Grand Slam in 1983, while Toyota nailed 9 titles as the two won 22 of the first 27 conferences.
“If you’re going to ask what’s the biggest story of the PBA in the first decade … it’s Crispa versus Toyota, period,” said Mercado.
Change in landscape
Fifty years in, a lot has changed in the PBA and the local basketball landscape.
San Miguel stands as the only remaining original franchise in the league, winning a record 29 championships and reaching the finals a record 45 times.
There are currently 12 PBA teams, more than half of which joined the league since 2010: Meralco (2010), NorthPort (2012), NLEX (2014), Blackwater (2014), Terrafirma (2014), Phoenix (2016), and Converge (2022).
Barangay Ginebra, the most popular team in league history, is the second-oldest franchise after joining the PBA in 1979 followed by Magnolia (1988), TNT (1990), and Rain or Shine (2006).
Multiple professional basketball leagues — from the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League to the Pilipinas Super League — have also emerged.
“Because there are a lot of leagues now, the fans choose which games to watch. It was not like back in the day, when there was a PBA game, the venues were full, especially when it was at the Rizal Memorial [Coliseum], the line for the bleachers even reached La Salle,” said Valenzona.
While there have been countless changes, some things have stayed the same.
For Mercado, the dominance of two teams — in this case, two conglomerates in the San Miguel Corporation and the MVP Group — has remained.
In fact, the championships of the last 20 conferences were won by teams from either the San Miguel Corporation or the MVP Group.
And this season isn’t any different as the MVP Group’s TNT put itself in Grand Slam contention by beating the same opponent — San Miguel’s franchise darling Ginebra — in the finals of the first two conferences.
“It’s scary that the PBA seems to be going back to its first 10 years when only two, three teams were dominating,” said Mercado.
“I believe that if you want the PBA to survive and do well, make it balanced.” – Rappler.com
