Joined 1975
History Royal Tru-Orange
1975-1980
San Miguel Beermen
1980-1984
1987-2007
2008-Present
Gold Eagle Beermen
1984-1985
Magnolia Ice Cream/Quench Plus/Cheese
1985-1987
Magnolia Beverage Masters
2007-2008
Team colors Red, Black, and White
Owner(s) Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr.
Company San Miguel Brewery, Inc.
Head coach Philippines Ato Agustin
Championships 18 (1979 Open Conference, 1982 Invitational Conference, 1987 Reinforced Conference, 1988 Open Conference, 1988 Reinforced Conference, 1989 Open Conference, 1989 All-Filipino Cup, 1989 Reinforced Conference, 1992 All-Filipino Cup, 1993 Governors Cup, 1994 All-Filipino Cup, 1999 Commissioner's Cup, 1999 Governors Cup, 2000 Commissioner's Cup, 2000 Governors Cup, 2001 All-Filipino Cup, 2004-2005 Fiesta Conference, 2009 Fiesta Conference)
History
San Miguel is one of the nine companies who broke away from the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association in 1975 due to their dismay with the Basketball Association of the Philippines. This led to the formation of the first professional basketball league known as the Philippine Basketball Association.
[edit] MICAA days
Even at the very start, San Miguel Brewery had a team in the pre-war MICAA. And it was similar to the UAAP or the NCAA where basketball was one of the sports the employees played. There was MICAA competition for baseball, volleyball, football, among other games. But as always, it was basketball which became prominent.
A 1971 lineup was mentioned in this thread
San Miguel Braves
* 4 Belmonte
* 5 Worley Cuevas
* 6 Rolando Marcelo
* 7 Wilfredo Velasco
* 8 Orlando Castelo
* 9 Richard Palou
* 10 Alejandrito Miego
* 13 Manuel Paner
* 14 Rosalio Martirez
* 15 David Regullano
* 18 Ernesto Estrada
* 19 Ernesto Morales
* Coach: Ignacio "Ning" Ramos
For more on the fans account on the famed MICAA, Click here
Manny Paner, Rosalio Martirez, and David Regullano were all members of the 1973 squad that won the Asian Basketball Confederation Championships held in Manila. Regullano and Rogelio "Tembong" Melencio alternated in shackling the high-scoring Shin Dong Pa of South Korea.
[edit] Royal Tru-Orange
In their first PBA season, they were known as the Royal Tru-Orange, an orange juice soda of their parent company San Miguel Corporation under the Coca-Cola brand. Royal finished third place in all three conferences in 1975.
Royal was bannered by center Manny Paner, forward Estoy Estrada and point guard Yoyong Martirez. Both Paner and Estrada made it to the Mythical Team. [1] In the import-laden Open Conference, they paraded the high-scoring Carl Bird.
Manny Paner and Estoy Estrada became free agents in 1977 and they later signed with Presto and Toyota, respectively. San Miguel signed shooter Valerio delos Santos and center Marte Samson to replace their departed stars in a cost-cutting move.
1979 was the time when the team had two imports of unlimited height playing together - these were 6'9 Otto Moore and 6'7 Larry Pounds. They faced Toyota in the finals of that best of five series which they won in four games. Moore and Pounds were backstopped by a crew made up of a lot of Visayan cagers like Tony Torrente, Yoyong Martirez, Jess Migalbin, Salvador Ramas, Melchor Ravanes plus a host of others like Rudy Lalota, Leo Paguntalan, ex-PSBA standout Ramon Dizon, and ex-UV Green Lancer Marlowe Jacutin. The team was coached by ironically, future Toyota coach Ed Ocampo.
The Royal Tru Orange was the second team in PBA history to break the Crispa-Toyota stranglehold as far as winning championships were concerned. The year before, in 1978, UTex was the first team to do so when they beat Crispa for the title. [2]
[edit] San Miguel Beermen
San Miguel Beer
San Miguel won the 1982 PBA Invitational tournament, defeating the Crispa Redmanizers in three games with Tommy Manotoc as head coach. Marte Saldaña won Rookie of the Year honors that year after coming over from the MICAA ranks. He complemented well with Best Import Award winner Norman Black and was instrumental in San Miguel's second championship in the 1982 Invitationals against Crispa. Another Saldaña, Antero or Terry of Toyota was also favored to win the Rookie of the Year award but he instigated a free-for-all against the national team of South Korea and by way of penalty, Terry Saldaña was taken out of the Rookie of the Year Award race. [3]
After Manotoc left to coach Crispa for the 1983 season (which later resulted in a grand slam), San Miguel (was also known as Gold Eagle Beer) managed to win just one third place finish for the next two seasons. In 1985, Gold Eagle changed its name to Magnolia Quench Plus, a product of an SMC subsidiary, but despite the efforts of import Norman Black, Magnolia failed to enter the championship chase.
[edit] Disbandment and return
Magnolia folded after the 1985 season, this was due to the political climate that happened at the height of the first EDSA Revolution, which led to the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos. Chairman Danding Cojuangco, a well-known Marcos crony fled the country.
Following its disbandment, the former Magnolia players were absorbed by a new PBA team in Alaska Milk for the 1986 season. But the San Miguel franchise emerged under the Magnolia Cheese banner during the final months of the season.
In 1985, the famed Northern Consolidated team won several international basketball tournaments with Samboy Lim, Allan Caidic and Hector Calma, including the PBA Reinforced Conference. The NCC team was funded by Cojuangco, but the program was halted a year later due to the change in government.
With Magnolia's return in the final months of 1986, the team absorbed Lim, Calma, Franz Pumaren, Elmer Reyes, Yves Dignadice, Alfie Almario, Pido Jarencio and Tonichi Yturri from the core of the NCC team but failing to qualify for the semi-finals. The start of 1987 PBA season brought new hope for the team. Magnolia's prized catch, however, was former Crispa and Manila Beer stalwart Abet Guidaben. Import Norman Black began his coaching career at this time. Ricardo Brown was also added to the squad after acquiring the former MVP from Great Taste.
Magnolia finished third in the Open and All-Filipino Conferences. By the Reinforced tournament, the team reverted back to its old name San Miguel Beer. While the Beermen would later wear their traditional red and white jerseys, they wore a green and white color during the conference.
