Great Taste Coffee Makers

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Great Taste Coffee Makers
Founded1975
DissolvedSold in 1993
HistoryPresto Ice Cream (1975, 1977, 1988–1989, 1992)
N-Rich Coffee Creamers (1976, 1982)
Presto Fun Drinks (1980–1981)
Great Taste Discoverers (1978–1980, 1983)
Great Taste Coffee Makers (1982, 1983–1987)
Great Taste Instant Milk (1987–1988)
Presto Tivolis (1989–1991)
Tivoli Milk Masters (1991)
Team colorsGreat Taste Coffee
    
     
Great Taste Milk
   
Presto Fun Drinks
  
Presto Ice Cream
  
Presto Tivoli
    
    
Main sponsorCFC Corporation (now merged with Universal Robina Corporation)
Head coach Felicisimo Fajardo
Tony Genato
Nilo Verona
Alfonso Marquez
Baby Dalupan
Jimmy Mariano
Tommy Manotoc
Ownership John Gokongwei
Championships6 championships

1984 Second All-Filipino
1984 Invitational
1985 Open
1985 All-Filipino
1987 All-Filipino
1990 All-Filipino

10 finals appearances

Contents

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Dark uniform

The Great Taste Coffee Makers were a basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) from 1975 to 1992. It was one of the founding members of the PBA, the Asia's first and oldest professional league. The franchise was owned by CFC Corporation (now merged with Universal Robina Corporation) and named after its brand of instant coffee, Great Taste Coffee. The franchise also played under other CFC brands such as N-Rich, Presto and Tivoli.

The franchise won six PBA championships, mostly under coach Baby Dalupan.

In 1993, CFC sold its PBA franchise to Sta. Lucia Realty & Development, Inc., which absorbed several Presto players.

History

Early years (1975–1978)

While Great Taste was known to be a blockbuster and powerhouse team to those who got to watch the game in the early 1980s, this team was also one of the ragtag and also-ran teams of the 1970s. Not exactly blessed with the biggest names among the present set of players then, they did become competitive owing more on the sheer hearts of their players rather than talents. Having started in the MICAA under coach Narciso Bernardo in 1973, notable players who donned the Presto/Great Taste jersey in the 70s included the Aldanese brothers Noli and Jing (who replaced Fely Fajardo as coach in the second conference of 1976), Manny Paner, Florendo Ritualo (the father of Ren-Ren), Danny Pribhdas (the father of Danilo, Jr of the UST Growling Tigers), and Johnny Revilla. Coaches included Tony Genato (Quinito Henson's father in law), Chino Marquinez (who also acted as team manager) and Nilo Verona.

Breakthrough (1979–1982)

In the second conference of 1979, the ballclub finally cracked into the final four behind imports Jim Hearns and Darryl Smith, the following year with the acquisition of Jun Papa and Estoy Estrada, the team made it anew in the semifinals of the Open Conference. In the mid-season of 1981, they signed center-forwards Manny Victorino and Joel Banal, that same year, the team had their first player to win an award in Rafael "Cho' Sison, voted the 1981 Rookie of the Year. The final conference of both 1981 and 1982 season had the ballclub figured in a playoff for a finals berth but fell short each time.

The Ricardo Brown era (1983–1987)

The real big turnaround started when they were able to secure the services of then Filipino-American rookie Ricardo Brown. It is said that Brown was practically stolen by Great Taste team manager Ignacio Gotao from Crispa owner Danny Floro, who has already formalized a commitment from the "Quick Brown Fox" to play for the Redmanizers. But as fate would have it, Brown was secured for the Coffeemakers, along with Bogs Adornado from the disbanded U-Tex Wranglers, and with Manny Victorino (then considered one of 3 elite centers in the league, alongside Ramon Fernandez and Abet Guidaben), Joel Banal, Alejo Alolor, Joy Carpio, and import Norman Black. Great Taste finally enter into the championship picture, losing to the Billy Ray Bates-led Crispa in the second conference finals. The real sweetener happen in the third conference with the entry of Coach Baby Dalupan for the team – first as team consultant behind his godson Jimmy Mariano, only to secure the top coaching job when Mariano was "fired" for his ill-advised statement "we didn't intend to win.” This was said after a shocking loss to lowly Galerie Dominique since Great Taste was already secured of a slot in the next round.

Now a powerful and potent squad, Great Taste became the toast of the PBA in the following year, acquiring players such as Arnie Tuadles, Frankie Lim and Chito Loyzaga and in 1985, signing Abe King and Willie Pearson. The Coffeemakers dominated the mid-1980s, winning four straight championships between 1984 and 1985, with a strong local lineup and a more potent imports in the likes of Joe Binion and Jeff Collins.

The Allan Caidic era (1987–1992)

After a crownless season in 1986, the team decided to trade two of its key players; Manny Victorino and Jimmy Manansala to Shell for Philip Cezar and Bernie Fabiosa, and with Atoy Co joining the team following the disbandment of the Manila Beer franchise, the three former Crispa players had a reunion of sorts with Great Taste with their coach Baby Dalupan. [1]

Add to this the blue chip rookie in the draft in the name of Allan Caidic and they became the team to beat. Great Taste regains the All-Filipino crown that year and won their fifth championship. The following season, their franchise player Ricardo Brown left the team and signed with San Miguel Beer.

Presto won its final championship in 1990 featuring the superstar veteran Allan Caidic (named Most Valuable Player of the Year) and rookies Gerald Esplana (named Rookie of the Year) and Apet Jao (the top draft pick). More blue chip players came their way including Bong Hawkins in 1991 and Vergel Meneses in 1992 until the team eventually disbanded at the end of the 1992 season with Sta. Lucia buying the franchise rights including its rights for the first pick of the 1993 draft.

Season-by-season records

Legend
  Champion
  Runner-up
  Third place
SeasonConferenceTeam nameOverall recordFinals
WL %
1975 First Conference Presto Ice Cream Makers618.250
Second Conference
All-Philippine
1976 First Conference N-Rich329.094
Second Conference
All-Philippine
1977 All-Filipino Conference Presto Ice Cream Makers1530.333
Open Conference
Invitational Conference
1978 All-Filipino Conference Great Taste Coffee Makers523.179
Open Conference
Invitational Conference
1979 All-Filipino Conference 2126.447
Open Conference
Invitational Conference
1980 Open Conference 1425.359
Invitational Conference
All-Filipino Conference
1981 Open Conference Presto Ice Cream Makers1726.395
Reinforced Filipino
1982 Reinforced Filipino Great Taste Coffee Makers1927.413
Invitational Conference
Open Conference N-Rich
1983 All-Filipino Conference Great Taste Coffee Makers3825.603
Reinforced Filipino Crispa 3, Great Taste 2
Open Conference Crispa 3, Great Taste 0
1984 First All-Filipino Conference 3914.736
Second All-Filipino Conference Great Taste 3, Beer Hausen 0
Invitational Conference Great Taste 3, Crispa 2
1985 Open Conference 4427.620Great Taste 4, Magnolia 2
All-Filipino Conference Great Taste 3, Shell 1
Reinforced Conference
1986 Reinforced Conference 3628.563 Tanduay 4, Great Taste 2
All-Filipino Conference
Open Conference
1987 Open Conference 3525.583 Tanduay 4, Great Taste 1
All-Filipino Conference Great Taste 3, Hills Bros. 0
Reinforced Conference
1988 Open Conference 2634.433
All-Filipino Conference Presto Ice Cream Makers
Third Conference
1989 Open Conference 1832.360
All-Filipino Conference
Reinforced Conference
1990 First Conference 4029.580
All-Filipino Conference Presto TivolisPresto 4, Purefoods 3
Third Conference
1991 First Conference Presto Tivoli2129.420
All-Filipino Conference
Third Conference
1992 First Conference Presto Ice Cream Kings1129.275
All-Filipino Conference
Third Conference
Overall record408476.4626 championships

Awards

Individual awards

PBA Most Valuable PlayerPBA Rookie of the Year AwardPBA All-Defensive Team
PBA Mythical First TeamPBA Mythical Second TeamPBA Most Improved Player
PBA Best ImportPBA Scoring Leader
  • Jeff Collins – 1984 Invitational

All-Star Weekend

All Star MVPObstacle ChallengeThree-point ShootoutSlam Dunk Contest

Notable players

PBA Greatest players

In alphabetical order. Members of PBA Hall of Fame are in boldface.

Other notable players

Imports

Coaches

Team managers

Related Research Articles

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The 1982 PBA season was the eighth season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

The 1983 PBA season was the 9th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

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The 1989 PBA season was the 15th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

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Abraham Columbus M. King, Jr. is a Filipino former basketball player who was part of the champion Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) ballclub Toyota Tamaraws. He was the starting center of 1976 MICAA champion Crown Motors before its PBA parent team, the Toyota Tamaraws, called upon his services at the start of the 1977 PBA season. Despite being renowned for his defensive prowess, King had recorded a 60-point game.

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The 1975 Crispa Redmanizers season was the maiden season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

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Manuel "Manny" Victorino is a Filipino retired professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association.

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References

  1. ↑ "PBA preview '87: Great Taste". Manila Standard.
Preceded by
(start)
 PBA teams genealogies
1975–1992		Succeeded by
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