Purefoods Chunkee Giants
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| Purefoods Chunkee Giants | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Joined | 1988 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | Purefoods 1988-1990 Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs 1990's-1993, 1994-1995, 1998-2005 Coney Island Ice Cream Stars 1993 Purefoods Corned Beef Cowboys 1996 Purefoods Carne Norte Beefies 1997 Purefoods Chunkee Giants 2005-present |
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| Team colors | Red, blue and white | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Company | Purefoods-Hormel Corp. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach | Ryan Gregorio | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Championships | 7 (1990 Third Conf., 1991 All-Filipino, 1993 All-Filipino, 1994 Commissioner's, 1997 All-Filipino, 2002 Governor's, 2005-06 Philippine Cup) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Purefoods Chunkee Giants (formerly Purefoods TJ Hotdogs) is a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team. Its head coach is Ryan Gregorio.
The Purefoods Corporation, once part of the Ayala Group of Companies, bought the Tanduay franchise prior to the 1988 PBA Season.
Purefoods-Hormel Corporation was later bought by San Miguel Corporation in 2001 with the team retaining their colors. The team later got its new monicker, Chunkee Giants, starting at the 2005-06 season.
The most popular Purefoods player is Alvin Patrimonio, who led the franchise to six championships in the 1990s and early 2000s, and was named Most Valuable Player four times. Patrimonio retired in 2004 to concentrate more on his duties as the current team manager.
The main rivals are the Alaska Aces and the Barangay Ginebra Kings, although Ginebra is now a sister team.
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[edit] History
[edit] PABL days
Prior to joining the PBA in 1988, Purefoods was a member of the Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL, now the Philippine Basketball League) and was one of the strongest teams during their tenure with the amateur league.
[edit] Tanduay Rhum Masters
The original Tanduay team won three PBA title from 1975 to 1987 - those three championships were captured during the '86 and '87 seasons with coach Turo Valenzona, league MVP Ramon Fernandez, Freddie Hubalde, Padim Israel and import David Thirdkill.
After the 1987 season, in an emotional press conference, Tanduay announced that it was leaving the PBA. The franchise rights were then sold to Purefoods before the 1988 season.
The lineage of the first Tanduay squad and Purefoods was removed after the sale and is considered a different entity.
[edit] Under the Ayala Corporation
[edit] 1988-1989: Early years
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As part of the deal to join the league, Purefoods was allowed to take some amateur players from the PABL and the national team. Purefoods then drafted Alvin Patrimonio, Jojo Lastimosa, Jerry Codiñera, Glenn Capacio, and Jack Tanuan. They also added Al Solis and Totoy Marquez from Shell.
However, there was a surrounding controversy on the case of Patrimonio, as his PABL team Swift denied Patrimonio's release. However, before the All-Filipino Conference, they have settled the issue and Patrimonio joined the team.
Purefoods also took Fernandez, Hubalde, Israel and Onchie dela Cruz from the Tanduay squad. David Thirdkill was hired as Purefoods' import for the Open Conference and Fernandez was the team's playing coach during this time.
In their first conference, Purefoods made an historic run to the Finals against the Norman Black led San Miguel Beermen in seven games.
In the next conference, they met crowd favorite Añejo Rhum in the Finals. Purefoods lost the series 3-1 against a veteran and rugged team of playing coach Robert Jaworski. Controversy arose during the series as Fernandez was ordered to be benched by then-owner Jaime Zobel de Ayala amid rumors of game-fixing. This issue led to Fernandez's transfer to San Miguel Beer for Abet Guidaben late in the season. Cris Calilan replaced Fernandez as head coach. Lastimosa was named as the 1988 Rookie of the Year at the end of the season.
In 1989, Purefoods lost in six games to San Miguel in the All-Filipino Cup. An incident also happened during this series when Samboy Lim nearly suffered a career-ending injury when he drove over Jojo Lastimosa causing him to fall off-balance.
[edit] 1990-1994: Glory days
In the season ending 1990 Third Conference, Purefoods took on Alaska Air Force for the title. This conference featured two imports and Purefoods tapped the services of Darren Queenan and Rob Rose.
The Air Force took a 2-0 lead with a win away to clinch the best of five series. However, the team of legendary coach Baby Dalupan led a stunning comeback to win the series 3-2, giving the franchise its first PBA title.
The championship was Dalupan's last but achieved a milestone as the first coach in PBA history to win PBA championships in three different decades. The other coach who achieved this feat was Norman Black.
During the offseason, Purefoods traded Lastimosa to Alaska for Boy Cabahug and Al Solis to Sarsi for Jun Tan. They also signed Elmer Reyes.
In 1991, Patrimonio inked a 5-year, 25 million peso deal to stay with Purefoods. At that time, he was the highest paid player in the league. With this, Purefoods was able to beat Sarsi to win the 1991 All-Filipino Conference under head coach Eli Capacio.
Patrimonio won the 1991 Most Valuable Player, the first of a record-breaking four MVP's he won.
Purefoods failed to defend the crown in 1992, losing in seven games to San Miguel Beer.
In 1993, Purefoods renamed their team as the Coney Island Ice Cream Stars, an ice cream brand introduced by the Ayala corporation. They drafted 4 rookies that year - Dwight Lago, Benny Cheng, Freddie Abuda and Olsen Racela; and acquired veteran forward Abe King from the disbanded Presto team. The Stars won the 1993 All-Filipino Conference defeating San Miguel Beer, 4-2. Their head coach was Chot Reyes, and achieved a milestone for winning the title in his first conference as coach.
Coney Island reverted back to Purefoods in the Commissioner's Cup and was defeated by Swift for the crown of the said tournament.
Alvin Patrimonio won his second Most Valuable Player award after the season.
The team went back to the Coney Island monicker for the 1994 All-Filipino Conference and drafted 3 rookies - Rey Evangelista, Vince Hizon and Peter Naron. However, the team added another rookie in Richie Ticzon whom they acquired through a draft-day trade that sent veteran point guard Dindo Pumaren and Dwight Lago to Pepsi Mega. To add experience to the roster, Coney Island had to trade incoming sophomore Benny Cheng to Ginebra for veteran Manny Victorino and acquired 1992 Rookie of the Year Bong Ravena from San Miguel Beer in exchange for Kevin Ramas. The league gave an incentive to the champion of the said conference which gives them the opportunity to represent the country in the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan. However, Coney Island lost in six games to San Miguel. However, the San Miguel squad was decimated with several injuries to their key players. This allowed San Miguel to grab Purefoods' Patirmonio, Codiñera and rookie Rey Evangelista. The Philippines placed fourth in the basketball competitions.
In the Commissioner's Cup, with Kenny Redfield as import, Purefoods won the title in five games against Alaska Milk.
Patrimonio won his second consecutive MVP and third overall. Evangelista was a prime candidate to win the Rookie of the Year award but lost to Swift's Boybits Victoria.
[edit] 1995-2000: Ups and downs
In 1995, Purefoods failed to enter the championship of the three conferences alloted, showing only two fourth place finishes in the All-Filipino and the Comissioner's Cup.
During the offseason, Purefoods retooled its lineup by trading Vince Hizon to Ginebra and reacquired former Purefoods players Dindo Pumaren and Jack Tanuan through trades conducted with Pepsi and Sta. Lucia respectively.
The TJ Hotdogs met Alaska in the finals of the All-Filipino Conference in 1996 PBA season but was defeated in five games by the eventual grand slam winning Milkmen.
In the Governor's Cup, Purefoods struggled during the said conference and fielded in several imports in hopes of reversing their misfortunes. After the season, Chot Reyes left the Purefoods team to became the head coach of the Sta. Lucia Realtors.
In 1997 PBA season, rookie coach Eric Altamirano took over as coach of the Purefoods Corned Beef Cowboys. In his very first conference, Purefoods won the All-Filipino Cup defeating the Gordon's Gin Boars in six games for their first title in three years.
After a sorry performance in the Commissioner's Cup, the newly-christened Purefoods Carne Norte Cowboys lost in the finals of the Governor's Cup to Alaska, 4-1. Their import was the talented Mike Jones who lost in a battle for Best Import honors.
Alvin Patrimonio won his fourth and final Most Valuable Player Award, tying former teammate and idol Ramon Fernandez for the most number of MVP awards won.
After getting booted out of the semi-finals of the 1998 All-Filipino Cup, Altamirano left Purefoods to join the Mobiline Phone Pals. Derrick Pumaren became his replacement but failed to lead Purefoods to a Finals appearance.
Purefoods struggled in the 1999 PBA season All-Filipino Cup despite acquiring Filipino-American Al Segova. During the Commissioner's Cup, Jerry Codiñera was traded to Mobiline for Andy Seigle. The trade ended the long-time partnership of Patrimonio and Codinera, who was known as the "Defense Minister". Segova later was banished after he was proven as a fake Filipino-American. Purefoods failed to get past the quarterfinals of each conference.
In 2000, Purefoods was not considered a favorite to win the All-Filipino Cup but after a controversial win over Tanduay in the semis, resulting in a forfeiture of games won by Tanduay during the series for fielding fake Filipino-American Sonny Alvarado in Games 2 and 3 won by the Rhum Masters. The TJ Hotdogs lost in five games to the Alaska Milkmen. In the third conference, the Governor's Cup, the Derrick Brown-led Purefoods team lost to San Miguel, 4-1.
[edit] Under the San Miguel Corporation
Derrick Pumaren left Purefoods after the 2000 season. Replacing him was the returning Eric Altamirano for his second tour of duty with Purefoods.
A distraction affected the team off the court when the Ayala Group sold Purefoods Hormel to food and beverage giant San Miguel Corporation. The problem with this development was that SMC already had two PBA ballclubs in San Miguel and Barangay Ginebra, which meant that either the Ayala group had to retain their team under a new banner or for SMC to disband the team after the season since it was not allowed by the league for a company to own three teams in the league.
Eventually, the PBA Board of Governors adjusted the rule and allowed Purefoods to stay in the league. The TJ Hotdogs, however, never made the semis in any conference that year.
[edit] Ryan Gregorio
Altamirano concentrated his duties with the National team in 2002 as an assistant coach. Taking over for a while was his assistant, Ryan Gregorio. Gregorio led Purefoods to a successful championship run in the Governor's Cup defeating Alaska in seven games. Kerby Raymundo, acquired from Red Bull prior to the start of the tournament was the Finals MVP. Derrick Brown was the conference Best Import while Rey Evangelista was the Best Player of the Conference.
However, Purefoods became a mediocre team in the Commissioner's Cup and the All-Filipino Conference. After the season, Ronnie Magsanoc won the Comeback Player of the Year Award and announced his retirement after he received the award. Gregorio and Coca Cola Tigers mentor Chot Reyes was named co-winners of the Coach of the Year Award.
In 2003, Gregorio was named as the head coach of the team as Altamirano was reassigned to the traveling SMC All-Stars (composed of former PBA all-stars). Purefoods each failed to enter the quarterfinals of the three conferences. In the Reinforced Conference, they have former NBA protege Lenny Cooke, but Cooke later suffered an injury to deny the Hotdogs a chance to enter the quarterfinals.
[edit] Patrimonio's retirement
During Patrimonio's birthday celebration on November 26, 2004 (Patrimonio's birthday was on November 17), he announced his retirement in an emotional speech, ending his illustrious 16 year career to concentrate his role as team manager.
His number was retired in December, becoming the first Purefoods player to have his jersey retired. Purefoods was the only team Patrimonio played for in the PBA.
[edit] 2004-2005: Rebuilding
Purefoods nabbed University of the East (UE) star and UAAP MVP James Yap with the second overall pick in the 2004 PBA Draft. Paul Artadi, Yap's teammate at UE and the PBL's Welcoat Paintmasters, was chosen by the team in the second round.
The rebuilding process began for Purefoods despite a dismal showing in the 2004 Fiesta Conference. In the 2004-05 Philippine Cup, Purefoods was eliminated by the Shell Turbo Chargers in the quarterfinals. Same can be said in the 2005 Fiesta Conference, when Shell eliminated them in the same predicament.
[edit] Purefoods Chunkee Giants: Back-to-back titles appearances in 2005-06
Prior to the start of the 2005-06 Fiesta Conference, Purefoods replaced their TJ Hotdogs monicker with the Chunkee Giants. The Chunkee Giants was a reference to the team's new chunky corned beef product Purefoods Chunkee Corned Beef. Purefoods selected PBL MVP Jondan Salvador with the fourth pick in the first round of the draft.
Purefoods hired Marquin Chandler as import and Purefoods went on to record a 10-6 first place finish in the classification phase, earning them an outright semis berth.
The Giants beat the up and coming Air21 Express in six games of the semi-finals. However, they lost in the Finals of the tournament to Red Bull in six games. But their runner-up finish was the best since winning the 2002 Governor's Cup. Chandler won Best Import honors while Kerby Raymundo lost to Enrico Vilanueva for Best Player of the Conference honors. This led to Raymundo's infamous, "Ako ang tunay na MVP" (I'm the real MVP!) exclamation in a post-game interview with TV coveror ABC 5 after Purefoods won Game 4 to even the series.
In the 2006 PBA Philippine Cup, the Chunkee Giants finished with a 12-4 record and a first-place finish in the classification phase, earning them an outright semi-finals berth for the second time this season. However, on May 14, Eugene Tejada suffered a freak injury in a game against Red Bull Barako, which led him to suffer serious injuries that paralyzed him.
In the semifinals, Purefoods swept the next three games to clinch the first finals berth, after trailing Alaska Aces 1-3, becoming only the second team since the 1991 Ginebra San Miguel team to come back from a 1-3 deficit in a PBA best-of-seven series. Star player James Yap captured the PBA Most Valuable Player award, the second Purefoods player to do so, after Patrimonio.
In six games, the Chunkee Giants won the 2006 Philippine Cup, 4-2, over Red Bull. It was Purefoods' first title since the 2002 Govenors Cup, and the first All-Filipino Cup title since 1997. Marc Pingris was named as the Finals Most Valuable Player.
In the ongoing 2006-07 PBA Philippine Cup, after a slow start with a 1-3 win-loss record, the Giants have won five of their last six games, including a 109-103 triple overtime victory against the Talk N' Text Phone Pals, one of the preseason favorites. Currently their win-loss record stands at 8-6.
[edit] Current roster
| Purefoods Chunkee Giants Current Roster |
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Head Coach: Ryan Gregorio ( ) |
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| G | 3 | |
Boyet Bautista | (Letran) |
| F | 5 | |
Jondan Salvador | (St. Benilde) |
| F | 7 | |
Rey Evangelista (C) | (Santo Tomas) |
| G | 8 | |
Peter June Simon | (Mindanao) |
| C | 9 | |
Jun Limpot | (De La Salle) |
| G | 10 | |
Paul Artadi | (East) |
| F | 12 | |
Don Camaso | (na) |
| F | 13 | |
Roger Yap | (San Jose - Recoletos) |
| F | 15 | |
Marc Pingris | (PSBA) |
| G | 18 | |
James Yap | (East) |
| C | 21 | |
Kerby Raymundo | (Letran) |
| F | 28 | |
Richard Yee | (Santo Tomas) |
| G | 40 |  |
Noy Castillo | (The Citadel) |
| G | |
Edgar Billiones | (Las Piñas) | |
| (C) - Captain, (I) - Import | Purefoods Chunkee Giants | |||
Other people
- Assistant coaches: Ronnie Magsanoc, Koy Banal, Dayong Mendoza
- Team manager: Alvin Patrimonio
- Governor: Rene Pardo
[edit] Players of note
[edit] PBA's 25th anniversary all-time team
- Jerry Codiñera
- Bernie Fabiosa
- Ramon Fernandez
- Abet Guidaben
- Freddie Hubalde
- Jojo Lastimosa
- Ronnie Magsanoc
- Alvin Patrimonio
[edit] Other notable players
- Glen Capacio
- Al Solis
- Onchie Dela Cruz
- Nelson Asaytono
- Abe King
- Edmund Reyes
- Dindo Pumaren
- Bong Ravena
- Richie Ticzon
- Vince Hizon
- Andy Seigle
- Elmer "Boy" Cabahug
[edit] Imports
- David Thirdkill
- Ronnie Grandison
- Kenny Redfield
- Mike Jones
- Derrick Brown
- Lenny Cooke
- Marquin Chandler
- Dexter Shouse
- Richard Hollis
- Patrick Thompkins
- Kurk Lee
- Clinton Smith
- Jay Taylor
- Darren Queenan
- Rob Rose
- Walker Russell
- Eddie Elisma
- David Wood
- Julius Nwosu
- Leon White
- Ronnie Thompkins
- Lance Miller
- Bob McCann
[edit] Retired numbers
[edit] Coaches
- Cris Calilan (1988)
- Ramon Fernandez (1988)
- Baby Dalupan (1990)
- Ely Capacio
- Chot Reyes (1993-1996)
- Eric Altamirano (1997-1998; 2001-2002)
- Derrick Pumaren (1998-2000)
- Chito Narvasa
- Ryan Gregorio (2002 (interim); 2003-present)
