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This Day in PBA History: Cone surpasses Dalupan as winningest coach

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Rey Joble

Tim Cone remembered the time when he first reached the finals coaching against his idol, legendary Virgilio &quot;Baby&quot; Dalupan, when he led his first PBA team, Alaska, in the 1990 Third Conference title series.Cone and his team went up 2-0 in the best-of-5 championship series and was about to go for a sweep when Bong Alvarez tore his Achilles tendon, rendering him out for the rest of the series and completely changing the complexion of the finals encounter.Like the old Maestro that he was, Dalupan would rally his young Purefoods Hotdogs team in winning the next 3 games to give the franchise its first ever championship and win his 15th and last title in the PBA.&quot;I never felt bad and say, &#x27;Sayang&#x27; because, first, I lost to Baby Dalupan,&quot; said Cone. &quot;He was my hero. He was the legend in coaching and he ended up being an idol of mine. And even in the old days, I used to be a big Meralco and Toyota fan and I hated Crispa.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/21/22/pba-the-time-alaska-fired-rehired-tim-cone-in-1993">PBA: The time Alaska ‘fired and rehired’ Tim Cone in 1993</a></li></ul>&quot;But even though I hated Crispa, I really respected Baby Dalupan because he will always find ways to beat my Meralco or my Toyota team. A lot of times. I had great admiration for Baby Dalupan my whole career. He was the man of many championships.&quot;<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/16/22/ginebras-cone-proud-of-his-years-with-alaska">Ginebra&#x27;s Cone proud of his years with Alaska</a></li></ul>Looking back, if ever he would lose a championship match, Cone wouldn’t mind losing to his coaching idol.&quot;I didn&#x27;t mind losing to Baby Dalupan because that was his last championship in the PBA, his 15th and it was my first finals appearance. So I didn&#x27;t feel bad about that,&quot; said Cone.Twenty-four years later, Cone surpassed Dalupan as the winningest coach in PBA history, as on this day, February 26, in 2014, the American mentor steered the San Mig Coffee Mixers to the All-Filipino championship after defeating the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters in 6 games of their best-of-7 championship series.In winning the championship for the old Purefoods franchise, Cone bagged his 16th title to overtake Dalupan for the most number of championships.But to get there, Cone and his troops had to battle Barangay Ginebra to a grueling 7-game series in the semifinals.Against Rain Or Shine in the championship series, it was an opportunity for Cone and the rest of the Coffee Mixers to get back at their tormentors. Two years earlier, Rain Or Shine outlasted the old Purefoods franchise in 7 games as Yeng Guiao rewarded the Elasto Painters franchise their first title.But the 2014 San Mig Coffee team was more mature. In the season-ending Governors’ Cup of 2013, San Mig Coffee had to endure San Miguel Beer in 7 games of their championship series. From the get-go, it looked like the Elasto Painters were poised to repeat, taking Game 1, 83-80, but the Coffee Mixers took the next 3 games, putting more pressure on their rivals.Rain Or Shine salvaged some measure of pride and won Game 5, 81-74, before San Mig Coffee closed it out with a Game 6 victory, 93-87.Cone had just achieved a milestone in becoming the winningest coach.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/23/22/pba-when-alaska-chose-flag-over-second-grand-slam">PBA: When Cone, Alaska chose flag over a second grand slam</a></li></ul>Little did he know, it would be a start of another historic run as that championship started the launch of his 2nd grand slam.<div> </div><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/02/12/22/this-day-in-pba-history-a-well-attended-manila-clasico">This Day in PBA History: San Mig Coffee-Ginebra semis game draws record crowd</a></li></ul>True enough, by the end of the season, Cone completed another historic feat, becoming the only coach in league history to win 2 grand slams.

For Cone — whose victory in the 2014 Philippine Cup gave him a record 16th title — losing to his ‘idol’ Dalupan did not bother him at all.