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This Day in PBA History: San Miguel beats Shell to bag Reinforced Conference title

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Rey Joble

<p>As early as the 1987 Third Conference, head coach Norman Black already saw the potential of San Miguel Beer to become one of the greatest teams in the PBA.</p><p>The entry of young, talented players from the Northern Consolidated squad — such as Samboy Lim, Hector Calma, Yves Dignadice, Elmer Reyes, Tonichi Yturri and Franz Pumaren, among others — had certainly transformed San Miguel into an up-and-coming team. And true enough, the Beermen under Black won their first championship by beating the Hills Brothers Coffee Kings, 4-1.</p><p>San Miguel made it back-to-back, beating an up-and-coming Purefoods team in 7 games of the 1988 Open Conference, but in the All-Filipino Conference, the team fell short when the Beermen lost to Añejo Rum 65 in the knockout semifinals game.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/12/11/21/this-day-in-pba-history-coach-fired-at-halftime">This Day in PBA History: Toyota fires coach at halftime</a></li></ul><p>But prior to the start of the season-ending conference of 1988, the Beermen engineered a trade that enabled them to acquire Mon Fernandez for archrival Abet Guidaben.</p><p>This was the second time both players were traded to one another, the first one in 1985 when the two premier centers switched places.</p><p>Fernandez was coming off a bitter parting of ways with Purefoods right after the All-Filipino Conference. He was accused of game-fixing and wasn&#x27;t used in the last 3 games of the championship series between the Hotdogs and the 65ers won by coach Sonny Jaworski and his troops.</p><p>Known as &quot;The Franchise&quot;, Fernandez even sought legal action against Purefoods management, then headed by its president, Rene Buhain, for besmirching his reputation. But then came the big shift.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/12/09/21/this-day-in-pba-history-the-unstoppable-redmanizers">This Day in PBA History: Crispa posts longest winning streak in a conference at 19</a></li></ul><p>&quot;Thanks to Mr. Buhain. At that time, Abet was about to win another MVP that year. Kaya lalong nagalit sa akin si Abet,&quot; said Fernandez. </p><p>&quot;I filed a case against Mr. Buhain at that time, but when the case was going on, here comes Mr. Nono Ibazeta, the one running San Miguel&#x27;s basketball program, he called me up and said, &#x27;Mon, huwag ka na maingay. Tumahimik ka na lang, lipat ka na dito sa amin.&#x27; Same thing with what happened to me sa Tanduay. So tumahimik na lang ako, inayos na lang namin ’yung case&#x27;.&quot; </p><p>The entry of Fernandez didn&#x27;t only provide the up-and-coming Beermen the veteran presence they needed, but also added the team a player who can do so many things that allowed the younger players more opportunity to flourish.</p><p>&quot;He came and reinforced us,&quot; Black said of Fernandez. </p><p>&quot;Then I also came back to play to team up with Michael Phelps in that third conference and we actually beat the team of Bobby Parks, who was playing for Shell at that time. That trade was a big trade for us and that started us to lead with all our success moving forward. But I have to say the inclusion of the NCC players who played for Ron Jacobs was really a big deal. </p><p>&quot;This was Mr. Danding Cojuangco&#x27;s team and he was the one who hired me at San Miguel. When they came in, and reinforced them with guys like Fernandez and Ricky Brown, we were able to form a powerhouse team.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/12/09/21/this-day-in-pba-history-big-j-redefines-endurance">This Day in PBA History: Jaworski logs 58 minutes in Game 4 of Ginebra-Manila Beer finals</a></li></ul><p>True enough, on this day, December 13, 1988, the Beermen defended the Reinforced Conference title by beating Shell, 151-142, as Black, then the playing import/coach, pumped in 42 points. </p><p>It was like vindication of sorts for Fernandez, who after the baseless accusations made against him, went on to win the season&#x27;s Most Valuable Player award, becoming the league&#x27;s 4-time MVP winner. More importantly, he immediately became a part of a champion team.</p><p>For the Beermen, it was the start of a dynasty as the following year, they went on to win the Grand Slam.</p><div><em>Rey Joble is a sports journalist who has been covering the PBA since 1998, and followed the league as a fan way before that. </em></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1660691" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

The arrival of Ramon Fernandez and an infusion of youth set San Miguel Beer on the path to greatness.