Nine after eight: that’s the situation Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is in as it looks for its latest Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) championship in the current Governors’ Cup Finals. Will the Gin Kings take the title over the Meralco Bolts? With their best-of-seven series tied after their Game 2 victory last Sunday (October 9), that could still be a possibility.

The San Miguel Corp. franchise hasn’t won a PBA championship in eight years. Their eighth and latest came in the 2007-08 Fiesta Conference over Air21, making it high time for the Kings to add to their crowns. But whatever the outcome of the present tournament, Ginebra’s legions have these past glories to look back on, in chronological order:

1979: Franchise joins PBA

Greatness has to start somewhere, and for Ginebra it was in the form of its ancestor, Gilbey’s Gin. Then owned by La Tondena Inc. of team founder Carlos Palanca Jr., the Gin Tonics placed fourth in the 1979 Invitational Tournament behind coach Pilo Pumaren, MICAA star Willie Tanduyan and imports Larry McNeil and Dean Tolson.

1984: Jaworski era begins

Robert “Sonny” Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz joined Gilbey’s Gin from the disbanding Toyota squad before the start of the ’84 season and lift the Tonics to respectability. As the longest tenured player-coach in PBA history, “Jawo” would lead the franchise to four championships. The era of “The Living Legend” ended when the team retired his No. 7 jersey on July 8, 2012.

November 5, 1985: “Never say die” is born

Jaworski gets his lip busted by Jeff Moore of the Northern Consolidated Cement squad, which also features the top national amateur team players (and future PBA stars). The playing coach goes to a nearby hospital to get stitches, comes back with Ginebra down by 15 points with eight minutes left, and promptly leads the Kings to a stunning 101-97 comeback victory.

September 13, 1988: Añejo wins first All-Filipino

As the Añejo Rum 65ers, the Ginebra franchise is the underdog against PBA debutant Purefoods Hotdogs, which boasts young stars Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codiñera and Jojo Lastimosa and even league MVP Ramon Fernandez, Jawo’s archrival. But with Fernandez suspended by his team in the finals, the Big J leads his boys to a 3-1 series victory and the team’s first All-Filipino Conference crown.

May 19, 1991:  Sweet revenge over Shell

Known as Ginebra once again, the Kings completed an improbable comeback in the First Conference finals when Rudy Distrito’s bank shot over Benjie Paras and Jojo Martin sealed their 104-102 Game 7 triumph. They were the first PBA team to rally from a 1-3 series deficit (like the Cavs did in the NBA this summer), and it was payback for losing the same tournament – controversially – to Shell in 1990.

September 7, 1997: Six-year drought ends

Renamed as the Gordon’s Gin Boars and with the star trio of Marlou Aquino, Noli Locsin and Bal David, the franchise nips sister team San Miguel Beer in overtime in a playoff for the second Commissioner’s Cup finals berth. Import Chris King then leads Gordon’s past Alaska for the title, coach Jaworski’s last in the PBA.

May 12, 1999: David haunts Mobiline

In the quarterfinals of the All-Filipino Cup, the Gin Kings were down 81-80 to Mobiline with two seconds to play. But Bal David banks in a shot over 6-foot-9 Asi Taulava, making Ginebra the first eighth-seeded team to beat a No. 1 seed in the PBA playoffs. They would eventually finish third — beating No. 2 Alaska.

2004-05: “Fast and Furious” win back-to-back

Now starring scoring machine Mark Caguioa, speedy Jayjay Helterbrand and MVP Eric Menk, Ginebra won the transitional Fiesta Conference in 2004 over Red Bull. The franchise then won successive PBA titles for the first time when it claimed the Philippine Cup at the expense of Taulava – again – and Talk ‘N Text.

First posted on 8list.ph on 12 October 2016 — Jimbo