Great Taste Coffee Makers

Great Taste Coffee Makers
Great Taste Coffee Makers
Founded	1975
Dissolved	Sold in 1993
History	Presto 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 colors	Great Taste Coffee; ; ; Great Taste Milk; ; Presto Fun Drinks; ; Presto Ice Cream; ; Presto Tivoli; ;
Main sponsor	CFC 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
Championships	6 championships; 1984 Second All-Filipino ; 1984 Invitational ; 1985 Open ; 1985 All-Filipino ; 1987 All-Filipino ; 1990 All-Filipino ; 10 Finals AppearancesContents History ; Early years (1975–1978) ; Breakthrough (1979–1982) ; The Ricardo Brown era (1983–1987) ; The Allan Caidic era (1987–1992) ; Season-by-season records ; Awards ; Individual awards ; All-Star Weekend ; Notable players ; PBA Greatest players ; Other notable players ; Imports ; Coaches ; Team managers ; References ; External links ;
	Dark uniform
	Dark uniform

Last updated March 07, 2024

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

Season	Conference	Team name	Overall record			Finals
Season	Conference	Team name	W	L	%	Finals
1975	First Conference	Presto Ice Cream Makers	6	18	.250
	Second Conference
	All-Philippine
1976	First Conference	N-Rich	3	29	.094
	Second Conference
	All-Philippine
1977	All-Filipino Conference	Presto Ice Cream Makers	15	30	.333
	Open Conference
	Invitational Conference
1978	All-Filipino Conference	Great Taste Coffee Makers	5	23	.179
	Open Conference
	Invitational Conference
1979	All-Filipino Conference		21	26	.447
	Open Conference
	Invitational Conference
1980	Open Conference		14	25	.359
	Invitational Conference
	All-Filipino Conference
1981	Open Conference	Presto Ice Cream Makers	17	26	.395
1981	Reinforced Filipino	Presto Ice Cream Makers	17	26	.395
1982	Reinforced Filipino	Great Taste Coffee Makers	19	27	.413
	Invitational Conference	Great Taste Coffee Makers
	Open Conference	N-Rich
1983	All-Filipino Conference	Great Taste Coffee Makers	38	25	.603
	Reinforced Filipino					Crispa 3, Great Taste 2
	Open Conference					Crispa 3, Great Taste 0
1984	First All-Filipino Conference		39	14	.736
	Second All-Filipino Conference					Great Taste 3, Beer Hausen 0
	Invitational Conference					Great Taste 3, Crispa 2
1985	Open Conference		44	27	.620	Great Taste 4, Magnolia 2
	All-Filipino Conference					Great Taste 3, Shell 1
	Reinforced Conference
1986	Reinforced Conference		36	28	.563	Tanduay 4, Great Taste 2
	All-Filipino Conference
	Open Conference
1987	Open Conference		35	25	.583	Tanduay 4, Great Taste 1
	All-Filipino Conference					Great Taste 3, Hills Bros. 0
	Reinforced Conference
1988	Open Conference		26	34	.433
	All-Filipino Conference	Presto Ice Cream Makers
	Third Conference
1989	Open Conference		18	32	.360
	All-Filipino Conference
	Reinforced Conference
1990	First Conference		40	29	.580
	All-Filipino Conference	Presto Tivolis				Presto 4, Purefoods 3
	Third Conference
1991	First Conference	Presto Tivoli	21	29	.420
	All-Filipino Conference
	Third Conference
1992	First Conference	Presto Ice Cream Kings	11	29	.275
	All-Filipino Conference
	Third Conference
Overall record			408	476	.462	6 championships

Awards

Individual awards

PBA Most Valuable Player	PBA Rookie of the Year Award	PBA All-Defensive Team
Ricardo Brown – 1985 Allan Caidic – 1990	Raphael Sison – 1981 Ricardo Brown – 1983 Allan Caidic – 1987 Gerry Esplana – 1990	Abe King – 1985 Philip Cezar – 1987–1988
PBA Mythical First Team	PBA Mythical Second Team	PBA Most Improved Player
Ricardo Brown – 1983–1986 Bogs Adornado – 1983 Manny Victorino – 1984–1986 Willie Pearson – 1985 Philip Cezar – 1987 Allan Caidic – 1987–1991	Bogs Adornado – 1984 Abe King – 1985 Ricardo Brown – 1987 Arnie Tuadles – 1987 Bernardo Carpio – 1987	Manny Victorino – 1984
PBA Best Import	PBA Scoring Leader
Jeff Collins – 1984 Invitational	Ricardo Brown – 1985–1987 Allan Caidic – 1988–1991

All-Star Weekend

All Star MVP	Obstacle Challenge	Three-point Shootout	Slam Dunk Contest
		Allan Caidic – 1992	Vergel Meneses – 1992

Notable players

PBA Greatest players

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

William "Bogs" Adornado #33
Ricardo Brown #23 – "The Quick Brown Fox" named 1985 PBA Most Valuable Player
Allan Caidic #8 – "The Triggerman" named 1987 PBA Rookie of the Year & 1990 PBA Most Valuable Player
Philip Cezar #18 – "The Scholar"
Atoy Co #60 and #6 – "The Fortune Cookie" played his final years in the league with the team.
Bernie Fabiosa #15 – "The Sultan of Swipe"
Vergel Meneses #4 – "The Aerial Voyager" was the #1 draft pick of the 1992 draft.
Manny Paner #5 & #13 – Became the highest paid Filipino player in 1977, signed a 4-year contract called for P 8,000 a month.

Other notable players

Jose "Jing" Aldanese #4
Manuel "Noli" Aldanese #11
Teodocio "Teddy" Alfarero #20+
Alejo "Pongkee" Alolor #2
Leonardo "Leo" Aranzaso #9
Cesar "Kia" Arpilleda #17
Woodrow Balani #19
Joel Banal #26, #6, #7 & #28
Danilo "Danny" Basilan #14
Santiago "Sonny" Cabatu #5
Bernardo "Joy" Carpio #29 – "The Scavenger"
Israel "Ric" Catacutan #15
Jacinto" Bong" Chua #8 & #9+
Aurelio "Boy" Clarino #56
Fortunato "Atoy" Co Jr. #6 #60 – "The Fortune Cookie"
Arturo "Bai" Cristobal #7
Carlito "Lito" Cruz #12
Oliveros "Nonoy" Dalman #3
Ramon "Onchie" Dela Cruz #9
Danilo "Danny" De Guzman #10
Valeriano "Botchok" Delos Santos #10+
Hernani "Nani Demegillo #15
Jaime "Jimmy" Dungca #6
Gerald "Gerry" Esplana #14 – 1990 PBA Rookie of the Year – "Mr. Cool"
Ernesto "Estoy" Estrada+ #6 & #44
Reynaldo "Rey" Franco #20
Wilfredo "Willy" Generalao #42 – "The General"
Filomeno "Fil" Gulfin #8
Noel Guzman #8
Rene "Bong" Hawkins Jr. #16 – "The Hawk"
Arthur "Art" Herrera #8
Federico "Padim" Israel #17
Peter "Apet" Jao #5 – #1 draft pick of 1990 PBA Draft

– “The Howitser"

Alfredo "Pido" Jarencio #25 – "The Fireman"
Woodrow "Totoy" Jaymalin #5
Alfonso "Al" Jovero #12
Abraham "Abe" King #6 #66 – "The Chairman of the Board"
Francisco "Frankie" Lim #22
Joaquin "Chito" Loyzaga #41 – "The Dynamite"
Jaime "Jimmy" Manansala #11
Joselito "Joey" Marquez #66
Manuel "Totoy" Marquez #71
Eduardo "Eddieboy" Mendoza #10
Lawrence "Tata" Merced #18
Jose Cadel Mosqueda #12
Ruben "Benjie" Pablo #6
Adriano "Jun" Papa, Jr. #55+
Leonardo "Leo" Paguntalan #16
Willie Pearson #33
Danilo "Danny" Pribhdas, Jr+(father of Danilo, Jr. of the UST Growling Tigers) #13
Zaldy Realubit #28
Johnny Revilla #16+
Florendo "Dante" Ritualo #20 / #11+
Ranulfo "Noni" Robles #16
Ricafort "Ric" Roces #15
Jose "Joe" Roslin #19 & #14
Rafael "Cho" Sison #12
Loreto" Ato"Tolentino #7
Tomasito "Sito" Tolentino #5
Oscar "Oca" Tuazon #19
Arnulfo "Arnie Tuadles" #11 & #22+
Redentor "Red" Vicente, Sr. #45
Manny Victorino #1

Imports

Rich Adams #32 (1982)
George Almones #32 (1988)
Terrance Bailey #21 (1989 & 1991)
Joe Binion #30 (1985)
Norman Black #24 (1983)
Cory Blackwell #30 (1985)
Michael Britt #21 (1985)
Johnny Brown #3 (1986)
Lewis "Lew" Brown #24 (1980)
Derwin "Tank" Collins #3 (1992)
James Collins #13 (1978)
Jeff Collins #24 (1984)
Winston Crite #31 (1990)
Perry Davis #30 (1982)
Kenny Fields #54 (1988)
Alvin Franklin #20 (1986)
Jerome Harmon #32 (1992)
Jim Hearns #33 (1979 & 1980)
Michael Holton #14 (1986)
Lewis Jackson #24 (1986)
Harold Johnson #33 (1981)
Napoleon Johnson #00 (1985)
Greg Jones #3 (1986)
Darryl "Choo" Kennedy #30 (1987)
Dana Lewis #3 (1977)

Lew Massey #23 (1981)
Dwayne McClain #44 (1991)
Dwight Moody #(1987 PBA/IBA series)
Cisco Oliver #6 (1978)
Myles Patrick #32 (1981)
Wally Rank #21 (1985)
Eldridge Recasner #7 (1992)
Angelo Robinson #34 (1984)
Walker Russell #3 (1989)
Danny Salisbery #31 (1982)
Niño Samuel #44 (1977)
Dawan Scott #7 (1983)
Dexter Shouse (1987 PBA/IBA series)
Darryl Smith #68 (1979)
Everette Stephens #21 (1990)
Earl Tatum #42 (1981)
Jeff Taylor #44 (1987)
Charles Thompson #18 (1983)
Eric Turner #12 (1986)
Tony White #4 (1988)
Mike Wilson #2 (1986)
Ennis Whatley
Joey Wright #5 (1992)
Michael Young #42 (1987)

Coaches

Team managers

Ignacio Gotao
Chino Marquinez

Related Research Articles

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The Crispa Redmanizers were a multi-titled Filipino basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) from 1975 to 1984. It was one of the nine founding teams of the PBA, winning a total of thirteen PBA championships, including two grand slams. Founded in 1956 by businessman Valeriano "Danny" Floro, the team was owned by P. Floro and Sons, Inc. (defunct).

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The 1975 PBA season was the inaugural season of the Philippine Basketball Association.

The 1977 PBA season was the third season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

The 1981 PBA season was the seventh season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

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).

The 1984 PBA season was the 10th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

The 1985 PBA season was the 11th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

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

The 1990 PBA season was the 16th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

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.

William "Bogs" Adornado is a Filipino professional basketball coach and former player. He is one of the Philippine Basketball Association's Greatest Players and was inducted to its Hall of Fame in 2005. He was a three-time PBA Most Valuable Player and is considered one of the best Filipino basketball players of all-time.

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

The 1985 Shell Azodrin Bugbusters season was the first season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

The 1983 Great Taste Discoverers season was the 9th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Return to Great Taste Coffee Makers beginning the Reinforced Filipino Conference.

The 1989 Presto Tivolis season was the 15th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Previously known as Presto Ice Cream Flavor Specialist in the Open Conference.

The 1988 Presto Ice Cream Makers season was the 14th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Formerly known as Great Taste Milkmasters in the first two conferences.

Jose Bernardo "Joy" Carpio is a retired Filipino professional basketball player who played in the Philippine Basketball Association.

References

↑ "PBA preview '87: Great Taste". Manila Standard.

External links

The Quick Brown Fox's Untold Stories@GMA News Online

Preceded by (start)	PBA teams genealogies 1975–1992	Succeeded by Sta. Lucia Realtors

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[1] "PBA preview '87: Great Taste". Manila Standard.

[1]