IT’S been 30 years since San Miguel Beer won its first PBA Grand Slam. The stars of that 1989 era include the likes of Samboy Lim, Hector Calma, Elmer Reyes, Yves Dignadice, Franz Pumaren and, yes, Ramon Fernandez, whose four Most Valuable Player trophies were matched only by Alvin Patrimonio.
OK, you want more SMB lore?
Fernandez got aboard after he got swapped, with Abet Guidaben going to Purefoods.
The 6-foot-4 Fernandez, monikered “El Presidente” for his elegant style of play, is now a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission.
Guidaben, the 6-foot-5 “lava” of Mt. Hibok-Hibok in his native Mambajao, Camiguin, now lives in New York City. I had coffee with him in the Big Apple’s famed Radio City some years back, telling me proudly he was engaged in the “difficult, but lucrative business” of restoring old houses to their original look.
Ato Agustin, now one of seven assistant coaches at San Miguel, was also part of that SMB 1989 Slam champ coached by Norman Black.
The PBA being also a musical-chair of sorts, Black has moved to the MVP conglomerate that owns NLEX, Meralco and, yes, TNT KaTropa from the RSA-controlled squads of Magnolia, Ginebra and San Miguel Beer. Black now coaches Meralco.
To win the 1989 PBA Triple Crown and become the second team to own the Slam after Crispa did it in 1976 and 1983, San Miguel defeated Shell in the Open Conference, Purefoods in the All-Filipino and Anejo Rum in the Reinforced series.
The late Bobby Parks, a seven-time best import awardee whose son Ray Ray is now also a PBA star, was Shell’s import in the 1989 Open tiff against San Miguel’s Michael Phelps.
It was in 2017 when San Miguel last saw a Slam opening, winning the Philippine Cup and the Commissioner’s Cup.
But Ginebra ousted SMB in the Governor’s Cup quarterfinals that year, derailing the Beermen’s bid for a second Triple Jewel.
With SMB’s just-ended six-game conquest of the second conference over TNT, I won’t take it against the Beermen if they’ve started salivating for the Slam.
Thirty years is just too long a wait.