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About Barangay Ginebra San Miguel

The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (formerly, La Tondeña Distillers, Inc.), a subsidiary of the San Miguel Corporation (SMC). The team is one of three PBA ball clubs currently owned by the SMC group of companies, along with the Magnolia Hotshots and the San Miguel Beermen. Barangay Ginebra has won 15 PBA championships, the second most overall.

La Tondeña, Inc. (renamed, La Tondeña Distillers, Inc., after SMC acquired majority control in 1987) joined the PBA in 1979 as an expansion team. After some rough times during their first few seasons, their fortunes changed when veterans Robert Jaworski and Francis Arnaiz arrived in 1984, following the disbandment of the famed Toyota Tamaraws. With new players like Jaworski being veterans of the game from ages 30–35, Jaworski would also be given the role as head coach of the young Ginebra team. As player-coach, Jaworski steered the franchise to four PBA titles between 1986 and 1997. After the retirement of Coach Jaworski at the age of 52, Jong Uichico, Siot Tanquingcen and Tim Cone would be coaching the players led by the legendary "Fast and The Furious", MVPs Jayjay Helterbrand and Mark Caguioa.

The Jaworski era (1984–1998)

Gilbey's Gin Tonics (1984)

Before the 1984 season, Toyota announced its departure from the league after winning nine titles in nine seasons. As part of an agreement with new team Beer Hausen, the rights of the Toyota players were acquired by Beer Hausen. The team, owned by Lucio Tan, was entering its first year in the PBA.

Jaworski, Francis Arnaiz, Arnie Tuades and Chito Loyzaga refused to join Beer Hausen. The internal feud between Jaworski and Fernandez, which had been simmering for several years, became public. With this development, Gilbey's accepted Jaworski and Arnaiz; Tuadles and Loyzaga joined Great Taste; while the rest of the Toyota players, led by Fernandez, joined Beer Hausen. Jaworski and Arnaiz turned the moribund franchise into a competitive team almost overnight when in the first conference of the 1984 season, the All-Filipino Conference, they led the team to the finals against Crispa.

Ginebra San Miguel (1985–1988)

By 1985, Gilbey's was renamed as Ginebra San Miguel. However, the team failed to enter the finals in each of the three conferences, showing only a strong finish in the Reinforced Conference.

The birth of "Never-Say-Die" 

On October 22, 1985, in a game against Northern Cement (NCC), Jaworski was hit by an elbow from Jeff Moore late in the second quarter. He had to be brought to nearby Medical City's emergency room to get stitches on his lips. During the third quarter, NCC was leading when Jaworski returned to the bench.

The biggest manifestation was when, Jaworski came back from the nearby Medical City with seven stitches in his lip to lead the Gins to a come-from-behind victory against NCC. Jaworski incurred this from a wayward elbow inflicted by Jeff Moore in the second quarter. But with them behind by 15 points going into the final seven minutes of the game, Jaworski re-entered the court and sparked a frenzy that to date, has yet been matched. The NCC team simply froze upon the sight of the Big J and didn't know what hit them, eventually losing to the Gins.

Michael Hackett also saw his name in the PBA record books by scoring 103 points in Ginebra's 197–168 victory against Great Taste on November 21, 1985. This was later broken by Swift's Tony Harris in a 1992 game in Iloilo City ironically against Ginebra with 105 points.

Former Crispa import Billy Ray Bates was brought in for the 1986 Open Conference. Each PBA team was allowed to get two imports for the said conference. Bates' other partner was Michael Hackett, who was the 1985 Open Conference Best Import. It is believed that the pair was the greatest import tandem in PBA history. The two led the team in the Finals of the tournament against Manila Beer (formerly Beer Hausen), with Abet Guidaben and imports Michael Young and Harold Keeling. Bates and Hackett powered Ginebra to a 4–1 win in the series to win the 1986 PBA Open Conference and give the team its first-ever championship.

Arnaiz suddenly left for the United States due to injury, but was still part of the line-up, before the team won its first championship, ending his 11-year career and tandem with Jaworski. He retired shortly afterwards the 1986 season.

Barangay Ginebra Kings and the "Fast and the Furious" era (1999–2017)

In 1999, the team was then officially called Barangay Ginebra Kings.

In the All-Filipino, the Barangay Ginebra Kings only managed to finish 8th in the eliminations and needed to win twice against the first-seeded Mobiline Phone Pals and Asi Taulava in a "David and Goliath" elimination game. The Kings managed to force a knockout game, winning the first game. In the decider, the Kings came back from a 20-point deficit and David's off-balance game-winner resulted in one of the biggest upsets in league history to advance to the next round. Taulava was even seen crying in disappointment after the game when he failed to stop the smaller but quicker David. In the semis, they were eliminated by eventual champion Formula Shell that was marred by a scuffle in Game 2 of the series.

In the 2000 off-season, Aquino was traded to Sta. Lucia Realty in exchange for Jun Limpot. The trade was considered as one of the biggest transactions done in the PBA. Another standout, Locsin, was later traded to Pop Cola during the Commissioner's Cup for Vergel Meneses, but it still didn't help the Kings throughout the season. Caidic replaced Salazar as head coach.

The Kings were eliminated early in the quarterfinals by Tanduay in the 2000 All-Filipino Cup, as well as the Commissioner's Cup. With Brian Green as import for the Governors' Cup, the Kings tried to repeat the same result of the 1999 All-Filipino against Mobiline. But this time though, the Phone Pals were able to beat Ginebra in the elimination game.

In 2001, the Kings drafted Mark Caguioa, a virtual unknown in the Philippines basketball scene. Despite that, Caguioa showed brilliance during the All-Filipino, earning his current nickname The Spark. The Kings finished fifth in the eliminations and faced Purefoods, who had a twice-to-beat advantage, in the quarterfinals. In a repeat of events the past two years, the Kings were able to defeat the TJ Hotdogs twice, after an off-balanced game-winner by Ronald Magtulis, to enter the semifinals. The Kings faced Shell in the semifinals, and Ginebra upset the top-seeded Turbo Chargers in five games to meet sister team San Miguel in the finals. The Kings trailed 0–2 but won the next two games to tie the series at 2–2. In the end though, the Beermen won the series in six games.

The Kings' success in the All-Filipino were not duplicated in the Commissioner's and Governors' Cup, as they were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

After the season, the Kings acquired Erik Menk from Tanduay to solidify their frontline for the 2002 Season. Unfortunately, Menk was loaned to the Philippine team and the Kings struggled throughout the Governors' and Commissioner's Cups, again failing to enter the semis. In the All-Filipino, Menk made his Barangay Ginebra debut, but the team did not enter the quarterfinals.

Rommel Aducul finally made his PBA debut after his years with the Metropolitan Basketball Association. The Kings selected the former San Sebastian College-Recoletos Stag as the No. 2 pick in the 2003 draft. His addition though did not help Ginebra's fortune to change in the 29th season. In the All-Filipino Cup, they were eliminated by eventual champion Talk N Text in the quarterfinals. They also failed to qualify for the Invitational tournament, after being eliminated by eventual champion Alaska in the qualifying rounds. In the season ending Reinforced Conference, they were knocked out by then-sister team and eventual champion Coca-Cola in the quarterfinals.

"The Fast and The Furious"

In the 2004–2005 season, Caguioa, along with his backcourt partner Jayjay Helterbrand, formed a strong tandem, which ABC Sports dubbed "The Fast and The Furious". Their play enabled the Kings to win back-to-back championships.