Pop Cola Panthers

Pop Cola Panthers
Joined PBA	1990
History	Pop Cola/Diet Sarsi Sizzlers 1990 Diet Sarsi Sizzlers 1991 Swift Mighty Meaties 1992-1994 Sunkist Orange Juicers 1995, 2000 Sunkist Orange Bottlers 1996 Pop Cola 800s 1997-2000 Pop Cola Panthers 2000-2001 Swift Panthers 2001
Team colors	Blue and White
Owner(s)	Joey Concepcion III
Company	Cosmos Bottling Corporation
Head coaches	Yeng Guiao, Derrick Pumaren, Turo Valenzona, Norman Black, Chot Reyes
Championships	4 (1992 Third Conference, 1993 Commissioner's, 1995 All-Filipino, 1995 Commissioner's)
Disbanded	2002
Uniforms
Light uniform Dark uniform

The Pop Cola Panthers is a former Philippine Basketball Association team from 1990-2001 under the ownership of Cosmos Bottling Corporation, a subsidiary of RFM Corporation. Cosmos was sold to Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc., then-owned by San Miguel Corporation (SMC) in 2001 which also includes the acquisition of the PBA franchise. The team was renamed as the Coca-Cola Tigers during the 2002 season.

History

Pop Cola was one of two expansion franchises to enter the league in the 1990 season, joining fellow soft drink rival Pepsi, increasing the number of member teams in the pro league to eight.

In their 12 year stint in the PBA, they were known as the Pop Cola Sizzlers, Sarsi, Swift Mighty Meaty, Sunkist Orange Juicers, Sunkist Orange Bottlers and Pop Cola 800s. The team has used the Pop Cola name from 1997 until their final season in the PBA in 2001, although the team was known as Sunkist in the 2000 Commissioners Cup and was known as the Swift Panthers for the first few games of the 2001 Governors Cup. Their first finals appearance came in 1991 All-Filipino, as Diet Sarsi, lost to corporate rival Purefoods TJ Hotdogs, 3 games to 2 in a Best of Five finals series. The team's first PBA title came in 1992, when Swift defeated 7-Up four games-to-none to win the PBA Third Conference under head coach Yeng Guiao.

The franchise also fielded one of the dominant imports in PBA history in Tony Harris, who scored a PBA record 105 points for Swift when they defeated Ginebra 151-147 in a game held in Iloilo City on October 10, 1992.

In 1993, Swift traded Jack Tanuan, Ricric Marata and Andy De Guzman for Sta.Lucia in exchange for their former players in their PABL days, Vergel Meneses and Zaldy Realubit, and this gave Swift its second championship in the newly-called Commissioners Cup, gaining revenge over their business rival, Purefoods Oodles, 4 games to 2, the Hotdogs were powered by best import Ronnie Thompkins. the team was title-less the following season in which head coach Yeng Guiao decided to moved over to Pepsi Mega, and Derek Pumaren taking over the coaching chores, Swift made it to the finals in the season-ending Governor's Cup, losing to Alaska in six games.

The 1995 season became a banner year for the team. Under the name Sunkist Orange Juicers, the team almost achieved a rare back-to-back winning the All-Filipino and Commissioner's Cup titles before finishing third overall in the season-ending Governor's Cup. The team was bannered by season MVP Vergel Meneses, Bonel Balingit, Boybits Victoria, Kenneth Duremdes and Rudy Distrito (who was banned in 1995 for his infamous hard foul on Alaska rookie Jeffrey Cariaso during the All-Filipino finals series).

Sunkist/Pop Cola suffered hard times in the 1996 and 1997 seasons before their fortunes changed in 1998 when the team won a few third place finishes under head coach Norman Black, who even played one game during the Commissioner's Cup to lead the 800s to a third-place finish in the said tournament.

Pop Cola suffered two more losing seasons in 1999 and 2000 seasons but had a decent run in their final PBA season in 2001 under head coach Chot Reyes, copping third place honors in the All-Filipino Conference.

The franchise ceased to exist when the Cosmos Bottling Corporation, a subsidiary of the RFM Corporation, was sold to the San Miguel Corporation. San Miguel acquired the rights to the franchise and rechristened it as the Coca-Cola Tigers. Past records of the Pop Cola team were removed from the current Tigers squad, which totally removes Pop Cola's lineage to the Coca-Cola team.

A Pop Cola squad was supposed to be revived in the Philippine Basketball League in 2003 with future Air21 Express forward Ranidel de Ocampo leading the team, but was disallowed by the mother company of Coca-Cola.

Season-by-season records

Legend
Champion       Runner-up       Semifinalist

Season	Conference	Team name	Overall record			Finals
			W	L	%
1990	First Conference	Pop Cola Sizzlers	10	28	.263
	All-Filipino Cup
	Third Conference
1991	First Conference	Diet Sarsi Sizzlers	31	27	.534
	All-Filipino Cup					Purefoods 3, Sarsi 2
	Third Conference
1992	First Conference	Swift Mighty Meaties	29	28	.509
	All-Filipino Cup
	Third Conference					Swift 4, 7-Up 0
1993	All-Filipino Cup		46	25	.648
	Commissioner's Cup					Swift 4, Purefoods 2
	Governors Cup					San Miguel 4, Swift 1
1994	All-Filipino Cup		40	33	.548
	Commissioner's Cup
	Governors Cup					Alaska 4, Swift 2
1995	All-Filipino Cup	Sunkist Orange Juicers	49	23	.681	Sunkist 4, Alaska 3
	Commissioner's Cup					Sunkist 4, Alaska 2
	Governors Cup
1996	All-Filipino Cup		16	22	.421
	Commissioner's Cup	Sunkist Orange Bottlers
	Governors Cup
1997	All-Filipino Cup	Pop Cola Bottlers	14	24	.368
	Commissioner's Cup
	Governors Cup
1998	All-Filipino Cup	Pop Cola 800s	27	27	.500
	Commissioner's Cup
	Centennial Cup
	Governors Cup
1999	All-Filipino Cup		8	25	.242
	Commissioner's Cup
	Governors Cup
2000	All-Filipino Cup		6	9	.400
	Commissioner's Cup	Sunkist Panthers	4	6	.400
	Governors Cup	Pop Cola Panthers	2	7	.222
2001	All-Filipino Cup		11	10	.524
	Commissioner's Cup		3	7	.300
	Governors Cup	Swift Hotdogs	10	10	.500
Overall record			306	311	.496	4 championships

Players of note

PBA's 25 greatest players

• Ato Agustin - "The Atomic Bomb"
• Johnny Abarrientos #14 - "The Flying A"
• Kenneth Duremdes - "Captain Marbel"
• Bernie Fabiosa #51 - "The Sultan of Swipe" played his final year in the league with the team in 1991.
• Jojo Lastimosa - "Jolas"
• Vergel Meneses - "The Aerial Voyager"

Other notable players

• Nelson Asaytono #11 - "The Bull" / "The Dynamo"
• Bonel Balingit #12 - drafted in 1993 he was the tallest player in the PBA standing at 6'9". This was later eclipsed in 1995 by 7'0" E.J. Feihl.
• Nic Belasco
• Dickie Bognot #24
• Sonny Cabatu #5
• Aldrin Cruz
• Ricky Cui #6
• Andy De Guzman #13 & 26
• Rudy Distrito #17 - "The Destroyer"
• Rudy Hatfield - "H-Bomb"
• Nap Hatton #18
• Pido Jarencio #25 - "The Fireman"
• Poch Juinio
• Joey Loyzaga #14
• Ricric Marata #23
• Romulo Marata
• Mar Morelos
• Cadel Mosqueda #48
• Jasper Ocampo-98-99"back to back 3pt champ"
• Jon Ordonio
• Jake Pelaez #12
• Ali Peek
• Eugene Quilban
• Zaldy Realubit #35
• Elmer Reyes #4
• Eric Reyes #10
• Marte Saldaña #7 - "The Mighty Mite"
• Terry Saldaña #17 - "Plastic Man"
• Al Solis #8
• Jun Tan #16
• Jack Tanuan † #41 - "The Ripper"
• Boybits Victoria - 1994 PBA Rookie of the Year
• Yoyoy Villamin #13 - "The Bicolano Superman"
• Vic Villarias #18

Imports

• ANDERSON, Michael
• ELLIS, Rosell (USA)
• GRANDISON, Ronnie
• HARRIS, Tony
• HOUSTON, Byron
• HUGHES, Alfredrick
• FOWLKES, Tremaine
• LIBERTY, Marcus
• LLOYD, Lewis - member of the 1986 Houston Rockets team (lost to eventual 1986 NBA Champs Boston Celtics)
• REYES, Antonio - (2000 draft pick from Australia)
• SANDERS, Mike
• SASSER, Jason
• SMITH, Steven
• TOMPKINS, Ronnie
• WATSON, Jamie

Preceded by (start)

PBA teams genealogies 1990-2001

Succeeded by Coca-Cola Tigers