U/Tex Wranglers

Infobox PBA team
color1=yellow
color2=black
name=U/Tex Wranglers
founded=1975| history=U/Tex Weavers
U/Tex Wranglers
colors=Yellow, black and white
company=Universal Textiles
coach_label=Head coaches
coach=Tommy Manotoc, Glenn McDonald, Caloy Loyzaga
titles=2 (1978 Open Conference, 1980 Open Conference)
withdrew=1983
pattern l=_blackhorizontal|body l=FFFF00|shorts l=FFFF00|title l=Light uniform
pattern d=_yellowhorizontal|body d=000000|shorts d=000000|title d=Dark uniform|

The U/Tex Wranglers were Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) league pioneers - having joined the PBA in its maiden season of 1975. Walter Euyang was the owner of this textile company and was a long-time treasurer of the PBA Board of Governors.

History

MICAA Days

Not much is remembered or known about the U/Tex Weavers in their MICAA days. They were bannered by Larry Mumar, Danny Basilan, and Lucio Lim. Others who donned the Weavers jersey were Ben O'Clarit Jr., Jumbo Salvador, Roehl Nadurata, Clemente Bargas, Gentil Abbas, Orly de los Santos, Domingo Celis and others.

The U/Tex Weavers led by Alfredo Hubalde, Danny Basilan, and Ricky Pineda won the 1973 Dona Edralin Marcos Cup held at the Loyola Center. The Weavers 4-overtime win over Manilabank was a forgotten classic mainly because of the absence of stars who were preparing for the 7th Asian Basketball Confederation and were off their mother teams. Others in that championship Weavers team included were former college standouts Jess Sta. Maria, Jimmy Santos, and Virgilio "Bong" de la Cruz; and centers Roehl Deles and Romeo Franks.

They had their big break in 1974 when BAP President Lito Puyat pardoned players previously banned for game-fixing and awarded to the Weavers former Crispa Redmanizers Danilo Florencio and Rudolf Kutch. Florencio and Kutch debuted in the 1974 National Seniors against MLQU. Overall, they finished 2nd next to champion Yco, by virtue of tie-breaking rules, as a muffed Philip Cezar free throw gave them a win over Crispa.

In the 1974 MICAA, Danny Florencio hit a controversial buzzer-beating layup that gave U-Tex a win over Toyota coming from 20 points down with 7 minutes to go. U-Tex earned the right to face Crispa in the MICAA Finals. Toyota placed the game under protest and the MICAA lords ordered a replay. U-Tex refused the replay and defaulted paving the way for first ever Finals pitting Crispa against Toyota, which was also last Finals of the old MICAA.

Inaugural PBA season

When they joined the league in 1975, they had a lot of notable players on their roster, not as impressive as the Crispa Redmanizers or the Toyota Comets but good enough to be competitive. Their top stars included Danny Florencio, Larry Mumar and Rudy Kutch. These were three of the biggest names in the MICAA and would have been more than enough to make the Weavers championship caliber had Crispa and Toyota not have more stars in their lineups. Other players included Danny Basilan, Egay Gomez, defensive bruiser and rebounding monster Romeo Franks (the person responsible for giving Bogs Adornado the near-career ending knee injury that sidelined him for more than 2 years), Ricky Pineda, Orly Delos Santos, Jimmy Otazu, Roehl Deles, Arturo Valenzona, George Lizares, Virgilio Abarrientos, and Roberto Victorino. Carlos Loyzaga was the first coach of the Weavers in PBA. He replaced Lauro Bay Mumar, who coached the last pro-bound Weavers in the MICAA.

In 1976, a fire sale by Concepcion Motorola franchise, the Wranglers acquired Lim Eng Beng, Jaime Noblezada, Romualdo Cabading, Ed Camus, Alfonso "Boy" Mora, Roy Deles, and Jess Dungo. Dungo was relegated to the inactive list and never played another game in the PBA.

U/Tex, during those early years, were perennial third placers but just couldn't crack the Finals. They had the 7'0 goateed Dan Knight and the Caucasian Lee Haven as their imports in 1976 but they weren't enough to contend against Cyrus Mann and the grandslamming Redmanizers.

In the second conference of the 1977 season though, the first breakthrough came when they became the second team after Mariwasa-Noritake to enter the Finals. The previous conference, the Porcelain Makers achieved this milestone when they toppled Toyota for the right to meet Crispa in the All Filipino. Of course Mariwasa was reinforced by the 6'6 Billy Robinson at that time. When the Wranglers (they changed their name at the start of the 1977 season), who paraded rookies Renato Lobo and Anthony Dasalla of FEU and Solid Mills in the MICAA and veterans Caloy Rodriguez and Tino Reynoso from 7-Up (in a one-sided trade with the Uncolas for Danny Florencio and Jimmy Otazu) plus imports Charley Neal, a 6-2 point-guard, and comebacking Byron "Snake" Jones (taken after Toyota didn't get his services after the 1976 debacle), suited up for the 1977 Open, they went all the way to the Finals, losing the sudden death Game 5 against Crispa and their reinforcements Cyrus Mann and Ricky Hicks. Tommy Manotoc, who was then team manager, was assigned to handle the head coaching job when Loyzaga moved to coach the Tanduay Distillers.

Championship

In 1978, U/Tex finally won its first title - the first for a team not named either Crispa or Toyota. They did this with a bang, avenging their loss to the Redmanizers in the previous Open conference by winning the same version the year after, powered by the same pair of imports. It was lopsided, as the Wranglers swept the Redmanizers (the first in PBA finals history as well) as Jones and Glenn McDonald, who came in on the 5th game of the conference to replace erstwhile import and ex-ABA player Henry Williams, simply took over. For that feat, U/Tex's top local player Lim Eng Beng cracked the Mythical 5 that year.

Post-championship

The 1979 season wasn't a good year for the Wranglers. They lost center Rudolf Kutch to Filmanbank via free agency. . But they came back bigtime the succeeding 1980 season when they brought back Glenn McDonald to combine forces with the 6'8 Aaron James, another legitimate NBA veteran who played with the New Orleans Jazz. Aside from that, they traded for Bogs Adornado in exchange for P 100,000 with Crispa. Manotoc and Andy Jao (then the team's assistant manager and assistant coach) were more than happy to accommodate the two-time MVP although a lot of experts were skeptical of Adornado's capability to come back in his old fiery form. By that time, U/Tex's motley set of local players included, apart from Adornado and Beng, were brothers Ricky and Mollet Pineda, Jimmy Noblezada, Matthew "Fritz" Gaston, Dave Regullano (plucked from Royal Tru Orange). The Wranglers lost best friends Anthony Dasalla and Renato Lobo to Filmanbank via free agency and signed Rodolfo "Ompong" Segura, 1977 ROY Jaime Taguines, and Jesusito "Chito" Martin to fill their shoes.

Two major incidents happened in the 1980 Open Conference that will be forever etched in PBA history books. The first one was the famous quote of Coach Manotoc after Game 4 of the Finals between the Wranglers and the Tamaraws. In that game, with less than 7 minutes left and the Tamaraws ahead by 11 points (U/Tex was ahead in the best of five series, 2-1), Manotoc pulled out all his starters including the two imports in an apparent sign of surrender. After the game, when asked by reporters why he gave up with so much time remaining, Manotoc quipped, "one step back, two steps forward," referring to his tactic of reserving his players' energy in preparation for sudden death game 5. Manotoc was severely criticized for this, to the point that reporters were suggesting to then Commissioner Leo Prieto to sanction him. But two days after, Manotoc justified his actions when Game 5 went into overtime. This is when the second incident happened. Prior to the overtime, the Tamaraws were ahead by 4 points with 16 seconds left. The Wranglers overhauled this 4 point deficit, sent the game into OT, and won the series. Only 8 players suited up for U/Tex in that game, and the Wranglers were on their last ounce of strength that McDonald and Lim fainted after the game. Manotoc just gave the Euyang franchise its second title in three years. Adornado cracked the Mythical 5 for the 3rd time in his PBA career, a classic case of retribution.

The 1981 was another good season - Adornado winning his 3rd MVP award while powering the Wranglers to the 1981 Reinforced Finals. They lost to Crispa, powered by 6'1 Al Green in four games. U/Tex, was already coached by McDonald when Manotoc stepped down only to resurface the succeeding season to coach the San Miguel Beermen. U/Tex was reinforced by the 6'3 Leroy Jackson. The next season, Julius Wayne reinforced the Wranglers in the Reinforced Conference only to end up short. They also brought back James but he struggled as U/Tex was saddled with the penalty of having to play one import at a time brought about by their previous year's championship performance. As such, it was Gilbey's Gin who benefited from this as the prolific import pair of Larry McNeil and Lew Massey brought the La Tondeña franchise to its first finals stint. They lost via a sweep to the rampaging Toyota Super Corollas that were led by imports Andy Fields and Donnie Ray Koonce.

In 1982, U/Tex underwent a major revamp. The Wranglers acquired Gary Vargas from the disbanded Filmanbank franchise, former Ateneo Blue Eagle Steve Watson, Carlson Samlani, bad boy Oscar Rocha, Gregorio "Joy" Dionisio, Evalson Valencia, the late Danilo Pribhdas. Lim Eng Beng, who could not get along with Coach Glenn McDonald was traded to San Miguel for shooter Alex Tan.

U/Tex was brought down by the rising cost of player salaries and was also hit by the economic crisis (Dewey Dee, PhilFinance) that befell the country even before the Ninoy Aquino assassination. The textile business was already bad, brought about by the entry of different players from the international market. The players were spread out to different teams - with Adornado going to Great Taste, Gaston joined SMB prior and later to Crispa, Gary Vargas and Steve Watson to Gilbey's Gin, Samlani gone to San Miguel, Valencia to CountryFair, and Pineda to retirement.

Team trivia

*U/Tex was involved one of the most memorable game in PBA History when they turned defeat into victory in a 16-second, 4 point deficit rally against the mighty Toyota Tamaraws. Aaron James hit a layup to bring the lead down to 2 and Glenn McDonald intercepted a pass by Arnulfo Tuadles and rushed downcourt but was fouled by Francis Arnaiz and sent to the free throw line. McDonald cooly sank the two free throws to send the game into overtime.
*Coach Glenn McDonald, of Boston Celtics fame, was the first American born coach to be employed by a PBA team. McDonald played a key role for the Celtics in their epic Game five victory over the Phoenix Suns in the 1976 NBA Finals.

Team roster (1975-1982)

Members of the PBA's 25th anniversary all-time team in boldface.
*William "Bogs" Adornado
*Lim Eng Beng
*Matthew "Fritz" Gaston
*Jaime "Jimmy" Noblezada
*Renato "Etok" Lobo
*Anthony Dasalla
*Dave Regullano
*Ricky Pineda
*Mollet Pineda
*Larry Mumar
*Danny Florencio
*Caloy Rodriguez
*Tino Reynoso
*Rudolph Kutch
*Danny Basilan
*Egay Gomez
*Romeo Franks
*Ricky Pineda
*Orly Delos Santos
*Jimmy Otazu
*Romualdo Cabading
*Roehl Deles
*Roy Deles
*Alfonso "Boy" Mora
*Jesusito Martin
*Jaime Taguines
*Rodolfo Segura
*Oscar Rocha
*Aurelio "Boy" Clariño
*Rudolf Hines
*Benjamin Chua
*Alberto Ortiz
*Gary Vargas
*Steve Watson
*Carlson Samlani

Imports

*Charles Walker
*Mike Truell
*Dan Knight
*Nate Archibald
*Lee Haven
*Charley Neal
*Byron "Snake" Jones
*Henry Williams
*Glenn McDonald
*Aaron James
*James Robinson
*Darrell Allums
*Francois Wise
*John Kazmer
*Leroy Jackson
*Julius Wayne
*Ira Terrell