THE LAST DANCE: The 1977 NCAA Season

The core of the 1977 Blue Eagle squad (in ALL CAPS) is in this 1975 team

Front Row L-R:JOY CARPIO, MALING ESTRELLA, STEVE WATSON, Ricky Lacson PADIM ISRAEL

2nd Row L-R: Fr. Cipriano Unson (Athletic Moderator),Johnny Perlas, Max Estrada, Jerry Verzosa, Louie Rabat, CHITO NARVASA, Bobby Tesoro

3rd Row L-R: Bong Go (Asst. Coach) M. Villamor, Joey Pengson, FRITZ GASTON, PONS VALDEZ, Ike Austria, Sonny delos Santos, Baby Dalupan

Photos Courtesy of the NCAA & San Beda College Library sponsored by Petron

The 1977 – 1978 Ateneo Blue Eagles team had the core intact with six players playing in their last year namely team captain Pons Valdez,  Joy Carpio, Fritz Gaston, Padim Israel and Maling Estrella. Steve Watson was now on his third playing year while the sophomores were Louie Rabat, Eu Puyat and Bambi Kabigting.  The rookies were Ogie Narvasa, Rayboy Narvasa, Jojo Gamboa, Danny Daez and Diqui Eustaquio.  Twelve of the players came from the Ateneo High school while Joy Carpio and Fritz Gaston changed their UST address to Katipunan. Padim Israel on the other hand was recruited from Ateneo de Cebu after seeing him play in their intramurals. This year the NCAA decided to ban PBA Coaches from coaching NCAA teams. Insiders said that this move was to deprive “the Maestro” Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan to coach the Blue Eagles. Baby Dalupan was the most successful coach in the country that time. Championships in the UAAP, the NCAA and the PBA were tucked to his belt. His successor was Adriano “Bong” Go who has a great basketball mind and a John Wooden disciple but lacked the experience and success of Coach Baby. This team was loaded with firepower and at the same time, it marked the first time that three brothers were playing in the same team namely Chito, Ogie and Rayboy Narvasa. During that time and up until now there were two brothers that played, some had twins in recent years you had the Ravena Brothers, the Nieto twins, a couple of years back were the Sison twins but there was never a time that three brothers played for a team in the NCAA nor in the UAAP.

Ateneo's scoring machine in the 70's

The NCAA format back then was the team that topped the first round is automatically seeded to the finals and if the same team topped the second round then they are the automatic champions. If another team wins the second round then they will fight it out with the first round champion in a best of three series. As luck would have it, the first round encounter between the undefeated Blue Eagles and undefeated San Beda Red lions would go San Beda’s way because Watson, Gaston and Carpio were all out of the country playing for the National team. That gave the first round pennant to San Beda. In the second round, the three were all back and the Ateneo got the second round pennant to arrange a best of three showdown. The San Beda Red Lions then had future PBA players in Chito Loyzaga, Frankie Lim, JB Yango, twins Joel and Noel Guzman and Chuck Barriero.  Steve Watson was unstoppable in game one as the scored 47 points to lead the Blue Eagles to a 105 – 99 win. Before the start of game two, the President of both schools appealed to the crowd not to hurl things on the court. Ateneo President Fr. Joe Cruz spoke to the crowd and said “People should stop throwing things on the court and both teams should display sportsmanship especially since this is the last game of the season!” People were saying then that the phrase “last game of the season” did not go well with the San Beda crowd and this in a way provoked them to throw even more. The throwing did not stop at all. Worse than that, the Red Lions changed tactics and played slowdown basketball, limited Watson and prevailed 71 – 68 to set up a game three. 

Not the Trophy we wanted to take home

VIOLENCE  - CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE NCAA KIND

"Hooliganism and violence marked and marred the games.  Aside from what appeared to be then customary rumbles after every game, the violence escalated inside the playing arena.  Fans and supporters of teams from the upper levels - bleachers and upper box, were hurling dangerous objects to the playing court - padlocks, golf balls, coins, etc.  It became so precarious for the spectators, mostly alumni, seated at the lower levels - lower box and ringside, that they would be watching the games with open umbrellas.  It was an odd sight in a basketball game.  Despite pleas from the school heads for their students and alumni to stop the hurling, the throwing did not stop in games 1 and 2, thus forcing the organizers to play Game 3 under closed doors.” That was what rookie Ogie Narvasa said on why the third game of the 1977 finals was held under closed doors.   Then came that fateful closed-door game at an empty Araneta coliseum. Players said it was odd to play in a venue that was so quiet. They missed the drums, they missed their school chants and cheers and all they can hear were their coaches and the other team’s coach. The game was close all through out and in the dying seconds of the game the Red Lions held a 76 – 75 lead with the Blue Eagles on the offensive. Team Captain Pons Valdez, playing in his last game as a Blue Eagle, drove down the lane and was called for a charging foul on San Beda’s Al Alipante. In the next play, JB Yango hit another free throw 77 – 75 to settle end the 18-year title drought of the San Beda Red Lions. On that day the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the Araneta Coliseum both felt empty! After that, the University President Fr. Joe Cruz announced that Ateneo is pulling out of the NCAA. In the NCAA hooliganism and violence were totally contrary to the concept of brotherhood and sportsmanship.  Threat of injury, or even death, was clear.  There was no reason for the rumbles after the games.  Cheers were of insults, curses and threats - this is very uncharacteristic of students in academic institutions, some of which were Catholic schools. 

The Caption says it all

The violence prompted the Ateneo to leave the NCAA.  After Ateneo left, violence in the NCAA continued. In 1980, the violence reached its peak when the Letran Knights and De La Salle Green Archers met at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. In the first half, the organizers discontinued the game because of the fight that started from the fans and supporters of both teams. As written in the newspapers then, the supporters of the two teams ripped apart the chairs screwed to the ground and threw them as weapons. Rizal Memorial coliseum was a mess. The BAP ordered the cancellation of the NCAA season and no champion was declared for the 1980 season. The De La Salle University left the NCAA because of the same violence that prompted Ateneo to withdraw.

PLEASE CLICK NEXT BLOG ENTRY: THE SWITCH:Goodbye NCAA, HELLO UAAP

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