The 1975 Crispa Redmanizers season was the maiden season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Contents
Colors
Crispa-Floro Redmanizers
(dark)
(light)
First Conference
The Crispa-Floro Redmanizers did not start out with a very strong lineup, fielding in such names as Cesar Ijares, Eric Leano, Alex Azurin, Joel Gomez, Reynaldo Vallejo, Jesus Sta. Maria, Reynaldo Pages, Cristino Calilan and Rey Franco. The Redmanizers lost their very first game to Mariwasa-Noritake, 108-131 on April 13. At that time, the big names were held in the amateurs as a concession to BAP president Lito Puyat, who said he was taking in the stars to the national team, But due to the inaction of Puyat, Danny Floro, Crispa team manager took in his stars to the pro team, and some were dropped from the roster.
After three straight defeats, the Crispa Redmanizers beat CFC Presto for their first win, with Atoy Co, Abet Guidaben, Philip Cezar, Bernie Fabiosa, Freddie Hubalde and Rudy Soriano joining the team. On April 27, William "Bogs" Adornado finally debut by scoring 32 points to lead Crispa past Tanduay, 122-100, at the Loyola Center.
On May 10; The first official Crispa vs Toyota game was played at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. The Redmanizers won, 139-133.
Championship (rivalry w/Toyota)
Crispa advances to the best-of-five title series with Toyota by defeating U-Tex in the first-ever playoff for a finals berth, 121-113 on July 22. The Redmanizers won Game 1 of the finals series but lost to the Comets in four games. The two teams met again in the second conference finals and with the Comets leading the series, 2-1, the Redmanizers did not show up in Game 4 and forfeited the championship in favor of Toyota when the management's request for a change in choosing referees was denied by PBA Commissioner Leo Prieto.
In the Third conference called All-Philippine Championship, the Redmanizers, reinforced by Pete Crotty and Johnny Burks, finally won over Toyota in five games for their first-ever PBA crown. The Crispa Redmanizers got the nod of the year end "Seven-Up All-Filipino Sports Award" for the team of the year.