League NCAA Team colors Red, gold and black | Joined 1930 Juniors' team Malayan Red Robins | |
 | ||
Location Intramuros, Manila (Srs.)
Pandacan, Manila (Jrs.) | ||
The Mapúa Cardinals are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (Philippines) basketball team of the Mapúa Institute of Technology.
Contents
- Name
- History
- Notable players
- NCAA Season 91 Beach Volleyball Roster
- Track and field
- Other sports
- The MIT Cheerping Cardinals
- MIT Songs and Cheers
- References
The Mapúa Cardinals holds the NCAA record for the most number of General Championships in the seniors division with a total of 20—the last of these championships was won in 1993. At distant second is the Colegio de San Juan de Letran which has 8 seniors titles.
Of the total Seniors GC's won by the Cardinals, 10 were hauled from the 1980s to the mid-1990s in addition to 3 (out of a total 8) in the juniors division over the same period, a testament to the distinguished leadership of the legendary Valerio "Amang" Lopez as Athletic Director.
Name
The Cardinal in the name Mapua Cardinals was adopted from the American baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals of which Don Tomas Mapúa, the founder of the Mapúa Institute of Technology was an avid fan. The Juniors (high school) team adopted the moniker, Red Robins.
History
The Mapúa Cardinals have won the NCAA Seniors Championship five times (in 1949, 1965, 1981, and the back-to-back titles from 1991–92 to 1992-93). The MIT basketball team holds the distinction of producing alumni players who have won the season Most Valuable Player award in the professional Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) for the most number of years. The legendary Freddie Hubalde and Fortunato "Atoy" Co won this award once each in 1977 and 1979, respectively, while Alvin Patrimonio. has won it four times, in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997. All three players are members of the 25 All-Time Greatest PBA Players.
The Mapúa Red Robins, on the other hand have won 18 NCAA championships, the last of which was won during the 2000 season. As a testament to its superb performance in the NCAA juniors division, the Red Robins have the distinction of winning a rare five-year championship run from 1968 to 1972. On October 14, 2016, the Malayan Red Robins, Mapúa's current juniors' team, won their first NCAA juniors basketball championship, ending the San Beda Red Cubs' seven-year title reign.
Notable players
NCAA Season 91 Beach Volleyball Roster
Women's
Men's
Track and field
Another sport where the Mapua Cardinals and Red Robins have demonstrated their dominance in the NCAA is in track and field. Prior to 1953, relay and track and field events were counted separately although Mapuan athletes have already demonstrated a winning tradition. Since 1953 when these events were formalized, MIT has won a total of 25 titles in the seniors division and 6 in the juniors division. Ateneo de Manila follows at a distant second with 17 juniors and 6 seniors titles.
The Mapúa track and field team has produced some notable Philippine sports heroes including:
Several other members of past Philippine national teams are also from MIT.
Other sports
The Mapúa Institute of Technology has also shown great performances in other sports.
As an example, the Mapúa seniors swimming team, coached for many years by Prof. Edilberto Bonus, has won no less than 40 titles in the seniors division and 22 in the juniors. This clearly dominating record is followed only by that of San Beda College with 21 championships in the juniors division but only 8 titles in the seniors events. MIT's tankers last won the seniors crown in 1997 while the last juniors title was won in 1991.
Prof. Bonus, an outstanding Mapuan, is himself a distinguished swimmer having won the Bronze Medal at the first Asian Games that was held in New Delhi, India in 1951. Until his retirement, he was an admired professor of both Mathematics and Physical Education at the Institute. He also served as President of the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association for several years.
The MIT chess team has produced the likes of Eugene Torre, Asia's first grandmaster as well as International Master Renato Naranja, both of whom represented the country in the 1972 Chess Olympiad. In addition, International Master Ildefonso Datu and several National Masters including Ernesto Encarnacion Jr. and Julius Joseph De Ramos also honed their skills with the seniors chess team. Mapua has won a total of 11 NCAA Chess titles in the seniors division, the last being in 2002, and 6 NCAA juniors titles although the last one was in 1996.
MIT leads the NCAA with 16 seniors and 17 juniors titles followed by San Beda with 11 seniors and 14 juniors championships. Mapua's tennis greats include former Philippine and Southeast Asian number one netter Manuel Tolentino who represented the country in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Mapua last won the seniors title in 1994 and the juniors in 1997.
Behind La Salle and San Beda, Mapúa has the third best winning record in football with 7 juniors titles and 12 seniors titles. The MIT football team has produced several players who have played for the Philippine national football team in international competitions.
It has been founded in 1986 by former Philippine team member and 14th Southeast Asian Games silver medalist middleweight jin, Joal Pamintuan (BSME). Pamintuan was part of the Philippine contingent in the SEA Games which was composed of other notable jins like: Arnold Baradi, Stephen Fernandez, Monsour Del Rosario, Ernie Roque, Jobet Morales, and Bobby Vargas. Pamintuan is also a member of the elite Philippine Taekwondo Association's Taekwondo Blackbelt Brotherhood (TBB) batch 5. The first batch of jins formed in 1986 the Mapua Taekwondo Association (MITTA) and is recognized by the Philippine Taekwondo Association. MITTA officially represented Mapua in various interschool and national championships starting in 1986 where it saw action competitively for the first time in The 1986 National Taekwonwondo Championships. Its best performance was at the 1989 Interschool Championships where it fielded two teams: Mapua Gold and Mapua Red. Mapua Gold won the bronze medal when it defeated the Gray team of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in the quarterfinals. The founding members of MITTA were: Emman Arquelada (BSCE/BSEnSE), Ray Arquelada (BSAR), Egie Paredes (BSECE), Gilbert Apolonia (BSAR), Jay Pamintuan (BSEE), who was also a member of TBB batch 8, Tang Manwai (BSECE), Gilbert Dy (BSME), Richard Tan (BSCE), among others. It has been disbanded in 1992 when most of its members have already graduated, including Joal Pamintuan. Taekwondo is taught again in the school after it was acquired by The Yuchengco Group and is currently developing players to represent the school. It is being handle by Noel Almaida, a former member of the Philippine Taekwondo Demo Team and an active member of the Elite Taekwondo BlackBelter Brotherhood (TBB).
The MIT Cheerping Cardinals
The Mapúa Cheerleading Association known informally as the Cheerping Cardinals won the NCAA's first ever cheerdancing competition held in 2004. Since then, they continued to show exhibit competitive performances, including a runner-up finish in the 2007 competition where they lost to the University of Perpetual Help pep squad by a single point.
MIT Songs and Cheers
The staple cheer of the Mapúa Institute of Technology is the cry "Viva Mapúa!"