1991  

Season in Review: 1991

1991 saw Alvin Patrimonio ink a P25.3 million five-year contract with Purefoods and won his first MVP. Purefoods became All-Filipino Champs beating Diet Sarsi under new coach Ely Capacio. A three-time losing finalist in the All-Filipino Conference for the past three years finally cleared the way to dreamland by taking the deciding game number five of a championship series that may well go down in the annals of PBA history as one of the most bitterly fought.Purefoods went down in Games One and Three in a short best of five series with the Sizzlers needing only one more triumph to complete a Cinderella finish, and the Hotdogs one more defeat to continue a nightmarish tradition. After leveling the count at 2-2, Purefoods and Diet Sarsi are now locked in an inevitable collison in Game 5. It rained hard at the ULTRA on the first day of September afternoon yet more than 9,000 people came to see the Hotdogs and the Sizzlers mix it up like there was no tomorrow. In the end the Hotdogs dieted the Sarsi offenses and prevailed, 107-100. With the triumph, Purefoods became only the seventh team in the league history to win an All-Filipino title while Capacio was the ninth coach to steer a team to the championship of this conference. Ironically, this season was the one when the Hotdogs seemed most unlikely to win a crown, least of all the All-Filipino. They had lost Jojo Lastimosa to Alaska and rising reserve Jack Tanuan to Sarsi at the start of the season, then coach Dalupan in the latter part of the first conference. Luckily Elmer Cabahug, whom Purefoods got from Alaska in exchange for Lastimosa, proved he was not a bad trade after all. Playing better than he ever did in Alaska and hitting hardest when it counted most, Cabahug had provided explosive firepower as either shooting guard or a small forward in the crucial matches that got them into the finals and the elite circle of All-Filipino champions.

Roster:

Nelson Asaytono
Elmer "Boy" Cabahug
Glenn Capacio
Harmon Codinera
Jerry Codinera
Rudolfo "Rudy" Enterina (Rookie)
Alvin Patrimonio
Ferdinand "Dindo" Pumaren
Elmer Reyes
Jose Miguel "Joey" Sta. Maria
Leoncio "Jun" Tan Jr.

Departures:

Isabelo "Jojo" Lastimosa (traded to Alaska)
Vegildo "Guido" Babilonia
Edgar "Jack" Tanuan (signed with Swift)
Alfonso "Al Solis" (signed with Swift)
Arturo "Bay" Cristobal
Ludovico "Naning" Valenciano
Bernard "Bernie" Fabiosa

Imports:

Richard Hollis (1st conference)
Darryl Johnson (1st conference)
Sedric Toney (3rd conference)