Sports Event Flashback : Crispa from Hide-and-Go to Super-Plus Team

When the Crispa-Floro Redmanizers won the MICAA All-Filipino crown last October 15, 1974 at the Araneta Coliseum, it was more than just a basketball victory, more than just another laurel added to the numerous trophies and awards. which the Redmanizers have accumulated through the years. It was a vindication. A vindication for the team which had been torn apart and virtually demolished by the game fixing scandal of 1973. It was also an act of faith made by the players in their affable and easyto-get-along-with team manager, 'Danny' Floro, for without that faith the triumph would have remained only a dream. But more than these, the victory was an affirmation of everything that Mr. Danny Floro has always believed in and stood for: the never-say-die spirit, the will to go on against all odds, dogged perseverance, faith in human nature, and faith in the Almighty. Anyone who is worth his salt in basketball knows that a champion team does not just come about. It is formed and molded out of a thousand and one things, including blood, sweat, and tears. Certainly, a champion team must have a 'creator', an inspirer, a moving spirit. For the Crispa-Floro team, that moving spirit is Danny Floro. What is Danny Floro's magic formula for building a champion team? For the answer, SPORTSHOW hied to Mr. Floro's Pasig office one afternoon after the victory. 'Magic formula?' Floro repeated the question. He laughed and looked around his office, apologized for its cluttered state and finally said, 'I don't think i really have one, but let me think about it a while. You know I've barely had any rest since we won and I'm afraid

I'm still in some kind of state of euphoria. Finally he said: 'It's nothing so magic really; I just try to promote the camaraderie among the players. That's very important. Then I also let them feel that they can come to me anytime for anything. Of course, I have an excellent coach in Baby Dalupan. It's marvelous the way he trains the boys, disciplines them, and keeps them properly conditioned with very regular practices and workouts." To enhance team togetherness, Mr. Floro, on the advice of Coach Dalupan, converted the fourth floor of the Ambassador Bldg, along M.H. del Pilar in Malate, into quarters for the players, 'even when the company couldn't really afford it. The quarters, built in 1970, boast of all the conveniences needed by the team, from a gym for their calisthenics to two full-time cooks on 24-hour duty. For his part, Floro helps to strengthen the team spirit by being both father and friend to his players. His excellent PR comes to the fore when he deals with them. He is generous to a fault with them, and one only had to watch him when he is in the company of his players to realize that the relationship is open, easy, relaxed, and warm. He jokes with them, horses around with them, and constantly challenges them to an even better performance with generous gifts and incentives, the latest of which is a trip abroad either to Japan or the USA as a reward for bagging the MICAA cage crown. The Redmanizers are tentatively slated to leave for Honolulu on Nov. 26 to play three exhibition games against the best Hawaii could ofter. They will stay there for six days. The rapport among the Crispa players is very evident on the court. 

When a member of the team scores a basket his teammates congratulate him and he in turn thanks them for the feed or the assist. If someone makes a mistake he apologizes to teammates, coach, and manager. They even manage to laugh at their mistakes (when they are not too costly) and to exchange a joke or two during lulls in the game. And when a player returns to the bench after a job well done, Floro himself stands up to congratulate him. Perhaps one of the surest proofs of the excellent rapport among the team is the way in which the members help one another keep their temper under control.