The 'New" Bernard Harris: Walking Tall with Crispa (Sports Weekly, 1979)

Sports Weekly Magazine

November 30-December 7, 1979

Peter N. Acosta

 

 

            He got in the Crispa lineup via a majority vote of all the players of the Pasig ballclub, winning handily over Norm Kelly of the Honda Wildcats, and in his first game with his new team, Bernard Harris, formerly of Tanduay, repaid his new teammates’ vote of confidence with a performance that showed he just might be what the doctor ordered as the replacement for the discredited Cyrus Mann.

 

            “I’m happy tonight,” said the Crispa Walk Tall Jeansmakers’ end-of-the-season acquisition whose first stint in the PBA was with the defunct Seven-Up ballclub in 1976 before he made the switch the following year to the Esquires.

 

            If Harris was happy, there was no doubt that the Crispa front office men – owner Danny Floro and Coach Baby Dalupan – were doubly more so.

 

 

 

            For in his first time with the Walk Tall team, Harris proved his awesome potential as Irv Chatman’s partner when he anchored Crispa to a 116-88 romp over the second conference champion, Royal Tru Orange.

 

            Aside from banging a game-high 31 points, Harris hauled down 22 rebounds and came through with three assists.

 

            But what made Harris’ debut with Crispa all the more remarkable was that he outrebounded the indomitable Otto Moore – 22 to 20 – and played so smoothly with a team whose play patterns he was unfamiliar with.

 

            And Harris admits that despite his crackerjack showing for Crispa against Royal, he felt he had not completely gotten into the swing of the Walk Tall Jeansmakers’ game.

 

            “I’m still trying to blend with the team,” he said, while all around him, his new teammates exulted on the way he had more than ably filled in for Mann, whose contract was rescinded by the Crispa management towards the end of the last PBA conference when it realized it could not get him – despite earnest efforts – to kick his old drug habit.

 

            Harris went on: “It takes a while to blend with a new team. Crispa has an entirely different style from Tanduay. Although both are running teams, I believe Crispa has a little more depth and a little more sock.”

           

            Asked if before Crispa’s game with Royal he received any specific instructions from Coach Dalupan, Harris smiled. “None really. No specific instructions.”

 

            So how was he able to perform so well against Otto Moore, Royal’s dominating slotman?

 

            “Oh that,” he said. “Well, I’ve always felt that to cut down Moore’s effectiveness in the rebounds, you’ve got to box him out. I think I did that tonight.”

 

            On the observation that he appeared to have improved on his field goal performance with Crispa, Harris attributed this to his being able “to take more outside shots with confidence…feeling more at ease taking such shots with Crispa.”

 

 

 

            Along with the veteran Gene Moore, Harris played for the first time with Tanduay in the 1977 second conference but he never finished the season when he suffered an arm injury when the Esquires took on the Toyota Tamaraws in an out of town game in Bacolod.

 

            Last year, it was David Payne who teamed up with Moore for Tanduay, thus Harris was not with the Esquires when they made the finals of the 1978 third conference.

 

            But this time around, things may be different for Harris.

 

            He figures to play in a title playoff – with Crispa.

 

            “I think that if we continue playing the way we did against Royal, we have a pretty good chance of making the finals,” he said.

 

            Asked if his joining Crispa came after long-drawn negotiations, Harris said, “it was not hard reaching a decision to play with Crispa.”

 

            “I understand the whole team voted for me,” he continued. “I can only hope I can keep up the kind of game I played tonight.”

 

            As to his future plans or specifically, if he’d consider to continue playing for Crispa, Harris said, “that depends, but first, we’ve got to talk.”

 

            In his 29-game stint with Tanduay in 1977, Harris averaged 24 points a game, hauled down 282 rebounds, had 22 shot blocks, averaged 47.14% from the field and 66.67% from the free throw line.

 

            In this year’s second conference, he raised his average to 26.62 points per game, was 11^th in the list of rebound leaders with an average of 12.4 rebounds per game, seventh in the list of shot block leaders with 2.4 blocks per game and logged 32 minutes and 26 seconds per game in playing time.

 

            Because Tanduay didn’t make the round of four, Harris sat out the homestretch part of the second conference race. But this time around, he figures to be there and not only there, but at the forefront of Crispa’s vaunted bid to regain a PBA conference championship it last won in 1976.

The Inside Story: Why Mann Got Dumped (Sports Weekly, 1979)

Sports Weekly Magazine

November 2-9, 1979

Peter N. Acosta

 

 

            It must have been an agonizing decision for Crispa owner and manager, Valeriano (Danny) Floro to make.

 

            The man, after all, has been as much a part of Crispa’s glory-filled year of 1976 as Atoy Co, Bogs Adornado, Philip Cezar and the rest of the team’s talented local performers who made possible the Redmanizers’ unequalled grand slam year in the PBA.

 

            But obviously left with no choice and spurred by the team and the company’s higher interest, Danny finally wielded last week the axe that cut off the celebrated Cyrus Mann from the Crispa ballclub and sent the 6’10 former star of Brazil’s Palmeiras team packing his bags for home.

 

            In an announcement that hardly caught by surprise those privy to the turmoil that had beset the Crispa team, Floro announced that the company had decided to rescind Mann’s playing contract which would have gone on to the third conference.

 

            He gave as the principal reason “the deterioration of Mann’s game,” which he said severely affected Crispa’s semifinal round performance and eventually cost the Redmanizers, winners of the 1979 PBA All-Filipino and a candidate for the grand slam, a berth in the best of five championship playoffs of the second conference.

 

            Breaking his silence for the first time on how things have gone between Mann and the rest of the team since the decline in Mann’s playing condition and ability began to drag down the whole team and all but rendered Crispa a single-import team, Floro said.

 

            “Even before our crucial game with Royal Tru Orange, our players had appealed to us not to field Mann but we still gave him a chance despite this.

 

            The “crucial game” of which Floro spoke was Crispa’s second round game in the double round semis which the Redmanizers needed to win to at least earn a tie for a finals berth.

 

 

 

            But the Redmanizers lost that game, 110-101, and earlier, another crucial encounter with the Toyota Tamaraws whose conquest of RTO last Saturday ultimately gave the Tams the last finals berth while at the same time leaving the Redmanizers out in the cold in the title playoffs for this tournament where they were runner-up last year.

 

            In the game which they lost to Toyota, Mann was only able to contribute six points and three rebounds and was hardly a match for Otto Moore in the battle of rebounds.

 

            In its last semifinal round game with Great Taste, Crispa dispensed with the services of Mann, who, significantly, is listed in the elimination round records as the leader in shot blocks with 73 for 15 games or an average of 4.9 blocks per game.

 

            But although Floro revealed the principal reason for Mann’s ouster from the team, he chose to remain silent on what caused this once dominating figure in the PBA to decline.

 

            From sources inside the Crispa camp, however, SWM learned that even before he had a run-in with his teammates, Mann had been missing a lot of practice games. On the day before Crispa played RTO, SWM learned that Mann refused to jog around the hardcourt when ordered. A confrontation with Coach Baby Dalupan ensued, at the height of which Mann walked out.

 

            SWM’s sources said that repeatedly, Mann had been asked to get into shape, to train, but he repeatedly hedged and gave excuses as well as assurance that he’s fine.

 

            His performance in the semis, however, showed otherwise.

 

            As to what apparently led to the decline in Mann’s condition and his interest to play 100 percent all the time, SWM sources learned one probable reason for this is Mann’s having gone again into the dangerous “habit” which he had embraced in the United States and which many felt was responsible for the delay in his acceptance of Crispa’s invitation for him to play another season with the Redmanizers.

 

            “He just can’t kick that old habit of his,” said one Crispa insider.

The Surprising Mr. Mann (Sports Weekly, 1976)

Sports Weekly Magazine

December 31, 1976-January 7, 1977

Alice Lopez Lim

 

 

Early in the PBA series, the performance of Cyrus Mann for the Crispa Denims left much to be desired.

 

            The crowd wasn’t pleased at all by his rather lackluster showing.

 

            There were acid comments: “Is that the powerful Brazil Palmeiras player who wowed the audience during their stint here?” “Yun ba ang ilalaban kay “Snake” Jones? Mukhang lampa, eh…”

 

            For during the first games, Cyrus Mann was a far, far cry from the Cyrus Mann who, in the last five games (the best of five) in the third conference, blocked shots, plucked rebounds so easily, measured “Snake” Jones for size and emerged superbly victorious most of the time; gave valuable assists to his teammates, and all in all, performed so remarkably well that he disconcerted and surprised and amazed even some of those who were rather cynical of what he could do for the quintet.

 

            But Cyrus Mann at the outset was bedeviled by a few problems. He even played once right after arriving from the airport and he looked miserable and woefully unfit for pro ball games by vomiting and throwing out right on the floor that Coach Baby Dalupan had to replace him right away.

 

            But the ensuing games were different: Mann became more conscious of his performance for the Crispa Denims. 

 

 

 

            Articles and news reports twitted him then: his lackluster, lackadaisical attitude inside the hard court was roundly criticized.

 

            And soon, like a dutiful ballplayer, Cyrus Mann toed the line – and he wasn’t acting like any prima donna trying to show the rest that he was an “import” and that, perhaps, he is entitled to some special treatment.

 

            For it was even reported that Baby Dalupan minced no words in calling him down now and then. And proof that the coach and the manager, Danny Floro, wield authoritative hands over their team was the seeming metamorphosis that characterized Cyrus Mann’s blending with the team.

 

            And before long, Cyrus was just “one of the boys,” – no one special. Just like any other player of the Crispa quintet: like Atoy Co, Freddie Hubalde, Rey Pages, Tito Varela, Philip Cezar, others.

 

And during practice games, Mann went through the whole runtime, doing what he was told by the coach, following instructions.

 

            Doubtless, the “blending” with the team came in most appropriately during the crucial moments when his help was needed vitally.

 

            For during the last five games, Mann was a “towering pillar of power” right at center; there he provided the right kind of defense – easily blocking sure shots (of course, there would be those goaltending violations), preventing the opponent from making those easy layups, for he was there, a gangling, but still powerful pillar of defense; and he excelled in assists, snatching those rebounds (whether in the offensive or defensive rebounds) and subsequently passing to a teammate.

 

            At times, he threw a wild pass or a too-strong pass – which his confrere couldn’t retrieve. And there would be a turnover of the leather.

 

            But on the whole, Mann’s reassuring performance won for him the admiration and camaraderie of his teammates. Even during those tensed, tension-filled last minutes, Mann would be there, doing his thing, providing Crispa it’s undeniable sock.

 

            And after the hard-won trophy was given to the squad, the jubilant but perspiring Mann did a jig with his wife, Cotrie Mann, while the television cameras of NMPC GTV-4 focused on the overall scene of excitement and jubilation.

 

            Later, at the dressing room, Cyrus Mann was heard to have said, “I would rather play for Crispa than for an NBA team…”

 

            Whether the remark was uttered impulsively in the fevered heat of just winning a championship, one couldn’t right away ascertain. Suffice it to say that Mann, wiping his perspiration and answering questions from the reporters, showed that like the rest of his teammates, his heart was really there – in winning and copping that prized trophy for his quintet.

 

            There’s little doubt where his heart belongs: it belonged to Crispa at that right and precise moment. He was one of the boys, whooping it up, visibly excited and elated over the triumph manifesting his interest and affinity for the team which beat its arch rival, Toyota, in grand slam fashion.

 

            And later, at the victory party held at the “Anong Balita” coffee shop of the Makati Hotel, Mann was there, as jubilant and excited as the rest. Enjoying the drinks and the food.

 

 

 

            At a table with Cotrie, his wife, were Bill Bunton and the latter’s wife, Linda. And there was even a time when the good-looking April S. Cezar, Philip’s better-half, requested Mann to pose with her. And with wholesome good nature, Mann readily acquiesced, posing with April for a photograph with everybody cheering them.

 

            Yes, he was going home for Christmas, he told this writer. He’d go to Detroit, spend Christmas probably with his own family, his parents, his brothers and sisters, his kin.

 

            Would he come back to the Philippines, one wishes to know. Yes, in all probability, he’d come back. And no one would probably be happier than Danny Floro, Baby Dalupan and the rest of the bunch.

 

            Let’s take a look at some statistics during the best-of-five and see how Cyrus Mann fared.

 

            In five games, he played a total time of 158.35. His field goal attempts totaled 78. He converted 41 of those field goals for a 52.56 percentage.

 

            At the free throw line, he made 20 out of 30, for a 66.67%. He made 102 points in those five games, with an average of 20.4.

 

            In the rebounds department, Mann had 39 defensive rebounds as against 8 offensive rebounds.

 

            In the assist department, Mann completed 5 passing assists, with 4 passes not completed. He blocked 13 times, stole one, and had one deflection for his team. He provided screens all for 5 times, chalked up 3 in loose ball recoveries for a total of 32. He committed 23 errors, however, and also made 10 fouls.

 

            In the earlier round of five, Mann topscored for his quintet. He had a “hot hand” then, as compared to the others. In the best of five, it was Atoy Co (who should get the MVP award if they apt to give it this year) who topscored for a whopping 159 points. That is, Co converted 65 out of 13 field goal attempted and at the free throw line, Co was unbeatable with his conversion of 29 out of 36 for an 80.55%.

 

            But going back to Mann, his presence at the center post was undoubtedly a big contributing factor to Crispa’s continuous momentum towards the championship. The other players no doubt were daunted, “for his presence, there was of course, intimidating force.” Fact is, the sure shots of the others from the opponent’s side seemed easily deflected or went haywire because of Mann’s manning at the pivot post.

 

            Mann has enjoyed his brief stay in the Philippines, it was obvious. He has made friends, Cotrie, his wife, admires Atoy Co- “he’s such a good player.”

 

            Mann, whose other brother, Allen (or is it Alan???) is just so tall and is already showing skill as a ballplayer, has a terrific sense of humor. He jokes and kids around with friends.

 

            He loves swimming aside of course from playing ball. He is easy to talk with: he’s not at all standoffish or one who’s difficult to converse with. He shows his appreciation of what is written about him by simply asking where the article would be coming out. Doubtless, Danny Floro will sign him back again next year – when the PBA season commences with the imports gracing varied quintets.

 

            “Okay ‘yang taong ‘yan….,” a Crispa player says.

 

            When he dribbles, he looks loose-limbed, as if it’s easy to thwart him. But make no mistake of trying to steal the ball from him: he’d easily stash away the leather from the opponent’s reach and pass it off to someone. And when he jumps to snatch away those rebounds from the rest, his long arms enfolding the spheroid, he seems to do it with deceptive ease. But he occasionally throws wild passes; too strong for his colleagues and too high for some of them.

 

            Will he join the Boston Celtics (of which he was a draftee, it was earlier reported) when he goes back?

 

            Maybe yes. Maybe not. But whatever happens in the near future, Cyrus Mann will certainly fit in on whatever plans the Crispa management has for him. And from the looks of it, the genial manager is only too willing to dangle anew the contract for this “towering and lanky pillar” who contributed immensely to the victorious end of a too long protracted league.

 

            Meanwhile, Mann’s “image” – rather tarnished by none too complementary reports about him, is now that of an “adored hero” by the countless fans of the Crispa Denims, indubitably, “the best team in the PBA” and second to none.

No Records for Dalupan (Sports Weekly, 1976)

Sports Weekly Magazine

November 19-26, 1976

Bitoy Bonifacio

 

 

This year will wind up as one of the most fruitful for coach Baby Dalupan, but the cunning Crispa team mentor would be looking back at 1976 with diminished fondness.

 

            Dalupan actually has a lot to cheer about. There is the second straight NCAA basketball crown he helped win for Ateneo last month, the PBA All-Filipino title and the expected (at this reporting) PBA Open Conference plum. But despite all, Dalupan is likely to shake his seasoned head when he reminisces about year 1976. It is a year of near-misses – at big basketball records.

 

            Dalupan failed to keep a date with basketball history when he missed scoring an unprecedented 14-game sweep of the NCAA basketball series by a hairline (no thanks to eventual runner-up San Beda); then last Tuesday, he again failed at a record try when Toyota coach Dante Silverio prevented him from achieving what could have been the first ever three-game sweep of a PBA best-of-five title series.

 

            So, 1976 will go down as just another year for Dalupan who has been so used to clinching crowns, although often the hard way.

 

            However, this is also likely to be an all-revealing year for Dalupan as far as the Crispa lineup is concerned. He is more convinced now that the Redmanizers will always be the Redmanizers. They can’t be expected to clinch, try their best, whenever the odds are on them.

 

            Fighting hard all the way once favored would be terribly un-Crispa-like. Or winning a major crown trouble-free, for that matter.

 

 

 

            In their quest for a third straight PBA title alone, Dalupan had to patch up a series of team troubles – with fatherly backing of Don Pablo Floro and son Danny Floro, Crispa team manager – in order to maintain their status as the country’s number one ballclub. First, there was the problem with Cyrus Mann, the prodigious team pillar – who, at the earlier stage of his stint here, had refused to stay put, travelled back and forth to the United States, while his teammates were left doubting about his worth and intentions. Fed up, Dalupan gave Mann an ultimatum – stay put or pack up and go home. Mann, roused to his right pro basketball senses, is definitely playing one of the finest seasons of his young career.

 

            Similarly challenging was the overly-publicized team troubles, which had threatened to go out of hand. Dalupan insisted on his own way, and the problem was promptly resolved.

 

            William Adornado, his skipper and most reliable point-producer, injured his knee. This could have proved crippling had it happened to a lesser team and to a lesser coach. But Dalupan solved the Adornado problem when he fashioned out new plays – with emphasis on mobility and teammanship – to make Crispa doubly deadly at the clutches.

 

            What Dalupan would not however get rid of is the often suspiciously, lethargic performance of his mainstays whenever the team plays an overwhelming favorite.

 

            What’s commendable about Dalupan is that, despite the troubles, and his countless titles, he has also grown into a good loser.

 

            In their latest setback – in game number three of the PBA Open best-of-five series – Dalupan did not blame the referees, although there were some obviously stupid calls which had helped crippled their bid for a record sweep of the championship. He instead blamed the setback on his boys, which he said, failed to sustain their fierce pace.

 

            “Lumamig na naman sa huli,” Dalupan explained amid funeral silence in the Crispa dugout.

 

            Coach Dante Silverio, on the other hand, also had reasons to cry over officiating, but he overdid it when he blamed their two crucial setbacks in the finals on referees.

 

            “We were playing against seven men,” complained the usually cool Silverio. “We could not win any game, no matter what, if the referees continue to pick on my boys.”

 

 

 

            Sadly though, Silverio’s distrust for the referees had also affected his boys. They too became touchy on the floor, protesting every call – no matter what.

 

            “Kailangan diyan (sa Toyota), magpatayo ng sarili nilang liga,” said a disenchanted sideliner.

 

            They were not supposed to, but Toyota fans blamed the referees for the deterioration of Robert Jaworski’s temper in the series. A seasoned internationalist, and a top contender for the MVP award in the last All-Filipino series, Jaworski brought out anew some of his nasty amateur habits – barging his way with a karate kick, raking opponents with a fist, etc.

 

            And once, as reported by Recah Trinidad in the Evening Express, he refused Bernard Fabiosa’s peace offer when the Crispa sentinel extended a friendly hand after the game.

 

            “Siya na ang nanuntok, siya pa ang ayaw makipagkamay,” Fabiosa said of the Big J.

 

            But enough of that. Back to the ballgame.

 

            Crispa for the first time in the series, suddenly found itself sorely missing Bogs Adornado when the fabulous Redmanizer scoring machine cooled off, chug-chug-chugged in the closing quarter of Game 3.

 

            Suddenly, the Redmanizers were in trouble again. But, unfortunately for Coach Silverio, a Redmanizer in trouble is terribly hard to contain.

That's the Way Crispa Likes It (Sports Weekly, 1976)

Sports Weekly Magazine

September 24-October 1, 1976

Bitoy Bonifacio

 

 

            The man least concerned about the reports of renewed troubled supposedly rocking the Crispa team is the team owner himself.

 

            After going over anti-Crispa stories earlier in the week, Danny Floro smiled amusedly, leaned on his soft office chair and stroked his happy belly.

 

            “I don’t know where they have been getting all these stories,” Floro said. “I am amused. Nakakatuwa. I should be the first one to know if there is really alarming trouble in the team.”

 

The latest anti-Crispa line came from Tony Siddayao, a close friend of Toyota team owner Dante Silverio. Siddayao reported: “They (the Denims) are in miserable shape physically, chiefly because of a reluctance to put some effort in their training and because of depressed morale.”

 

            A seasoned campaigner, Floro has more than gotten used to all these.

 

            He said: “It’s very likely that we would again encounter minor problems along the way, but that’s just normal. I don’t see any reason why I should be overly concerned about this. We have bigger things to tackle.”

 

 

 

            What Floro is proud about is his players’ ability to patch up their own problems, which obviously has been part of the Crispa formula for success. Sportswriter Recah Trinidad was direct to the point when he commented: “If it has to be another Crispa show, then expect the Denims to encounter rough sailing, plod through dissensions and petty squabbles. It would be terribly un-Crispalike if they would clinch another major title trouble-free. Problems seem to be a major ingredient in the Crispa formula for success, the players changing inexplicably from mediocre to superb overnight.”

 

            Crispa is a team known for its practical promptness. Coach Baby Dalupan’s cagers have always made it a point to be at peak form at championship time, never ahead of schedule.

 

            “I don’t know how coach Dalupan does it,” Floro said. “But I myself believe that a team should never be at its best too early in the league.”

 

            If Crispa encountered any considerable trouble at all in the current PBA Open, it has been with Cyrus Mann.

 

            “You see after Mann kept on returning to the US, the other players got bothered. They were not sure if Mann liked to play with us or not.”

 

            “But that, I believe, has all been solved” said Floro. “He (Mann) has vowed to cooperate. He has been working out regularly. Nakikipagbiruan pa sa mga players.”

 

 

 

            What are the chances of Crispa in the current PBA series?

 

            “I am quite confident we will make it to the round of four,” Floro said. “the other teams that will make it are Toyota and U/Tex. The fourth qualifier is still a big question mark. Kung sino ang swertihin.”

 

            Will it be another Crispa-Toyota championship duel?

 

            “You never can tell, it’s hard to tell,” Floro said.

 

            Problems? Floro continues to be amused about the reports of team troubles.

 

            “At least, I will have something to talk about with the boys,” the bright-faced Crispa team owner laughed.