Businessman
Manuel “Manolo” Elizalde formed the Philippines' first basketball dynasty, the
YCO Painters, during the post-
war era. Players who have donned the famous YCO red and white jersey included
Carlos Loyzaga,
Carlos Badion,
Loreto Carbonell,
Ed Ocampo,
Mariano Tolentino and
Kurt Bachmann. Its rivalry with the
Ysmael Steel Admirals preceded that of
Crispa and
Toyota in the PBA. The first Tanduay basketball team was organized by Elizalde during the early 1960s to compete in a minor league called Businessmen’s Athletic Association (BAA). This farm team of the YCO Painters had a brief existence. In 1975, Elizalde became actively involved in the formation of the
Philippine Basketball Association as he joined forces with several
MICAA team owners to break away from the
Basketball Association of the Philippines stranglehold. The
YCO Painters maintained their ballclub in the MICAA and their newly-formed professional team was named Tanduay.
1977–1980 With
Carlos Loyzaga handling the coaching chores by 1977, replacing Bobby Littaua, Tanduay entered the semifinals for the first time in the
1977 All-Filipino Conference and almost made it to the finals but lost to Mariwasa-Honda Panthers on their last assignment as the Panthers went on to play the Crispa Redmanizers for the championship. The season had a Tanduay player Jaime Taguines becoming the second recipient of the Rookie of the Year honors. In
1978, Tanduay had their first breakthrough year. After a third and fourth place finishes in the first two conferences of the season, the third conference Invitational championship allows the Esquires to simultaneously field their two imports. Gene Moore and David Payne led the team to score upset victories and enter the finals series against the Toyota Tamaraws. The Esquires lost to defending champion Toyota in four games. Tanduay again produced another Rookie of the Year awardee for the second straight season in Jaime Manansala.
1979–1984 The next six seasons would remain unfruitful and title-less campaign for the Tanduay ballclub despite being competitive and a darkhorse team in the early 1980s, signing some top amateur stars like Rey Lazaro, former San Beda Red Lions
Frankie Lim and JB Yango. The team had a revamp of their lineup in 1984, giving up four of its veteran players, Roberto dela Rosa, Victor Sanchez, Alberto Gutierrez and Mike Bilbao to newcomer Beer Hausen.
1985–1987 Following the disbandment of the famed Crispa Redmanizers, the Tanduay Rhum Makers had a massive rebuilding, acquiring
Crispa stars
Abet Guidaben,
Freddie Hubalde and
Padim Israel, along with Willie Generalao from
Gilbey's Gin. However, three weeks after the start of the
1985 PBA Reinforced Conference, Guidaben was traded in favor of
Ramon Fernandez from
Manila Beer. Tanduay's coach at that time, Orly Castelo, was also replaced by former Gilbey's Gin coach
Arturo Valenzona. Tanduay finally won the first of three PBA championships beginning in the
1986 First Conference, behind imports
Rob Williams and Andre McKoy. After winning its first title, the team brought the championship trophy to the grave of their late owner, Manolo Elizalde, who died a year before. Tanduay won their second straight championship in the
1986 PBA All-Filipino Conference and their third title in the
1987 PBA Open Conference with best import
David Thirdkill.
Disbandment A business blackeye occurred in late 1987 when a couple of Tanduay drinkers died allegedly owing to the liquor. This caused a major backlash in terms of sales as revenues collapsed and put parent company Elizalde & Company Inc. near bankruptcy.
Pure Foods Corporation, then a subsidiary of
Ayala Corporation, acquired Tanduay's PBA franchise. The franchise would play under the name
Purefoods beginning the
1988 PBA season. The Tanduay business enterprise was acquired by the
Lucio Tan group of companies. ==Second Tanduay franchise (Tan era, 1997-2001)==