Aside from reuniting with his fellow national team members, Jojo Lastimosa had a much better reason to be happy joining Purefoods in the Philippine Basketball Association in 1988.
One of the direct hires elevated by the Hotdogs, who acquired the old Tanduay franchise, including their key players, Lastimosa didn’t need to go to the annual Rookie Draft as he along with Jerry Codiñera, Glenn Capacio and later on, Alvin Patrimonio, plus the rights on No.1 pick, which turned out to be Jack Tanuan, were able to easily crack the Purefoods roster then owned by the Ayala family.
Tanduay’s key players who were retained by Purefoods were headed by Mon Fernandez, JB Yango, Willie Generelao, Onchie dela Cruz and former Crispa players Padim Israel and Freddie Hubalde, an idol of Lastimosa.
Lastimosa shared how happy he was teaming up with Hubalde.
“I was a big fan of Crispa and I was so happy teaming up with Freddie,” said Lastimosa. “Even before or after practice ng Purefoods noon, we would play one-on-one.”
“Ang ka-pattern ko na position was actually Freddie. But the reason why I’m wearing No.6 was because of Atoy Co. I like them, mga Crispa players. Even sina Tito Varela and Bai Cristobal. But it was Atoy and Freddie who stood out for me.”
Right before the end of the 1988 All-Filipino, Hubalde along with Dela Cruz would be traded to Shell and Lastimosa felt heartbroken.
“I actually cried when Freddie got traded because we became close,” added Lastimosa.
Purefoods reached the finals in its first two conferences of participation in the PBA, but because of internal problems that happened to the team, the Hotdogs lost in both championship series.
Against San Miguel Beer in the Open Conference, Purefoods lost in seven games when David Thirdkill scored 16 points in the final game of the series.
In the All-Filipino Conference, Fernandez was forced to relinquish his role as a coach and concentrated being a player, but was ordered to be benched by management right after playing a sub-par game in the series opener of their best-of-five championship series against the Añejo 65ers.
Purefoods eventually lost to Robert Jaworski and the league’s most popular team in four games.
Lastimosa and the Hotdogs had their share of heartbreaking moments two more times in the finals series before winning their first ever title in the 1990 Third Conference before the former Rookie of the Year got traded to Alaska for Boy Cabahug.
Photo courtesy from Padim Israel’s Facebook page.
