By JONAS TERRADO
When June Mar Fajardo grabbed 31 rebounds to lead San Miguel Beer to a fifth straight title in the PBA Philippine Cup exactly a year ago, he shattered what is considered as one of the unbreakable records in league’s four-decade history.
Fajardo’s record-setting feat in the Beermen’s dramatic 72-71 victory over the Magnolia Hotshots Pambansang Manok at the Smart Araneta Coliseum erased the old mark for local players of 29 held by 7-Up’s Marcelo Simbulan.
Simbulan pulled off the feat on June 3, 1975 when the Uncolas lost to Concepcion Carrier. It turned to be the highest of a short pro career for Simbulan, who only played 21 games and averaged 11.4 points.
There are still several PBA records that may take at least another generation to surpass, namely those held by the great Ramon Fernandez.
Fernandez is the league’s all-time leading scorer with 18,996 points, rebounder (8,652), shot blocker (1,853) and the winningest player ever with 19 championships.
His former Toyota teammate and later rival Robert Jaworski had the longest PBA career with 23 seasons from 1975 until his final season in 1998 as playing coach of Ginebra San Miguel, dishing out a record 5,825 assists in the process.
He was also part of a remarkable 32-0 run Ginebra pulled off against Shell in Game 5 of the 1991 PBA First Conference Finals which happened on May 14, 1991.
The win enabled Ginebra to launch its epic comeback from a 3-1 deficit to win the crown.
The fabled Crispa Redmanizers won 21 straight games bridging the 1983 All-Filipino Conference and the Reinforced Conference.
No PBA team has yet to match the Redmanizers’ record feat.
Abet Guidaben won Most Valuable Player honors during that 1983 season that saw Crispa complete a Grand Slam. He also holds the record for most games played at 1,081.
Johnny Abarrientos, who also won a Grand Slam as a player for Alaska in 1996 and as an assistant coach of San Mig Super Coffee in 2014, compiled 1,358 steals while current Ginebra coach Tim Cone has 22 titles and counting.
In erasing Simbulan’s record, Fajardo was able to help the Beermen overcome a 17-point third quarter deficit and retain the status as the best local team in the PBA. He was later named Finals Most Valuable Player with series averages of 22.9 points, 19.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks.