Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots


The Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots, or simply known as the Magnolia Hotshots, are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The team is owned by San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc., a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation. The team is one of three PBA ball clubs currently owned by the SMC group of companies, along with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and the San Miguel Beermen. They have 14 PBA championships, tied with the Alaska Aces for the third-most overall.
The franchise plays under numerous brand names of the company but is best known by its original name, Purefoods. It remains as one of the most popular teams in the PBA, winning fourteen PBA titles and is the fourth team in PBA history to win a Grand Slam.
The players most identified with the franchise are Alvin Patrimonio, James Yap, and Marc Pingris, among others. Patrimonio, a Mapua University standout, led the franchise to six championships and was named Most Valuable Player four times. Patrimonio retired in 2004 and currently serves as its team manager. Yap led Purefoods to seven titles including a notable grand slam in 2013–14, which is the only grand slam in the history of the franchise and received multiple MVP awards as well. While Pingris was named to the PBA's 40 greatest players playing alongside Yap as the team's enforcer and rebounder. He was a vocal leader of the famous 2013 Gilas Pilipinas team that defeated South Korea and bagged a medal.

History

Prior to joining the PBA in 1988, Purefoods was a member of the Philippine Amateur Basketball League and was one of the strongest teams during its tenure with the amateur league. In early 1988, Pure Foods Corporation acquired the PBA franchise of the original Tanduay team, after Elizalde & Company, Inc. announced it was leaving the PBA.
In 2001, Pure Foods Corporation, including its PBA franchise, was sold by Ayala Corporation to San Miguel Corporation. The following year, Pure Foods Corporation was renamed San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc. The franchise continued to play under the Purefoods banner until 2010.
Beginning 2010, the franchise played under other brand names of the company – B-Meg, San Mig Coffee and Star. Beginning the 2017–18 PBA season, the team started playing under the Magnolia Chicken brand name.

Purefoods (1988–2010)

Purefoods Hotdogs (1988–1990)

As part of the deal to join the league, Purefoods was allowed to take some amateur players from the PABL and the national team. Purefoods then drafted Alvin Patrimonio, Jojo Lastimosa, Jerry Codiñera, Glenn Capacio and the number one overall pick of the rookie draft that year; Jack Tanuan. They also added Al Solis and Totoy Marquez from Shell. However, there was a surrounding controversy on the case of Patrimonio, as his PABL team Swift denied Patrimonio's release. The issue was settled before the All-Filipino Conference though, and Patrimonio joined the team.
Purefoods also took the core of the defunct Tanduay squad, namely, Ramon Fernandez, who was designated playing-coach, Freddie Hubalde, Padim Israel, Willie Generalao, Victor Sanchez, JB Yango and Onchie dela Cruz.
David Thirdkill, who led Tanduay to the previous year's Open Conference championship and was named Best Import of the conference, was hired as Purefoods' reinforcement for the Open Conference this time.
In their first conference, Purefoods made a historic run to the finals against the Norman Black-led San Miguel Beermen in seven games. In the next conference, Cris Calilan replaced Fernandez as head coach after the first round of the eliminations. They met crowd favorite Añejo Rhum 65 in the finals. Purefoods lost the series 3–1 against a veteran and rugged team of playing coach Robert Jaworski. Controversy arose during the series as Fernandez was ordered to be benched by then-Purefoods Corporation president Rene Buhain amid rumors of game-fixing. This issue led to Fernandez's transfer to San Miguel for Abet Guidaben late in the season. Lastimosa was named as the 1988 Rookie of the Year at the end of the season.
In 1989, Purefoods lost in six games to San Miguel in the All-Filipino Conference. An incident also happened during the second round of the eliminations of that conference when Samboy Lim nearly suffered a career-ending injury when he drove over Lastimosa causing him to fall off-balance and hit head first on the parquet floor. This happened on July 18, 1989, with Purefoods winning 125–115. There was a huge public outcry after that game with many fans decrying Lastimosa's actions as dirty.
In the season-ending 1990 Reinforced Conference, Purefoods took on Alaska Air Force for the title. This conference featured two imports and Purefoods tapped the services of Daren Queenan and Rob Rose, who replaced Walker Russell during the elimination round. The Air Force took a 2–0 lead with a win away to clinch the best of five series. However, the team of legendary coach Baby Dalupan led a stunning comeback to win the series 3–2, giving the franchise its first PBA title. The championship was Dalupan's last but it made him the first coach in PBA history to win PBA championships in three different decades. The other coach who achieved this feat was Norman Black and Tim Cone.
During the offseason, Purefoods traded Lastimosa to Alaska for Cabahug and Al Solis to Sarsi for Jun Tan. They also signed free agent swingman Elmer Reyes.

Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs (1991–1992)

In 1991, Patrimonio was offered a 5-year, PhP 25 million deal by Pepsi Cola, which was matched by Purefoods. With the development, he became the highest paid player in the league. With this, Purefoods was able to beat Sarsi to win the 1991 All-Filipino Conference under head coach Ely Capacio. Patrimonio won the 1991 Most Valuable Player, the first of a record-tying four MVPs he had won.
Purefoods failed to defend the crown in 1992, losing in seven games to San Miguel.

Coney Island Ice Cream Stars/Purefoods Oodles & Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs (1993)

In 1993, the team was renamed as the Coney Island Ice Cream Stars, an ice cream brand owned by Pure Foods Corporation. They drafted four rookies that year – Dwight Lago, Benny Cheng, Freddie Abuda, and Olsen Racela; and acquired veteran forward Abe King from the disbanded Presto team. The Stars won the 1993 All-Filipino Cup defeating San Miguel, 4–2. Their head coach was Chot Reyes, who achieved a milestone for winning the title in his first conference as coach.
Coney Island was renamed Purefoods Oodles during the Commissioner's Cup. They were bannered by Patrimonio, Codiñera, and Dindo Pumaren, with Capacio, Cabahug, King, and Racela completed the supporting cast. For their reinforcement, they hired Ronnie Grandison who was able to take them straight to the finals. They had a chance to win back-to-back PBA titles but were defeated by corporate rival Swift in six games for the crown of the said tournament. Patrimonio won his second Most Valuable Player award after the season.
In the Governors' Cup, Purefoods Oodles reverted to Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs. With import Tharon Mayes, they had a record of 7–3 in the eliminations, but were eliminated in the semifinals with a record of 9–9.

Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs (1994–1996)

For the 1994 All-Filipino Conference, the team drafted three rookies – Rey Evangelista, Vince Hizon, and Peter Naron. The Stars also added another rookie in Richie Ticzon whom they acquired through a draft-day trade that sent veteran point guard Pumaren and Lago to Pepsi Mega. To add experience to the roster, Coney Island traded incoming sophomore Cheng to Ginebra for veteran Manny Victorino and acquired 1992 Rookie of the Year Bong Ravena from San Miguel in exchange for Kevin Ramas. The league gave an incentive to the champion of the said conference to have the honor of representing the country in the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan. But Coney Island lost in six games to San Miguel for the All-Filipino Cup title, thus forfeiting the opportunity. Nonetheless, when the Beermen line-up was decimated with several injuries to their key players, they had to reinforce with Purefoods' Patrimonio, Codiñera, and Evangelista. Johnny Abarrientos of Alaska was also included in the team that placed fourth in the Asian Games.
In the Commissioner's Cup, with Kenny Redfield as import, Purefoods won the title in a hard-fought series against the formidable Alaska Milkmen. Patrimonio won the Best Player of the Conference award, becoming only the second player in PBA history to win the citation. Their reinforcement, Redfield took home the Best Import of the conference honors. It was also during this tournament that he was dubbed "Triple-Double Artist" by the media, as a testament to his all-around skills.
Patrimonio won his second consecutive MVP and third overall. Evangelista was a prime candidate to win the Rookie of the Year award but lost to Swift's Boybits Victoria. Another disappointment for Evangelista was that he was not included in the All-Defensive Team, contrary to what was expected by most, especially the Purefoods fans.
In 1995, Purefoods failed to enter the championship of the three conferences allotted, showing only two fourth-place finishes in the All-Filipino and the Commissioner's Cup. It was the first time in the team's eight-year history that they failed to make it to the All-Filipino finals. It was also the first time that they didn't make any finals appearance in a single season.
During the offseason, Purefoods retooled its lineup by drafting Rodney Santos and reacquiring former Purefoods players Pumaren and Tanuan through trades conducted with Pepsi and Sta. Lucia respectively.
The TJ Hotdogs met Alaska in the finals of the All-Filipino Conference in 1996 PBA season but was defeated in five games by the eventual grand slam winning Milkmen.
In the Governors' Cup, Purefoods struggled as they fielded in several imports in hopes of reversing their misfortunes. After the season, Reyes left the Purefoods team to become the head coach of Sta. Lucia Realty.