Barako Bull Energy Boosters
The Barako Bull Energy Boosters were a professional basketball team of the Philippine Basketball Association owned by the Photokina Marketing Corporation. They entered the league in 2000, after a successful stint in the semi-professional Philippine Basketball League during the late 1990s. Under the name Agfa Color, the team won a championship in 1996. It was originally known as the Red Bull Barako before the team announced its name change.
Barako Bull has won two Commissioner's Cups, in 2001 and in 2002 and the 2006 Fiesta Conference. Willie Miller became the first Barako player to win the league MVP title in 2002.
The franchise took a leave of absence after the 2010-11 PBA Philippine Cup. The players were distributed to other teams via dispersal draft as their slot was taken by the guest team Smart Gilas. In March 2011, Barako Bull announced that it will not be returning to the league. Eventually, the franchise was sold to the Lina Group of Companies in July 2011 upon approval of the PBA Board of Governors.
History
Philippine Basketball League
Photokina Marketing joined the Philippine Basketball League during the mid-90s. They played under the name Agfa Color in the early days of their PBL stint. Once, they had San Miguel player Danny Ildefonso as one of their players along with his NU Bulldogs teammate Lordy Tugade and Jonas Mariano coming back from a knee injury with Ginebra the year before.It also saw the talent of Cebuanos Jimwell Torion and Junthy Valenzuela along with other provincial cagers Rene Suba and Jun Carmona. Letran star Kerby Raymundo and Filipino-American Davonn Harp later joined the squad.
Agfa Color/Red Bull would always fall short of a title as Tanduay won several PBL championships at their expense. In 1999, they were among the best teams in the league but would lose to Welcoat Paints in the finals of Challenge Cup. In October, the PBA announced that Red Bull was accepted as the 10th member of the league beginning in the 2000 season.
Batang Red Bull Energizers
The franchise played their first PBA season as the Batang Red Bull Energizers. Red Bull was allowed to take six players from their PBL team and took Kerby Raymundo, Davonn Harp, Lordy Tugade, Jimwell Torion, Junthy Valenzuela and Bernard Tanpua. PBL Commissioner Yeng Guiao, a former PBA coach, resigned his post to join Red Bull as coach in the PBA. They also got Ato Agustin from the expansion pool.After losing their opening game in the 2000 All-Filipino Cup to Barangay Ginebra Kings, they won two more games to improve to 2–3. But the league disqualified Raymundo from playing. It was discovered that he had falsified his documents, claiming he graduated from high school in 1996, when actually he finished his secondary studies a year later. Mick Pennisi also arrived as a solution to the team's lack of height. The games won by the Energizers were nullified. Red Bull finished 10th and failed to enter the quarterfinals.
In the Commissioner's Cup, Jack Hartman became Red Bull's first import but failed to show anything promising for Batang Red Bull which failed to enter the quarters once again. Before the end of the tournament, the Energizers get Raymund Tutt as replacement. Tutt scored 56 points in his PBA debut, which still stands today as the highest points scored by a Red Bull player in a single game.
Red Bull Thunder: Championship era
Tutt returned for the 2000 Governors Cup, and the renamed as the Batang Red Bull Thunder made a strong showing to finish in third place at the end of the tournament, their first trophy in the league. Davonn Harp was named Rookie of the Year at the end of the season.During the 2001 PBA Draft, Red Bull selected former Letran Knight and MBA star Willie Miller as its first overall pick. Former Letranite Kerby Raymundo was also allowed to return for Red Bull for the upcoming season.
In 2001, Red Bull finished seventh in the All-Filipino Conference and met eventual champion San Miguel Beermen in the quarterfinals. With the Thunder needing to win twice to advance to the semis, Batang Red Bull shocked the Beermen winning the first game by double-figures, but lost in the deciding game capped off by Danny Seigle's three-pointer to seal SMB's win.
Former Duke University and NBA standout Antonio Lang bannered the Thunder in the Commissioner's Cup. After a sub-par performance in the tournament opener, Lang proved to be the right import for Red Bull. The Thunder advanced to their first finals appearance against the mighty San Miguel Beermen. Red Bull took the first two games of the series behind strong performances by Lang and Harp. The Beermen later tied the series at 2–2 in a physically intense battle that saw several suspensions on the Red Bull side. But in Game five, Red Bull won 79–77 after a potential game-tying basket by San Miguel import Nate Johnson was blocked from behind by Miller with no time left. In Game six, Lang recovered from a four-point outing in Game five to lead Red Bull to their first PBA championship. Lang was also named as Best Import of the Commissioners Cup.
In the Governor's Cup, Tutt returned for the team in hopes of claiming back-to-back title, but the Thunder missed the semifinals after being loss against Alaska in 6th-seed playoff.
Harp was loaned by Red Bull to the national team in 2002. The Thunder was finish with a record of 8-8 card in the semifinals.
In the Commissioner's Cup, Harp returned for Batang Red Bull along with Antonio Lang and Julius Nwosu. The Thunder dominated the tournament, eliminating Shell in the quarterfinals and the Beermen in the semis to face the Talk 'N Text Phone Pals in the finals. Four games into the series, Lang was replaced by another NBA veteran in Sean Lampley. Lang was even accused of game-fixing, which he denied. With Lampley, Red Bull overcame a 2–3 deficit to win an emotional Game seven for their second PBA title.
Red Bull's hope for a second title was denied in the All-Filipino as Alaska booted them out in the semis.
In 2003, The Thunder used their first round pick to select 2002 UAAP MVP Enrico Villanueva from Ateneo de Manila to bolster Red Bull's frontline. Red Bull went 10–1 in the early goings of the All-Filipino Cup before finishing with a 14–4 record. However, their 0–3 record in the quarterfinals eliminated them from title contention. The All-Filipino Conference also saw the suspensions of Harp and Torion for testing positive for taking illegal substances.
Image:Red Bull Barako old logo.png|thumb|Red Bull Barako logo from 2003 to 2007.
Batang Red Bull renamed the team as Red Bull Barako for the Invitational tournament. They managed to enter the semis but was defeated by Alaska in a one-game showdown.
After a 1–2 start in the Reinforced Conference, the Barakos hired former Charlotte Hornet and Chicago Bull Scott Burrell as import. Red Bull won 10 games to finish with an 11–2 record entering the quarterfinals. They were upset by Talk 'N Text in the opening round. But the deciding game was marred by a vicious clothesline of Torion on Phone Pals' point guard Jimmy Alapag. The incident gave Torion an eight-month suspension, later reduced to only four.
Red Bull made its third Finals appearance in 2004, losing to eventual champion Barangay Ginebra in the transitional tournament dubbed as the 2004 Fiesta Conference. The Barakos fielded in six imports during the said conference but its last import Victor Thomas won Best Import honors.
During the 2004–05 Philippine Cup, Red Bull was decimated with the departures of alleged Fil-Shams Mick Pennisi and Davonn Harp, who were deported after the Department of Justice found them to have falsified their documents.
But the event paved the way for guys like Tugade, Valenzuela and Enrico Villanueva to shine as Red Bull recovered to place fourth in the 2005 Fiesta Cup. The former Ateneo center won the Most Improved Player honors.
Red Bull Barako: Back-to-back Finals appearances
Red Bull became somewhat of a flashback to the Ateneo Blue Eagles squad of UAAP 2002 when Larry Fonacier and Paolo Bugia were drafted by the team in the second round of the 2005 PBA Draft in August.The Bulls won their third PBA title during the 2005–06 Fiesta Conference defeating the Purefoods Chunkee Giants in six games. Enrico Villanueva won the Best Player of the Conference honors while Lordy Tugade was named as the Finals MVP.
During their title run, the Bulls replaced import Quemont Greer in place of a more team-oriented James Penny at the start of the quarterfinals. Red Bull swept Alaska in the quarterfinals while surviving a seven-game tussle with crowd-favorite Barangay Ginebra Kings in the semi-finals.
The championship gave Yeng Guiao his fifth PBA title, tying former Toyota mentor Dante Silverio for sixth on the all-time PBA list.
Before the Philippine Cup, Red Bull acquired the services of another former Atenean, Rich Alvarez, from Alaska. While the Bulls were highly favored to win the title, they started the tournament with a 3–6 record. However, they won six of their final seven games to finish with a 9–7 win–loss card in the classification phase, clinching an outright quarterfinals berth.
Red Bull survived a five-game clash with rival Barangay Ginebra in the quarterfinals. This was after the crowd-favorite Kings led the series 2–1, but the Bulls won the last two games by a combined margin of more than 50 points. The Bulls faced the San Miguel Beermen in the semifinals when controversy struck the Bulls, after they staged a mini-walkout during Game Four of their series. They eventually returned to the court and lost by double figures. This led to a 400,000 peso fine on the team, 100,000 on head coach Yeng Guiao, 6,000 for player Lordy Tugade and 1,000 for a member of the team's personnel.
However, Red Bull managed to beat San Miguel Beer in seven games after a buzzer-beating shot by Junthy Valenzuela to seal a two-point victory for the Bulls, setting up a rematch of the Fiesta Conference finals series against Purefoods. The Bulls, though, lost to Purefoods in six games, denying them of a chance to sweep all championships in the 2005–06 season. Larry Fonacier was named as the 2005–06 PBA Rookie of the Year with Villanueva named to the Mythical Five selection.