History
Shell acquired the franchise of the famed Crispa Redmanizers in 1985 for a reported two million pesos. In Shell's first season, the team was known as Shell Azudrin Bugbusters and acquired several remnants of the Crispa franchise in Philip Cezar and Bernie Fabiosa plus a former redmanizer William Bogs Adornado from Great Taste. under head coach Freddie Webb. Shell got its first All Filipino finals berth against Great Taste when they defeated Ginebra in a rubber match.
The following season in 1986, Shell carried the name Pilipinas Shell Oilers, Shell Helix and Formula Shell Spark Aiders respectively with Olympian Ed Ocampo taking over from Freddie Webb, who resigned as Shell coach midway in the semifinals of the first conference. Shell remained a hard-luck team with national coach Joe Lipa, becoming Shell's third coach in 1987 3rd conference, as the team was now known as Shell Azocord Super Bugbusters.
The team's rise to fame came during the late-1980s when they were bannered by two University of the Philippines, Diliman standouts Ronnie Magsanoc and Benjie Paras to solidify Shell as one of the popular teams in the pro league. Former Toyota mentor Dante Silverio was also responsible for transforming Shell to a championship-caliber ballclub.
Paras is also the only P.B.A. player to win the Rookie of the Year and the coveted Most Valuable Player plum in the same season when the center won it all in 1989.
In the 1990 PBA Open Conference, Shell won its first-ever PBA championship defeating crowd-favorite Añejo Rhum 4-2. But the series was marred by Anejo's infamous walkout in the sixth and final game of the series to award the Shell the win in Game six and the series clincher.
At that time, Shell was reinforced by import Bobby Parks, who holds seven Best Import Awards in his PBA career, most of them with the Shell franchise.
A year later, Shell suffered one of the biggest collapses in PBA finals history during the 1991 PBA First Conference, when they blew a 3-1 series lead in the series eventually losing to Ginebra in seven games on a Rudy Distrito game-winner.
Shell won the 1992 PBA First Conference crown but waited six years before winning another PBA crown, by capturing the 1998 Governor's Cup. They defeated Mobiline Phone Pals in seven games.
Their final championship came during the 1999 PBA All-Filipino Conference defeating heavy favorite Tanduay Rhum in six games. Shell was bannered by Paras, Gerry Esplana, Victor Pablo, Chris Jackson and Noy Castillo as one of their primary players under head coach Perry Ronquilio.
1999 also became a banner year for Paras, who won his second Most Valuable Player award in his career, despite the arrival of several talented Filipino-foreigner players during the same season. However, injuries in the next three seasons forced Paras to retire after the 2003 season.
Shell suffered several slumps in the next four seasons (2000-2003) before resurfacing in during the 2004-2005 season as one of the contenders for the PBA crown. Under head coach Leo Austria (who won the Rookie of the Year honors in 1985 as a player for Shell), the Turbo Chargers placed fourth in the PBA Philippine Cup and third in the season-ending 2005 PBA Fiesta Conference.
Read more about this topic: Shell Turbo Chargers
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“America is, therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World’s history shall reveal itself. It is a land of desire for all those who are weary of the historical lumber-room of Old Europe.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation, because as a result of what happened in this week, the world is bigger, infinitely.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)