Abe King - PBA Career

PBA Career

King was an instant starter for the Tamaraws as resident power forward when Alberto "Big Boy" Reynoso retired at the end of the 1976 season. Reynoso's younger brother Cristino on the other hand was shipped to U/Tex in one of the early trades back in the PBA. Hence, King joined forces with Ramon Fernandez, Robert Jaworski, Francis Arnaiz and 1976 Rookie Of The Year Virgilio "Gil" Cortez in the starting unit of the Tamaraws (original starting forward Rodolfo "Ompong" Segura suffered a knee injury during the 1976 season that allowed Cortez to blossom that season). King became a major force to reckon with, and almost won ROY honors, barely losing to eventual winner and co-power forward Jimmy Taguines of Yco-Tanduay in a tight race. However, King proved that he had the sterner stuff and longevity as he stayed in the PBA for nearly 2 decades while Taguines retired unceremoniously sometime in the early 80's.

King's accomplishments though were somewhat diminished with the performance of his more accomplished teammates. The year after he joined the league, Jaworski ruled the roost by averaging close to triple double the entire season en route to the MVP award. In 1979, Fernandez narrowly lost out to Fortunato "Atoy" Co, Jr. in a tight MVP race that was decided by the media votes. Fernandez, though, proved that he was the best player of the season as he powered the Tamaraws to a runner up and championship finish in the succeeding two conferences. Co won the MVP title after the 1st Conference, one of the quirks of the PBA rules back then - and since Crispa won the title, the Fortune Cookie, despite ending up second to Fernandez in the stats race in the AFC, romped away with the honors.

It was in 1982 though which was considered as King's best year with Toyota. The same year when Jaworski was riding the bench because of an assortment of injuries (the Big J was already 36 by then), it was the quartet of Fernandez, Arnaiz, 1979 ROY Arnie Tuadles and King who starred in Toyota's two championships that season - the same year when Fernandez finally nailed his first of four MVP plums with King being named to the season's Mythical Five. What made King's accomplishments impressive was he did this on the other side of the game - his defense. While every player was getting recognition for their offense, King did so on defense - a skill further enhanced by his coach Edgardo Ocampo – acknowledged as the 60's best two-way player. King was the nemesis not only of the best local players around, he also took it upon himself to defend against the best imports. Norman Black, Lew Massey, Lew Brown, Clarence Kea, among others, were surprised at how a bulky local player can actually hold his own against them. Black intimated once in an interview that King was "the best local defender who ever guarded him." Alvin Patrimonio, during his peak, halcyon days of the early 90's, badly wanted an aging King to be part of Purefoods simply because he feared having King on the other side of the court defending him. Finally, a PBA player was recognized for his ability to defend players and King became the yardstick of what defenders should be in the coming years.

King finished his PBA career as one of only eight local players with more than 5,000 rebounds, 1,942 of which came from the offensive glass. He was also a three-time All-Defensive Team member. While known to be a defensive player, he did score 60 points in a game against Crispa in 1979, just in his third year in the PBA.