ALVIN’S ROOKIE YEAR. BY
James Ty III
(from Alvin Patrimonio Special Magazine of Scorecoard, December 1994)
Incredible but true.
Alvin Patrimonio, The Captain, joined Purefoods – his team unitil the present
– starting in the All Filipino Conference, which at that time was the second
tournament of the season. The Hotdogs then with Ramon Fernandez as playing
coach, has just captured runner-up honors behind San Miguel Beermen in the Open
conference and needed a player of Alvin’s value to boost their bid for a crown
right in its rookie season.
Alvin was involved in a contract dispute with Swift, his PABL team at that time.
And with the corporate rivalry between RFM and Purefoods at its peak at that
time, it was therefore not surprising to see the Concepcion firm block the
Captain’s bid to jump ship.
Prior to the controversy, alvin led Swift to the PABL International Inviational title in three hard fought games over Benjie Paras and Philips Sardines coached by Joe Lipa. Many thought that his performance in the titular series would eventually pave the way for his entry to the PBA.
But in the Freedom cup, which ensued after, Alvin begun to show only flashes of brilliance as he obviously was conserving his strength for the PBA. His Swift coach, turo Valenzona, benched him in some crucial games which the Meaties lost.
Finally, after so much wrangling, Alvin was allowed to join Purefoods and he
wasted no time in proving his worth.
In his debut game for the Hotdogs, he scored only 10 points as his team dropped
a 100-102 decision to Great Taste. Despite the shaky debut, Alvin became more
aggressive as the conference wore on and he went on to steer the Hotdogs to the
finals against Anejo 65 Rum. Many PBA pundits foresaw a Purefoods romp over
anejo in the finals but a twist of fate happened. Fernandez was supended under
mysterious circumstances and the controversy affected the hotdog’s morale.
They eventually lost the series, 1-3 to the 65ers. Fernandez who had been
alvin’s long time idol, was evetually traded to San Miguel Beer in exchange
for Abet guidaben.
Despite the swap, Alvin admits that he learned a lot under Fernandez during the brief time the Captain was coached by El Presidente. They even appeared together together in a shoe commercial where they showed a lot of respect for each other.
Purefoods woes idi not end there. In the 3rd conf, where two imports were allowed, the hotdogs had problems adjusting under new coach Cris Calilian, plus frequent changing of reinforcements. In the end they were eliminated with just one win in 10 matches.
Alvin eventually led the Hotdogs in scoring, avergae-wise, with a 17.2 clip in
just 33 games. He also led the league in field goal shooting with 59.8 per cent
(213 of 356) while pulling down a league best 291 caroms.
Among alvin’s accomplishments are winning two MVP’s and being in the
Mythical Five five straight times.
But the bottom line is that he has proven worthier as a hotdog, gving the
franchise four Pba titles.
And one final note. Alvin was not a Mythical First Teamer in 1988.
That’s life!