Alaska Aces

(also known as Hills Bros., Alaska Air Force, Alaska Milk Kings, Alaska Aces)

Team History:

Alaska would go down in history as the league’s most dominant team in the 90s. In the 1996 season, they would achieve a rare grandslam (sweep of all three conferences in a single season) becoming only the third team in history to do so aside from the legendary Crispa Redmanizers of Danny Floro in 1976 and 1983, and San Miguel Beer in 1989. Although Alaska’s meteoritic rise to league’s record books was nothing but remarkable, it wasn’t achieved overnight.

In 1986, they entered the league as the league’s 6th team following Magnolia’s leave of absence. They fared well with imports Jerry Lee Eaves and ex-Toyota import Donnie Ray Koonce winning 3rd place honors in its very first conference. Among its star players then were Marte Saldaña, Ricky Relosa, and the late Arnie Tuadles. The original Mr. 100% Norman Black would later reinforce the team as playing coach.

In 1987, after Manila Beer disbanded, they would pick up Yoyoy Villamin to form a dreaded frontcourt combo dubbed the “Bruise Brothers” with Relosa, both many time defensive team members. 3-time PBA MVP Bogs Adornado came in from Shell to lend more experience to the Coffee Kings’ backcourt. The following season, the team officially retired Adornado’s jersey, the first player to be so honored by the team.

In 1989, he was appointed the team’s head coach becoming the 3rd coach in team history following Nat Canson and Cesar Jota. Adornado made the most out of the 1989 Draft, believed to be the deepest in history, to acquire young talents like Bong Alvarez, Boy Cabahug and Ricric Marata to make Alaska one of the most exciting teams in the league. Before the season ended, however, Adornado was replaced by Tim Cone, a full-blooded American who would carry the team on a dynasty trip. He was an advocate of coach Tim Winter’s Triangle Offense and worked very hard to infuse that philosophy into the Alaska system. He piloted the team to a finals stint in the 1990 third conference but would lose against the Baby Dalupan-coached Purefoods Hotdogs. Undeterred, Cone would begin rebuilding the Alaska team, beginning with the acquisition of Jojo Lastimosa in 1991. They plucked Alex Araneta and Eugene Quilban from the draft, who will be both instrumental in the team’s first ever championship crown in the 1991 Third conference.

In 1993, Johnny Abarrientos came in gift-wrapped as the draft’s third overall pick to give Alaska its future leader in the backcourt. Future team stalwarts Poch Juinio, Bong Hawkins, and Jeffrey Cariaso would join the team in the next three years to complete the championship puzzle. The fab five would produce 9 championships for Tim Cone, the last one in 2001. The team began to rebuild the last five years, producing PBA MVP Willie Miller from a multi-team deal that cost them big man Don Allado. With Miller in tow, they made their way back to the finals in the 2006-07 Fiesta Cup, featuring Best Import awardee Rossel Ellis. Miller won the season’s MVP plum as Alaska ended its long title drought to win its 12th championship in 21 years of existence. More importantly, the championship move the franchise one title shy of tying Crispa’s record for most PBA titles won all-time.

Review of the 2006-07 Season:

Philippine Cup: The Aces were one of the fave teams to top the Philippine Cup with its near intact lineup and the benefit of a full season from Willie Miller and John Ferriols. But when Mike Cortez fell down in the team’s 3rd game of the season against Sta. Lucia, everything went down the drain for the Aces. Former San Miguel guard Dale Singson tried to fill the huge void left by the mercurial guard but couldn’t carry the Aces past the wildcard series. Needing no less than a sweep to gain a playoff for the quarters, the Aces lost a 98-99 heart-breaker to Coca Cola in the very first game of the wildcard to bow out unceremoniously.

Fiesta Cup: The Aces welcomed back Mike Cortez from injury but lost forward Tony de la Cruz who was named to the national team pool. The team hired old hand Rossel Ellis. Ellis saw action previously for Coca Cola and Ginebra and made enough impressions there to guarantee a return to the pro league. Ellis was an instant fit with the Aces as his tireless, workman-like, and fearless attitude translated to early wins for the franchise. He teamed up beautifully with Willie Miller to form a dreaded 1-2 combo that would carry the Aces to an outright semis berth. The Aces eliminated the PBA’s miracle team San Miguel Beer and came back from a 2-3 title deficit against powerhouse Talk N Text to claim their 12th championship in the PBA. Ellis would cop the Best Import award while Willie Miller would be adjudged as the MVP of the season.

Biggest Blunders

Blunder and Alaska do not go hand-in-hand, especially when you have a shrewd and crafty team manager by the name of Joaqui Trillo doing the negotiations. It was not a bad draft selection or a bad trade that was the franchise’s worst mistake. It was the inability of the team, particularly Tim Cone, to make adjustments in their games in crucial situations in the past. On three occasions the Milkmen had a chance to close out their nemesis Purefoods either in a championship series or a semi-final matchup. In the 1990 3rd conference, Alaska was leading the Hotdogs 2-0 in the championship game until a flurry from the Hotdogs led by the import combo of Darren Queenan and Robert Paul Rose and the legendary Baby Dalupan caught them by surprise and took their crown away in the fifth and deciding game. In the 2001 conference, they led the Hotdogs 2-0 but couldn’t put away Derrick Brown and the rejuvenated Hotdogs. When the dust settled, the Hotdogs was on top of the series 4-2 and collared its crown. In the 2005-06 Philippine Cup, led by spitfire Mike Cortez, Alaska threatened to blow the Chunkee Giants out of the series with a commanding 3-1 lead. Somehow, coach Ryan Gregorio and his charges refused to give up and found a way to shackle Mike Cortez and Alaska Milk. The Chunkee Giants won the next three games becoming only the second team in league history to come back from a 1-3 series deficit to win the semi-finals matchup. They eventually won the championship series against Red Bull. Each of those times, Alaska choked and failed to make the proper adjustments to prevent a monumental collapse in the end game and the series.