MANILA, Philippines — Former Alaska Aces import and now FEU Tamaraws head coach Sean Chambers remembers the PBA in the 1990's like it was yesterday.
How could he forget when he helped Alaska win six championships all the while seizing the Best Import plum in the 1996 Governors' Cup.
Chambers sure did remember those glory days but also those times when players like Pido Jarencio of Gordon's Gin franchise got into his skin.
Chambers, 59, said he remembers those times when Jarencio, a former 2-time PBA All-Star and 1992 Most Improved Player, who now coaches the UST Growling Tigers, used to foul him hard.
Fondly recalling those days, Chambers, with a smile, said that he's still mad at Jarencio even to this day.
Chambers and Jarencio get to renew their rivalry this time as coaches in the UAAP Season 87 men's basketball tournament, where their teams face on October 5 at the Mall of Asia Arena.
"If Pido can put on a UST jersey and I can wear FEU, I will foul him hard for the times that he fouled me back in the Ginebra days," Chambers told reporters on Sunday following his first win as UAAP coach after FEU defeated Ateneo, 66-65, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
"I owe him most definitely. So maybe we'll have a coaches league one day. But I'm still mad at Pid, yes. He knows it too."
Chambers' Alaska and Jarencio's Gordon Gin met in the 1997 PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals where the latter emerged victorious in the best-of-7 series, 4-2.
Chamber's Alaska was composed of that 1996 Grand Slam core of Jojo Lastimosa, Bong Hawkings, and Johnny Abarrientos who claimed the 1997 Commissioner's Cup Best Player of the Conference.
On the other hand, Jarencio's Gordon Gin was composed of Finals MVP Marlou Aquino, Benny Cheng, Robert Jaworkski, and import Chris King.