YENG Guiao has mentored several teams, both in the amateur and professional ranks, but over the years he has found very few whom he can consider as visionary, kind and generous as George Chua, the owner of the now-defunct Red Bull team in the PBA, who passed away recently.
Under Guiao, Red Bull won three PBA championships, played countless memorable games, developed several players who became stars and it all happened because of an owner like Chua who knew how deal with an organization as volatile as a PBA professional team.
Chua had an eye for finding talent and also knew how to assess a person's character and this led him to hiring Guiao as Red Bull coach when Chua's amateur team in the Philippine Basketball League joined the PBA in 2000.
READ: Guiao on Red Bull teams: 'It was like a family'
Guiao said Chua, who died May 9 from a lingering illness just four days after turning 71, brought him back to the PBA and credited the owner of a then very successful camera firm known as Photokina for reviving his coaching career.
“Magaling siyang makisama, magaling siyang mag-judge ng character ng mga tao,” said Guiao, recalling his days working with the Red Bull franchise.
“Yun ang mare-remember ko during the years that I was with Red Bull. He knew how to bring together the right people. Marunong siyang mag-put together, mag-recruit or mag-combine ng personalities at expertise. Maybe that also was one of the reasons for his success.”
Guiao was serving as commissioner of the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) when he got to meet Chua, as Red Bull was then among the top title contenders along with the likes of Tanduay, Chowking and Welcoat in the amateur league.
“That was really the start of our friendship. The PBL board was also closed-knit nung time na yun. They were very competitive, but at the same time it was like family. We followed the rules, everybody was a gentleman sa board na yun. That’s probably the key also to the success of the PBL back then,” said the Rain or Shine coach.
As commissioner, Guiao’s leadership ran the league with efficiency and this impressed the Photokina ownership such that it decided to task Guaio to handle the team when the time came for Red Bull to take its act to the pro ranks.
“Yes, siya (Chua) at si late Tony Chua ang kumausap sa akin,” said Guiao, referring to the former Red Bull team manager who died in a tragic incident back in 2009 at the height of Typhoon Ondoy.
New lease on life for Guiao
Guiao was three years removed from coaching his last PBA team at Pepsi/Mobiline - and, quite frankly, had little coaching capital at the end of his title-winning run at RFM Swift - when the offer to take on the Red Bull job came.
The offer, it turned out, gave Guiao's coaching career new life.
Chua was an astute businessman and brought this skill to handling his team and the players.
“He understood yung dynamics of building a strong, competitive team with value for money. Hindi siya nag-o-over spend, pero hindi rin naman siya nag-u-under spend. Kumbaga, alam niyang balansehin yung needs and requirements of being competitive at the high level mainly because he was good with people,” said Guiao.
That Red Bull team, which became known for its mantra ‘Ang Bumangga, Giba,’ lured many players whose stars rose with the franchise, such as Kerby Raymundo, Davonn Harp, Lordy Tugade, Willie Miller, Jimwell Torion, Junthy Valenzuela, Enrico Villanueva, Mick Pennisi, Larry Fonacier, Paolo Bugia, Bernard Tanpua, Cyrus Baguio, Topex Robinson, Celino Cruz, Mike Hrabak, Leo Najorda, Carlo Sharma, among others.
It also brought in NBA-caliber players such as Antonio Lang, Scott Burrell, and Earl Baron.
When Guiao was at the helm, Red Bull won the Commissioner's Cup in 2001 and the same title in 2002. Its last championship came in the 2006 Fiesta Cup.
“Family oriented si Boss George. Yung team namin was like an extension of his family. Mga anak niya involved, mga kapatid niya involved, that’s why that Red Bull team then was probably one of the closest na team that I’ve coached,” he said.
“Even up to now, they’re still very close, or we are still very close,” added Guiao, who hosted a Red Bull team reunion held early this year.
Good things, as they say, don't last forever, and the Photokina franchise wasn’t an exception.
Financial difficulties soon hit the business and after almost a decade into its PBA existence, the franchise was sold. Before it happened, top players were traded, making the team a shadow of itself until the end of the franchise.
By that time, both Guiao and team management no longer shared the same vision and direction for the franchise.
The coach was left with no recourse but to part ways with the team.
It wasn’t easy, according to Guiao.
“Sobrang nahirapan ako. It’s one of the most difficult decisions I ever made,” he said looking back. “But you can foresee naman yung plans nila. Hindi na siya tumutugma doon sa personal interest mo.
“So there’s a time na magpo-fork yung road, there’s a time na meron kang desisyon na kailangang gawin. One of the most difficult, but he (Chua) understood me. And we remained naman friends after that.”
The Red Bull franchise eventually saw its demise after being sold to the Lina Group of Companies in 2011.
Fourteen years later, its loving and generous patriarch was gone, too.
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