Great Taste / Presto / Tivoli

Great Taste was a charter member of the PBA back in 1975, joining eight other teams in forming the first professional basketball league in Asia.

The Coffeemakers best years were during the mid-1980s. Great Taste had Fil-American Ricardo Brown as the 1985 Most Valuable Player along with former Crispa standouts Atoy Co, Bernie Fabiosa and Philip Cezar and former Toyota rival Abe King. Amateur star Allan Caidic joined the team in 1987 to form a strong nucleus under former Redmanizer tactician, the great Baby Dalupan. From 1985 to 1987, the Coffeemakers won three PBA titles (1985 Open, All-Filipino and 1987 All-Filipino).

Before the end of the 1980s, Great Taste used the Tivoli Milk or Presto Tivoli monicker. By 1990, Presto Tivoli, under former national team member Jimmy Mariano, won the All-Filipino Conference by defeating Purefoods in seven games with Triggerman Allan Caidic winning the prestigious Most Valuable Player award.

In 1991, Allan Caidic, scored 79 points with 17 three-pointers in a game against Añejo on November 21, 1991, it was one of the best ever individual performance in the history.

Before the end of 1992, Presto management announced the sale of the franchise and by 1993 PBA season, Sta. Lucia Realty bought the franchise rights. Sta. Lucia was considered as a new PBA team, so therefore the past records and history of the Gokongwei franchise were not included in Sta. Lucia's history.

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Sta. Lucia Realty

Prior to the start of the 1993 season, Caidic moved to San Miguel Beer, leaving the Realtors with a few holdovers from the old Presto lineup including Vergel Meneses, Bong Hawkins (later traded to Swift and Alaska, respectively) and Gerry Esplana.

But, Sta. Lucia had the top pick in the draft and selected amateur star Zandro "Jun" Limpot of De La Salle University-Manila. With Limpot carrying the new Sta. Lucia team for the 1993 season, the Realtors managed to surprise everyone with a semi-finals appearance that led to a fourth place finish in the All-Filipino Conference. Limpot was named as the Rookie of the Year after the season.

One of Sta. Lucia's first imports was Lambert Shell, who played during the Commissioner's Cup. The team's head coach during its first few years was former PBA coach Nat Canson.

In 1994, Sta. Lucia selected University of Santo Tomas star Dennis Espino as their first round draft pick. But his PBA debut was further delayed after suffering a nose injury during an exhibition game held in the Middle East.

Filipino-American Chris Jackson and veteran shooter Romy dela Rosa later joined team to form a solid squad to complement Limpot and Espino.

Espino managed to return Sta. Lucia late in the season and the Realtors cop a third place trophy in the Governor's Cup.

Two more third place finishes were collected by Sta. Lucia during the 1995 All-Filipino and Commissioner's Cups, with Frederick Pea as import. From 1996, SLR captured another third place finish in the Commissioner's Cup with Adonis Tierra as head coach.

At this point, Sta. Lucia's best year was in 1997 when the Realtors finished third in the All-Filipino, and fourth in the Commissioner's Cup and Governor's Cup. The ironic part was that they took on San Miguel in all Battle-for-Third games under former Purefoods head coach Chot Reyes while the Realtors selected Jason Webb as the third overall pick in the draft.

Reyes left the team in 1998, replacing him with Derrick Pumaren, Limpot's former coach at La Salle and Magnolia in the PABL. Esplana and Jackson were later traded to Formula Shell for Ronnie Magsanoc. It was this time that Magsanoc hit his 1,000 career third-pointer. The Realtors entered the semis of the All-Filipino Cup, but was defeated by San Miguel in a do-or-die match for the last Finals berth.

SLR struggled in the Commissioner's Cup with Ronnie Coleman, brother of then-Philadelphia 76ers forward Derrick Coleman, missing the quarterfinals. Espino and Limpot were later loaned to the Philippine Centennial Team and the Realtors continued to struggle in the Governor's Cup.

In 1999, Limpot and Espino returned for Sta. Lucia but lost Romy dela Rosa to the Metropolitan Basketball Association. But, the Realtors added former MBA star and 1992 PBA MVP Ato Agustin with Tierra returning as the head coach. Still, the Realtors placed dead last in the All-Filipino.

Fil-American Robert Parker and Parker's college teammate Kwan Johnson joined the team in the 1999 Commissioner's Cup. The addition of both Parker and Johnson revived the franchise and eventually led to a fourth-place finish in the tournament. However, it was proven that Parker was a fake Filipino-American and left the Philippines afterwards, leaving Johnson as Sta. Lucia's import for the Governor's Cup. Sta. Lucia owner Exy Robles and the Realtors management were charged by the government for hiring Parker, which later dropped.

The departure of Parker left the Realtors to a struggling performance in the season-ending Governor's Cup. Johnson was eventually replaced by Joe Temple during the course of the tournament.

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Championship

Before the 2000 season, Limpot was traded to the Barangay Ginebra Kings for Marlou Aquino, to solidify the big man position of the team. Former grand slam winning coach Norman Black took over as Sta. Lucia's new coach. They also had the No. 1 pick in the draft and took University of the Philippines guard Paolo Mendoza. The Realtors made it only to the quarterfinals of the All-Filipino Cup.

In the Commissioner's Cup, Ansu Sesay was Sta. Lucia's import and the Realtors surprised everyone in this tournament. After placing second in the eliminations, they made it to the championship series for the first time in franchise history, only to lose to the talented San Miguel Beermen in five games. Sesay was named as Best Import of the said tournament.

With Joe Temple as import for the Governor's Cup, the Realtors did not make it past the quarterfinals. The same results can be said in the 2001 All-Filipino and Commissioner's Cup.

However, in the Governor's Cup, Damian Owens was Sta. Lucia's import and the Realtors dominated the tournament to secured their second finals appearance against the heavily-favored San Miguel team.

After both team's split their series in Game Four, the Realtors won both Games 5 and 6. Game Six was the most dramatic as the game was tightly contested. After San Miguel import Lamont Strothers tied the game at 72 with an off-balanced runner, Chris Tan hit a 24-foot three-pointer with three seconds remaining to give Sta. Lucia the lead for good to win their first-ever PBA championship with a 75-72 Game 6 win and a 4-2 series victory.

Owens was the Best Import of the Conference while Gerard Francisco was the Finals Most Valuable Player.

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2005-2006 Season

In the 2005 PBA Draft, Sta. Lucia used the second-overall pick to draft point guard Alex Cabagnot. Cabagnot had a solid performance in the 2005-06 Fiesta Conference, along with former PBL refugee Chester Tolomia, but Sta. Lucia managed to finish seventh in the classification phase. The Realtors were swept by Alaska in the quarterfinals, losing the two games by a huge margin.

The Realtors finished with a 4-12 record in the classification phase of the Philippine Cup. However, the Realtors played in the wildcard playoff phase, which gave Sta. Lucia a chance to earn the final quarterfinals berth in the tournament. However, the Realtors won only one game during the wildcard phase to bow out of the tournament with a 1-2 record, defeating Talk N' Text in their final game of the season.

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2006-2007 Season

In the off-season, Sta. Lucia had a big dispute with their point guard Alex Cabagnot, after the latter returned to the before a scheduled postseason team meeting. After months of failing to communicate with the team, and also playing for a Los Angeles-based summer league squad, the team handed out an indefinite suspension. But Cabagnot has since mended fences with the Realtors management and was able to play during the season.

During the 2006 PBA Draft, the Realtors selected Filipino-American Kelly Williams as its first overall pick in the draft. They also nabbed Mark Isip (6th overall) and Mark Magsumbol (13th overall) in the said draft.

In the Philippine Cup, Sta. Lucia was able to pull off a surprising start in the conference, due to great performances by their younger player such Williams, Cabagnot and veterans Marlou Aquino, Dennis Espino and Kenneth Duremdes. However, a late slump followed a one-game playoff loss to Purefoods relegated the Realtors in the wildcard phase. Despite a 1-2 win-loss record, Sta. Lucia was able to gain a berth in a knockout game due to their superior record in both the classification and wildcard phase. The Realtors defeated the Air21 Express 121-118 to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since the 2003 Reinforced Conference. However, Sta. Lucia lost 3-1 to Red Bull in the five-game series despite a Game 1 victory.

After the tournament, Al Francis Chua was relieved off his duties as head coach and was moved to a position as consultant. He was replaced by assistant coach Boyet Fernandez.

The Realtors paraded Rock Winston as import for the Fiesta Conference. They also made some changes in their line-up when they decided to deal Kenneth Duremdes, Alex Cabagnot and Ricky Calimag to Coca-Cola for Denok Miranda, Manny Ramos and a 2008 second round draft pick. However, these changes made little impact in improving the chances of the team. They ended the conference only better than Welcoat, which placed last.

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