The 1979 Royal Tru-Orange season was the 5th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Transactions

Championship

In the Second (Open) Conference, the Orangemen signed 6-7 Larry Pounds, a fifth-round draftee of the Golden State Warriors in 1975, and 6-11 Otto Moore, a veteran of NBA wars for nine seasons, as their imports. Royal emerge on top of the standings after the two-round eliminations with 13 wins and 3 losses and made it to the championship round by posting a 5-1 won-loss slate in the semifinals. On October 23, RTO defeated Crispa, 110–102, to reach the PBA finals for the first time in franchise history. ^[1]

On November 6, Royal Tru-Orange won their first PBA crown by defeating the Toyota Tamaraws, 102–101, rookie Ramon Dizon was the spark that ignited veterans on the team (Photographed here) Game 4 of the title playoffs for a 3–1 series victory. The Orangemen took the first two games, 104–99 and 100–95, the Tamaraws avoided a sweep by winning the third game, 99–98.

Royal Tru-Orange joins U/Tex Wranglers as the only other ballclub not named Crispa or Toyota, to have won a PBA title in the 1970s as RTO mentor and former olympian Edgardo Ocampo won his first championship as a head coach.^[2]

Roster

Royal Tru-Orange roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. G/F 2 Baguio, Maximino 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Cebu Tech G 4 Velasco, Paulino 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Visayas F/C 5 Migalbin, Jesus 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) San Agustin F 6 dela Peña, Ricardo 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) G 7 Torrente, Antonio 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) G 8 Dizon, Ramon 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) PSBA F 12 Jacutin, Marlowe 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Visayas F 13 Gregorio, Teodulfo 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Mapúa G 14 Martirez, Yoyong 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Southwestern-U F/C 15 Lalota, Rodolfo 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Mapúa G 16 Paguntalan, Leonardo 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Western Institute F 17 Valencia, Evalson 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Western Institute G Salvador, Danilo 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) San Sebastian F/C Samson, Marte 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Ateneo F 25 Pounds, Larry (I) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) Washington C 34 Moore, Otto (I) 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) Texas	Head coach Edgardo Ocampo Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import Injured

References