Jawo - the one who started it all.

As excerpted from this site.

More of the Big J in this article.

When the PBA was formed in 1975, Jaworski was part of the original core of Toyota players who donned the Comets uniform at the inception of the league. Jaworski had for his original teammates names like Arnaiz, Reynoso, Fernandez, Reynoso's younger brother Cristino (Tino), Rodolfo "Ompong" Segura, Oscar Rocha, Joaquin "Jake" Rojas, and Orlando "Orly" Bauzon.







Jaworski was part
of Toyota for nine seasons, from 1975 until its disbandment at the end of the 1983 season. He was the acknowledged leader of the Toyota squad which had many fiery matches with their rival, the Crispa Redmanizers. Together with Francis Arnaiz and Ramon Fernandez, they formed the troika of Toyota's vaunted offense.

He was a major player in Toyota's nine championships and was named Most Valuable Player in 1978. Jaworski's MVP performance may arguably be considered as the most dominating ever in one season after he averaged 20 points, 12 assists and close to nine rebounds per game. This was done despite the presence of hulking imports with no height limit - imports he played alongside and against with. The closest that would compete for domination would be Ramon Fernandez's scintillating 1984 season for Beer Hausen where "El Presidente" averaged 27 points, 15 boards and 9.9 assists per game. The difference though was that Jaworski led his Toyota team to two championships that season (the Open and the AFC) while Fernandez failed to bag a title in 1984.

He was also the first point guard to achieve 1000 offensive and 2000 defensive rebounds. He is also the PBA's All Time Leader in Assists.

In 1967 Jaworski and veteran internationalist and Asia's best forward, Narciso Bernardo were named as members of the Mythical Five.

When Toyota disbanded at the end of the 1983 season, the team was sold to Basic Holdings, Inc., the company that owns Asia Brewery. Jaworski balked at the idea of joining Beer Hausen, the brand name of Basic Holdings after describing what he felt was a sale done without giving due respect to the personalities involved. Jaworski described the sale as a 'farce,' and that players like him should not be sold "por kilo." At that time, Beer Hausen was intent on making Fernandez as the franchise player of the team with Jaworski relegated in the background. Eventually, then PBA president Carlos "Honeyboy" Palanca III made a decision that was the most controversial and history-making move in the PBA. Palanca, owner of La Tondeña, Inc. which owns Gilbey's Gin (later Ginebra San Miguel) in the PBA, decided to take in Jaworski and best buddy Arnaiz to the team. This marked the cornerstone in making Ginebra arguably the most popular team in Philippine basketball history with Jaworski at the forefront.

Jaworski and Arnaiz turned the moribund franchise into a competitive one almost overnight when in the first conference of the 1984 season, the All Filipino, he led the team to a runnerup finish against powerhouse Crispa. Gilbey's Gin was then led by Arturo "Turo" Valenzona, a former nemesis of Jaworski from their MICAA days. A power struggle was already ensuing thereby leading to the breakup of the Valenzona-Jaworski partnership at the start of the 1985 season. Jaworski took over as playing coach of Ginebra San Miguel while Valenzona went on limbo before latching up with the Tanduay Rhum Makers in the 1986 season.

The Big J's first championship as a playing coach came in the 1986 Open Conference when he, alongside super imports Michael Hackett and Billy Ray Bates, dominated the entire conference to win the championship finals at the expense of the Manila Beer team, then led by former Crispa players Abet Guidaben (who was traded from Tanduay vice Fernandez) and Atoy Co, alongside imports Michael Young and Harold Keeling.
In Game 4 of that Best of Seven series, Jaworski played the entire game that needed two extra overtime periods to beat Manila Beer 145-135, thereby taking a commanding 3-1 lead. Jaworski was 40 years old at that time and yet became a PBA record holder for being the local who played the longest in one game. Jaworski's wedding godson, Zandro "Jun" Limpot eventually would break that record while playing for the Sta. Lucia Realtors as a rookie in 1993 by playing 60 minutes in a triple OT victory against SMB. Paradoxically, Jaworski owns the PBA record for playing the shortest time in a PBA game, at one second. In a game against the Alaska Milkmen in 1996 and behind by two points with one second in that game, the Big J fielded himself to handle the inbound. While the inbound was successful, the team failed to convert this into a basket and lost the game.

In 1988, Jaworski finally won his first and only All Filipino championship in a controversy-ridden championship at the expense of the rookie team Purefoods Hotdogs, led by playing-coach Ramon Fernandez. Jaworski and Fernandez were involved in a running feud dating back when Toyota disbanded in 1983 and this became the climax of their rift. In Game 1 of that finals, Anejo Rum 65 upended Purefoods to gain initial lead in the series. Purefoods owner Jaime Zobel De Ayala and president Renato Buhain publicly accused Fernandez of dropping Game 1 and took him out as head coach and player for the entire series. Because of this controversy, Anejo Rum went on to win the series, 3-1, including the deciding Game 4 where Jaworski became best player of the game - topscoring for his team with 28 points.

In 1991, Jaworski won his third title at the expense of Formula Shell in Game 7 of the Open Conference. In that deciding game, Jaworski inbounded from the endline to Rudy Distrito with 4 seconds remaining. Distrito made a difficult, twisting, off-balanced and falling shot over the outstretched arms of Paras to pull off a two point win and to the delight of millions of Ginebra fans watching the game. Jaworski ended up once more as the best player of that game with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 8 feeds in an all-around effort not common for a 45 year old man. This marked the first time in the history of the PBA that a team came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the championship.

From 1992 to 1995, Ginebra suffered a drought owing to budgetary constraints experienced by the franchise. Jaworski belabored with marginal players and washed-up veterans in trying to earn respectability during this period. In 1995, a PBA record was established when the Big J took in his eldest son Robert, Jr. (Dudut), in the second round of the rookie draft, making this the only time when a father and son played for the same team. However, the two never got to play together as Jaworski contented himself coaching the team while Dudut got his few minutes as a starter.

It was in 1996 when the breakthrough came in for Ginebra, now called Ginebra Na! After years of savoring for super rookie Marlou Aquino, he finally got the 6'9 beanpole as top draft pick of 1996. He also got Bal David from the free agent ranks after the latter displayed capability as a point guard when he and Aquino led the national team to the gold medal in the 1995 SEA Games. David was also the celebrated point guard of the PBL, leading the Stag team to twin championships in 1995. But 1996 was Alaska's year - and the grandslam was accomplished with Gordon's Gin at the losing end in the 3rd and final conference. In 1997 though, Jaworski finally earned his 4th jewel, mentoring the team to the 1997 Commissioner's Cup championship at the expense of the Alaska Milkmen. The team won in 6 games, including a 126-94 rout in the final game.
Jaworski remained as coach of the team until April 1998 when he announced his intention of running for the Philippine Senate in May that year.

Jaworski's last game in the PBA was in March 1997 in a game held at Dumaguete City. He did not play much in that game but owns the record for being the oldest player ever to play in the PBA at 50 years old. This on top of being acknowledged as the league's most popular player ever and the icon of Philippine basketball for several years.

Career highlights

PBA career

• Most Valuable Player in 1978
• Mythical First Team Selection in 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1986
• Mythical Second Team Selection in 1985 and 1988
• All Defensive Team in 1985 and 1988
• Four time PBA All-Star
• Won four championship as a playing coach in 1986 Open Conference, 1988 All-Filipino Conference, 1991 First Conference and 1997 Commissioner's Cup all with the Ginebra franchise
• Coached the 1990 PBA All-Star Veterans, 1991 PBA All-Star Dark Team, 1992 PBA All-Star North Team, 1996 PBA All-Star Rookie/Sophomore/Juniors, and 1997 PBA All-Star Veterans
• Finished his career with 5,825 career assists, 605 more than the second-running total of Ramon Fernandez.
• PBA Hall of Fame Class of 2005

Other accomplishments:

• Member, 1966 Asian Games
• Member, 1967 Asian Basketball Confederation (Champions)
• Member, 1968 Olympic Games
• Member, 1969 Asian Basketball Confederation (Third Place)
• Member, team captain 1971 Asian Basketball Confederation (Second Place)
• Member, 1973 Asian Basketball Confederation (Champions),
• Member, 1974 World Championship
• Member, team captain,... 1974 Asian Games
• Head Coach, 1990 Asian Games (Silver Medal)
• Jaworski was the team captain of the 1971 team (2nd placer in the 1971 ABC in Tokyo) and 1974 RP team form the Asian Games (4th place)