1979 Royal Tru-Orange season

1979 Royal Tru-Orange season
Head coach	Edgardo Ocampo
Owner(s)	San Miguel Corporation
All Filipino Conference results
Record	6–10 (.375)
Place	N/A
Playoff finish	N/A
Open Conference results
Record	21–5 (.808)
Place	1st
Playoff finish	Finals
Invitational Conference results
Record	1–4 (.200)
Place	6th
Playoff finish	N/A
Royal Tru-Orange seasons
1978	1980

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

Transactions

TRANSACTIONS
Ramon Dizon Rookie signed
Danilo Salvador Rookie signed
Evalson Valencia Rookie signed
Valerio Delos Santos Signed with Great Taste during the off-season
Norberto Rivera Signed with expansion team Gilbey's during the off-season

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.

On November 6, Royal Tru-Orange won their first PBA crown by defeating the Toyota Tamaraws, 102–101, in 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.

Roster

Royal Tru-Orange roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From G/F 2 Baguio, Maximino 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) CIT G 4 Velasco, Paulino 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) University of 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) University of Visayas F 13 Gregorio, Teodulfo 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Mapua Tech G 14 Martirez, Yoyong 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) SWU F/C 15 Lalota, Rodolfo 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Mapua (Jrs) G 16 Paguntalan, Leonardo 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) WIT F 17 Valencia, Evalson 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) WIT G Salvador, Danilo 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) F/C Samson, Marte 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Ateneo de Manila F 25 Pounds, Larry (I) 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) University of Washington C 34 Moore, Otto (I) 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) University of Texas	Head coach Edgardo Ocampo Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (IN) Inactive (S) Suspended (R) Rookie Injured