View source for Abe King

{{short description|Filipino basketball player}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{BLP sources|date=May 2011}}
{{tone|date=May 2011}}
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{{Infobox basketball biography
| caption =
| image = 
| career_position = [[Forward (basketball)|Forward]]/[[Center (basketball)|center]]
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 3
| weight_lb = 192
| league =
| team = 
| nationality = Filipino
| birth_date = {{bda|1957|7|23}}
| birth_place = 
| college = [[San Beda Red Lions basketball|San Beda]]
| draft_year_pba = 1977
| draft_team_pba = [[Toyota Super Corollas]]
| career_start = 1977
| career_end = 1994
| years1 = 1977–1983
| team1  = [[Toyota Super Corollas|Toyota]]
| years2 = 1984
| team2 = [[San Miguel Beermen|Gold Eagle]]
| years3 = 1985–1992
| team3 = [[Great Taste Coffee Makers|Great Taste]]
| years4 = 1993–1994
| team4 = [[Star Hotshots|Purefoods]]
| highlights = 
* 13x [[List of Philippine Basketball Association champions|PBA champion]]
* [[PBA Mythical Team|PBA Mythical First Team]] ({{pbay|1982}})
* [[PBA Mythical Team|PBA Mythical Second Team]] ({{pbay|1985}})
* [[50 Greatest Players in PBA History]] (2025 selection)
}}

'''Abraham Columbus M. King, Jr.''' (born July 23, 1957) is a [[Philippines|Filipino]] former [[basketball]] player who was part of the champion [[Philippine Basketball Association]] (PBA) ballclub [[Toyota Super Corollas|Toyota Tamaraws]]. He was the starting center of 1976 MICAA champion Crown Motors before its PBA parent team, the Toyota Tamaraws, called upon his services at the start of the [[1977 PBA season]]. Despite being renowned for his defensive prowess, King had recorded a 60-point game.<ref>{{Cite web |title=On this day 41 years ago, Abe King scored 60 points in a PBA game |url=https://www.spin.ph/basketball/pba/top-defensive-player-abe-king-s-60-point-exploit-still-holds-relevance-a793-20200621 |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=Spin.ph |language=en}}</ref>

==PBA career==
King was an instant starter for the Tamaraws as resident power forward when [[Alberto Reynoso|Alberto "Big Boy" Reynoso]] retired at the end of the 1976 season.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-05-23 |title=Catching up with Abe King, perhaps the PBA's most underrated legend |url=https://www.espn.com/basketball/pba/story/_/id/29212653/catching-abe-king-perhaps-pba-most-underrated-legend |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}</ref>  King joined forces with [[Ramon Fernandez]], [[Robert Jaworski]], [[Francis Arnaiz]] and 1976 Rookie Of The Year [[Virgilio Cortez|Virgilio "Gil" Cortez]] in the starting unit of the Tamaraws (original starting forward [[Ompong Segura|Rodolfo "Ompong Segura]] suffered a knee injury during the 1976 season that allowed Cortez to blossom that season). King became a major force to reckon with, and almost won [[PBA Rookie of the Year award|ROY]] honors, barely losing to eventual winner and co-power forward [[Jimmy Taguines]] of Yco-Tanduay in a tight race.

King's accomplishments, though, were somewhat diminished by the performance of his more accomplished teammates.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-22 |title=PBA Legend Abe King Jr. |url=https://filamtribune.com/pba-legend-abe-king-jr-toyota-tamaraw/ |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=Filam Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref> The year after he joined the league, Jaworski ruled the roost by averaging close to triple-double the entire season en route to the MVP award. In 1979, Fernandez narrowly lost out to [[Atoy Co|Fortunato "Atoy" Co, Jr.]] in a tight MVP race that was decided by the media votes. Fernandez, though, proved that he was the best player of the season as he powered the Tamaraws to a runner-up and [[championship]] finish in the succeeding two [[conferences]]. Co won the MVP title after the 1st Conference—one of the quirks of the PBA rules back then&nbsp;– and since Crispa won the title, the Fortune Cookie, despite ending up second to [[Fernandez]] in the stats race in the AFC, romped away with the honors.

1982 was considered as King's best year with Toyota. The same year when Jaworski was riding the bench because of an assortment of injuries, it was the quartet of Fernandez, Arnaiz, and 1979 ROY [[Arnie Tuadles]] and King, who starred in Toyota's two championships that season&nbsp;—the same year when Fernandez finally nailed his first of four MVP plums, with King being named to the season's Mythical Five. What made King's accomplishments impressive was that he did this on the other side of the game&nbsp;—his defence. While every player was getting recognition for their offence, King did so on defense&nbsp;, a skill further enhanced by his coach, [[Edgardo Ocampo]]&nbsp;&ndash; acknowledged as the 1960s best two-way player{{cn|date=July 2024}}. King was the nemesis not only of the best local players around, but he also took it upon himself to defend against the best imports. [[Norman Black]], [[Lew Massey]], Lew Brown, and [[Clarence Kea]], among others, were surprised at how a bulky local player could actually hold his own against them. Black intimated once in an interview that King was "the best local defender, whoever guarded him." [[Alvin Patrimonio]], during his peak in the early 1990s, badly wanted an ageing king to be part of Purefoods simply because he feared having a king on the other side of the court defending him. Finally, a PBA player was recognized for his ability to defend players and King became the yardstick of what defenders should be in the coming years.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-08 |title=A royal conversation with PBA legend Abe King |url=https://www.rappler.com/sports/263218-conversation-with-abe-king/ |access-date=2022-06-09 |website=Rappler |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Out of the shadows of Jaworski and Fernandez===
When Toyota disbanded prior to the start of the 1984 season, there was much outcry regarding the transfer of the players to Beer Hausen, the team that bought the Silverio franchise. Jaworski and Arnaiz eventually went to [[Ginebra San Miguel]] while King became the first "franchise player" in the history of the league when he signed up with Beer Hausen's corporate rival [[San Miguel Beermen|Gold Eagle Beer]]. King latched upon the deal with Gold Eagle Beer prior to the disbandment of Toyota, which excluded him in that "lock, stock and barrel" purchase by Basic Holdings of Toyota's franchise.

However, since King wasn't a noted scorer, he needed players who could take over the offensive chores, as he took it upon himself to lead the Gold Eagle team on the defensive end. Alas, since he had average players for teammates in a young [[Joey Loyzaga]], a raw [[Rudy Distrito]], an oft-injured [[Marte Saldaña]], a defensive stalwart in [[Dante Gonzalgo]], and two veterans who never made it big despite their promise at the start&nbsp;&ndash; [[Renato Lobo]] and [[Anthony Dasalla]], Gold Eagle struggled big time. And since [[San Miguel Corporation|San Miguel]] (the mother company of Gold Eagle) was focusing its resources more on the [[Philippine Basketball League|PBL]] and the [[Northern Cement basketball team|NCC]] team, Gold Eagle couldn't get the players they wanted to be competitive against the likes of [[Great Taste Coffee]], [[Beer Hausen]] and [[Tanduay Rhum]].

Eventually, King moved to Great Taste in the succeeding year with no less than team manager [[Ignacio Gotao]] spearheading this transfer. King [[paradoxically]] found himself in unfamiliar company with past [[Crispa Redmanizers|Crispa]] rivals Co, [[Bernie Fabiosa]] and [[Philip Cezar]] plus super rookie [[Allan Caidic]] but found the responsibilities at Great Taste lighter than when he was with Gold Eagle. He, along with Cezar, became the team's leaders as they were recognized by their peers and the younger players for their veteran smarts and skills. Ranged against the likes of [[Alaska's Bruise Brothers]] [[Ricky Relosa]] and [[Yoyoy Villamin]], the Cezar-King combo more than held their own against the rising and younger pair of Relosa and Villamin.

King only had one contrapelo among the players during his time. Ironically, it turned out to be his own Toyota teammate, Fernandez, who knew King's moves extremely well. Ditto the other way, as King was also equally successful in guarding against Fernandez, although the latter had more success in their matchups. This wasn't really surprising, as King wasn't the only player who had Don Ramon as a contrapelo or scourge. The top centers and power forwards back then also suffered offensively when ranged against [[Ramon Fernandez|El Presidente]]&nbsp;&ndash; [[Gary Vargas]], Rey Lazaro, [[Abet Guidaben]], [[Terry Saldaña]], [[Manny Victorino]] and [[Dondon Ampalayo]] feared Fernandez like a plague. King, though, wasn't far behind in the intimidation factor as he was also the scourge of many slotmen.

===Twilight===
However, an ageing King suddenly found no takers during the early 1990s. [[Patrimonio]] heard of King's interest in joining Tondeña and pleaded with Purefoods management to get King "at all costs." Purefoods relented and signed up King for a one-season contract with the [[Hotdogs]] where he played a major role as the defensive player assigned to guard the imports of the other teams.  From a one-season [[stint#Noun|stint]] with Purefoods, King's contract with the team was extended to another year.  He won his last two PBA championships with the Hotdogs.

King faded from the limelight in the mid-1990s and decided to move to the [[United States]]. He was the president of the PBA Legends Foundation USA.<ref>[http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20090722-216616 In huddle]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{navboxes|list=
{{Great Taste Coffee Makers 1987 PBA All-Filipino Conference Champions}}
{{Presto Tivolis 1990 PBA All-Filipino Conference Champions}}
{{Coney Island Ice Cream Stars 1993 PBA All-Filipino Cup Champions}}
{{Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs 1994 PBA Commissioner's Cup Champions}}
{{PBA50}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Abe}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Filipino men's basketball players]]
[[Category:Filipino emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:San Beda Red Lions basketball players]]
[[Category:Magnolia Hotshots players]]
[[Category:Power forwards]]
[[Category:Toyota Super Corollas players]]
[[Category:San Miguel Beermen players]]
[[Category:Great Taste Coffee Makers players]]
[[Category:1957 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Filipino sportsmen]]