WATCH: Brgy. Ginebra vs Red Bull [2000 All-Filipino Cup | February 20, 2000]

Over a decade done playing pro basketball, Topex Robinson still feels a different kind of joy and excitement as he remembers his playing years, specifically his days with Red Bull and their great runs.

“We’re the Detroit Pistons in the PBA then,” said Robinson fondly recalling the Red Bull squad that produced three PBA championships, with grit and guts more than talent and anything else.

Red Bull should have been a 20-year-old franchise by now if not for its foldup in 2011.

Owned then by Photokina Marketing of the well-loved businessman/sportsman George Chua, the Red Bull Energizers debuted as an expansion team in 2000 and, in no time, emerged championship contenders, winning Commissioner’s Cup titles in back-to-back fashion in 2001 and 2002.

As the PBA voyaged to its two-conference era in 2004, Red Bull came through with another title conquest in the 2006 Fiesta Conference, blanking Alaska Milk, 3-0, in the quarterfinals, repulsing Barangay Ginebra in a stretched-out best-of-seven semifinal series then trouncing Purefoods, 4-2, in the finale.

In all those runs, Red Bull defied the odds and came through with shocking championship victories with their gung-ho character.