Barako Bull Energy Boosters

Philippine Basketball League

Photokina Marketing joined the Philippine Basketball League during the mid-90s. They played under the name Agfa Color in the early days of their PBL stint. Once, they had San Miguel player Danny Ildefonso as one of their players along with his NU Bulldogs teammate Lordy Tugade and Jonas Mariano coming back from a knee injury with Ginebra the year before.

It also saw the talent of Cebuanos Jimwell Torion and Junthy Valenzuela along with other provincial cagers Rene Suba and Jun Carmona. Letran star Kerby Raymundo and Filipino-American Davonn Harp later joined the squad.

Agfa Color/Red Bull would always fall short of a title as Tanduay won several PBL championships at their expense. In 1999, they were among the best teams in the league but would lose to Welcoat Paints in the finals of Challenge Cup. In October, the PBA announced that Red Bull was accepted as the 10th member of the league beginning in the 2000 season.

Batang Red Bull Energizers

The franchise played their first PBA season as the Batang Red Bull Energizers. Red Bull was allowed to take six players from their PBL team and took Kerby Raymundo, Davonn Harp, Lordy Tugade, Jimwell Torion, Junthy Valenzuela and Bernard Tanpua. PBL Commissioner Yeng Guiao, a former PBA coach, resigned his post to join Red Bull as coach in the PBA. They also got Ato Agustin from the expansion pool.

After losing their opening game in the 2000 All-Filipino Cup to Barangay Ginebra Kings, they won two more games to improve to 2–3. But the league disqualified Raymundo from playing. It was discovered that he had falsified his documents, claiming he graduated from high school in 1996, when actually he finished his secondary studies a year later. Mick Pennisi also arrived as a solution to the team's lack of height. The games won by the Energizers were nullified. Red Bull finished 10th and failed to enter the quarterfinals.

In the Commissioner's Cup, Jack Hartman became Red Bull's first import but failed to show anything promising for Batang Red Bull which failed to enter the quarters once again. Before the end of the tournament, the Energizers get Raymund Tutt as replacement. Tutt scored 56 points in his PBA debut, which still stands today as the highest points scored by a Red Bull player in a single game.

Red Bull Thunder: Championship era

Tutt returned for the 2000 Governors Cup, and the renamed as the Batang Red Bull Thunder made a strong showing to finish in third place at the end of the tournament, their first trophy in the league. Davonn Harp was named Rookie of the Year at the end of the season.

During the 2001 PBA Draft, Red Bull selected former Letran Knight and MBA star Willie Miller as its first overall pick. Former Letranite Kerby Raymundo was also allowed to return for Red Bull for the upcoming season.

In 2001, Red Bull finished seventh in the All-Filipino Conference and met eventual champion San Miguel Beermen in the quarterfinals. With the Thunder needing to win twice to advance to the semis, Batang Red Bull shocked the Beermen winning the first game by double-figures, but lost in the deciding game capped off by Danny Seigle's three-pointer to seal SMB's win.

Former Duke University and NBA standout Antonio Lang bannered the Thunder in the Commissioner's Cup. After a sub-par performance in the tournament opener, Lang proved to be the right import for Red Bull. The Thunder advanced to their first finals appearance against the mighty San Miguel Beermen. Red Bull took the first two games of the series behind strong performances by Lang and Harp. The Beermen later tied the series at 2–2 in a physically intense battle that saw several suspensions on the Red Bull side. But in Game five, Red Bull won 79–77 after a potential game-tying basket by San Miguel import Nate Johnson was blocked from behind by Miller with no time left. In Game six, Lang recovered from a four-point outing in Game five to lead Red Bull to their first PBA championship.

Red Bull Barako: Back-to-back Finals appearances

Red Bull became somewhat of a flashback to the Ateneo Blue Eagles squad of UAAP 2002 when Larry Fonacier and Paolo Bugia were drafted by the team in the second round of the 2005 PBA Draft in August.

The Bulls won their third PBA title during the 2005–06 Fiesta Conference defeating the Purefoods Chunkee Giants in six games. Enrico Villanueva won the Best Player of the Conference honors while Lordy Tugade was named as the Finals MVP.

During their title run, the Bulls replaced import Quemont Greer in place of a more team-oriented James Penny at the start of the quarterfinals. Red Bull swept Alaska in the quarterfinals while surviving a seven-game tussle with crowd-favorite Barangay Ginebra Kings in the semi-finals.

The championship gave Yeng Guiao his fifth PBA title, tying former Toyota mentor Dante Silverio for sixth on the all-time PBA list.

Before the Philippine Cup, Red Bull acquired the services of another former Atenean, Rich Alvarez, from Alaska. While the Bulls were highly favored to win the title, they started the tournament with a 3–6 record. However, they won six of their final seven games to finish with a 9–7 win–loss card in the classification phase, clinching an outright quarterfinals berth.

Red Bull survived a five-game clash with rival Barangay Ginebra in the quarterfinals. This was after the crowd-favorite Kings led the series 2–1, but the Bulls won the last two games by a combined margin of more than 50 points.

The Bulls: Semifinal eliminations

The Bulls had only one pick in the 2006 PBA Draft and selected Ateneo shooting guard Magnum Membrere with the 19th overall pick. The move triggered another addition to the team's dominant lineup of former players from the Blue Eagles lineup. In the middle of the elimination round, Red Bull traded 2005–2006 Fiesta Cup Finals MVP Lordy Tugade to the San Miguel Beermen alongside reserve Omanzie Rodriguez in exchange for future draft picks.

The Barakos also added former Shell Turbo Charger Carlo Sharma into their line-up during the off-season. The addition of Sharma gave the Barakos, who only has main man Enrico Villanueva as its legitimate low-post threat, additional ceiling and inside presence.

In the Philippine Cup, Red Bull placed third after the elimination round with an 11–7 win–loss card and an outright quarterfinals berth in which they defeated the Sta. Lucia Realtors, 3–1. In the semifinals, Red Bull lost against the San Miguel in seven games that highlighted by several physical encounters by both teams during the series.

Red Bull gained the top seed in the Fiesta Conference but dealt Enrico Villanueva to San Miguel Beermen for Rommel Adducul. The former MBA MVP was later shipped to the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants and exchange for Don Camaso and a second round draft pick at the 2008 PBA Draft. Despite the strong performance of Larry Fonacier and the emergence of Cyrus Baguio, Red Bull lost to Talk 'N Text led by the strong performance of Mark Cardona in a six-game series.

Barako Bull Energy Boosters: Leo Isaac at the helm

The newly christened Barako Bull Energy Boosters, with team manager Andy Jao, hired former PBA Rookie of the Year Leo Isaac as its new head coach with Ariel Vanguardia of the JRU Heavy Bombers and former Philippines women's national basketball team coach Raymond Celis as chief lieutenants. They also signed new recruits Alex Crisano and John Arigo.

Despite the new name, coach, signings and image, the team floundered in the import-laden 2009 Fiesta Conference, mustering only two out of 14 wins, although one of those came from Philippine Cup champions Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters where the Energy Boosters rallied down by more than 20 points to win in overtime. They were eliminated in the wildcard phase by former doormats Rain or Shine Elasto Painters.

Burger King and Barako Bull beat the trade deadline and agreed in a trade between Carlo Sharma and Richard Alonzo.

Team manager Tony Chua perished at the height of Tropical Storm Ketsana on September 26, 2009.

2010–11: Financial woes and disbandment

Philippine Cup

At the start of the 2010–11 season, they hired Junel Baculi as the new head coach of the Barako Bull. The team was involved with several trades during off season with Barangay Ginebra,[2] Powerade, and new team Meralco,[3][4][5] acquiring Sunday Salvacion, Jason Misolas, Khazim Mirza, and Ken Bono. The Energy Boosters picked Borgie Hermida in the year's rookie draft. In the first weeks of the Philippine Cup, they signed undrafted rookie Hans Thiele and eventually became the team's top scorer together with Salvacion. After a month with the team, Thiele was shipped to Meralco, in exchange for the team's 2013 2nd round pick and Dennis Daa. After the Energy Boosters finished 3–11 in the Philippine Cup, the team got involved on trades that shipped their core players Reed Juntilla, Sunday Salvacion

Leave of absence

On January 20, 2011, the management of the Energy Boosters announced that they will take a leave of absence for the upcoming Commissioner's Cup to make way for the Smart Gilas Philippine national team.[6] The application was eventually approved during the team owners meeting on January 24.[7] The players of the squad will be put on a conditional dispersal draft on February 7, then after the Commissioner's Cup is finished, all of these players will return to Barako Bull, if the team will eventually return. The owners announced on March 20 that they do not intend to return to the season-ending Governors Cup. In a letter sent to PBA Commissioner Chito Salud, the owners of the Barako Bull franchise mentioned their ongoing legal battle against TC Pharmaceuticals Industries, Co. the manufacturer of Red Bull in Thailand, and the death of one of their owners, Tony Chua during the onslaught of Typhoon Ketsana in 2009 as the main reasons why they will leave the PBA.[8]

Financial problems

Barako Bull was in the financial binge since 2009 after team management admitted that they are having difficulties in making the payroll of the team.[9] The team even requested for a co-sponsorship with Harbour Centre for the duration of the 2010 Fiesta Conference to ease their financial difficulties.[10] Alex Crisano and John Arigo even escalated the issue regarding their delayed salaries to then Commissioner Sonny Barrios.[11] After Crisano went public with his accusations, team management did not renew his contract after the 2009–10 season ended and had difficulty in getting his back pay.[12] Current members also expressed their grievances that their salary and their bonuses were not yet paid since December 2010, with some players as late as August 2010. Commissioner Chito Salud gave guidelines to Barako Bull for them to pay their standing obligations with the team members in lump sum.[11]

Attempted sale to Phoenix Petroleum

In March 2011, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc., a petroleum company from the Visayas-Mindanao area expressed interest in acquiring the Barako Bull franchise. For the sale to push through, an approval from the PBA Board of Governors is needed (7 out of 10 votes).[13] However, the sale did not push through after Barako Bull failed to get the necessary number of votes.[14] Reportedly, the San Miguel Corporation, which owns three teams (San Miguel, Barangay Ginebra and B-Meg Derby Ace) in the league shows concerns should the sale will push through, since they also own a petroleum company, Petron Corporation, which is a direct competitor of Phoenix Petroleum.[15] One of the SMC teams, the San Miguel Beermen, was renamed to Petron Blaze Boosters before the start of the Governors Cup; they eventually rebranded back to the Beermen in 2014. It would not be until 2016 when Phoenix successfully joined the PBA as the Phoenix Fuel Masters upon purchasing the assets and personnel of Barako Bull Energy (formerly known as the original FedEx/Air21 Express, not to be confused with the Photokina-owned Barako Bull franchise).

Sale of franchise to Lina Group

Another buyer, the Lina Group of Companies, which also owns the Air21 Express, announced that they intend to buy the struggling franchise for more than P50 million[16] after the Board of Governors gave Barako Bull until the end of the 2010–11 season to sell its franchise otherwise, they would lose the franchise.[17] The sale was eventually approved by the board on July 8.[18] The team was renamed as the Shopinas.com Clickers, but the name only lasted for one conference before it was rebranded as the second iteration of the Air21 Express. The original Air21 franchise then inherited the Barako Bull name and branding, but has no lineage to the original Photokina-owned franchise.

Individual awards

PBA Press Corps Individual Awards

All-Star Weekend

PBA's 40 Greatest Players in History

• Ato Agustin – one of the selected players from the expansion draft in 2000; played for Red Bull from 2000 to 2001.
• Vergel Meneses – played for Red Bull in the 2004–05 season.
• Willie Miller – the first player to be selected first overall in the draft by franchise history; played from 2001 to 2003 and won the 2002 PBA Most Valuable Player Award.
• Kerby Raymundo – selected from the PBL squad; played for the team from 2000 to 2001.

Other notable players

• Rich Alvarez – played from 2005 to 2008.
• Nelson Asaytono – played for Red Bull from 2002 to 2006.
• Cyrus Baguio – played from 2003 to 2008. Won Most Improved Player in 2008.

PBL

• Jimmy Mariano
• Nat Canson
• Gil Lumberio

PBA

• Yeng Guiao (2000–2009)
• Leo Isaac (2009–2010)
• Junel Baculi (2010–2011)