The Mapúa Cardinals are the varsity sports teams of Mapúa University that play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Mapúa Cardinals holds the NCAA record for the most number of General Championships in the seniors' division with a total of 20—the last of these championships was won in 1993. At distant second is the Colegio de San Juan de Letran which has eight seniors' titles. Of the total seniors' GCs won by the Cardinals, ten were from the 1980s to the mid-1990s, in addition to three in the juniors' division over the same period.
Name
The "Cardinal" in the team's name was adopted from the American baseball team the St. Louis Cardinals, of which Don Tomas Mapúa, the founder of the Mapúa Institute of Technology, was an avid fan. The juniors' team adopted the moniker Red Robins.
Basketball
History
The Mapúa Cardinals won the NCAA Seniors' Championship five times. The MIT basketball team holds the distinction of producing alumni players who have won the season Most Valuable Player award in the professional Philippine Basketball Association for the most number of years. Freddie Hubalde and Fortunato "Atoy" Co won this award once each in 1977 and 1979, respectively, while Alvin Patrimonio has won it four times, in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997. All three are members of the 25 All-Time Greatest PBA Players. The Mapúa Red Robins, on the other hand, have won 18 NCAA championships, the last of which was won during the 2000 season. The Red Robins won five championships from 1968 to 1972. On October 14, 2016, the Malayan Red Robins, Mapúa's current juniors' team, won their first NCAA juniors' basketball championship, ending the San Beda Red Cubs' seven-year title reign.
Notable players
Junel Baculi - former basketball coach of the Philippine national basketball teams which won the 1996 Champions Cup in Malaysia, the 1997 Champions Cup in Manila and the 2007 Seaba Games
Freddie Hubalde - NCAA 1973 Seniors' Basketball MVP; PBA's 1977 MVP; member of the Crispa Redmanizers; one of the PBA's 25 All-Time Greatest Players
Leo Isaac - NCAA 1981 Seniors' Basketball MVP; former PBAplayer; former coach of the Arellano University Chiefs and the Mapua Cardinals senior basketball teams; former coach of the Barako Bull Energy Boosters in the PBA
Alvin Patrimonio - PBA's four-time MVP, in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997; member of several Philippine national basketball teams; one of the PBA's 25 All-Time Greatest Players
Bong Ramos - member and top scorer of 1981 NCAA champion Mapua Cardinals; former coach of the Indonesian national basketball team; former head coach of FedEX Express in the PBA; former Head coach of Mapua Cardinals; former assistant coach of Barangay Ginebra ; former assistant coach of Talk n' Text Phone Pals ; head coach of CLS Knights Surabaya Indonesia Basketball League
Tacing Tanquintic - the original and first "King Cardinal" who led the MIT team to its first ever NCAA seniors' basketball crown in 1940
Other former Mapua Red Robins and/or Cardinals who eventually played in the Philippine Basketball Association include Israel Catacutan, Ricardo dela Peña, "Bong" dela Cruz, Paolo Hubalde, Menardo Jubinal, Rudolph Kutch, Eric Leaño, Eugene Leano, Romulo Mamaril, Jay Mendoza, Kevin Ramas, Ricky Relosa, Johnny Revilla, Reuben dela Rosa, Omanzie Rodriguez, Victor Sanchez, Jack Santiago, Rudy Soriano, Mark Telan, Japeth Aguilar, Chito Victolero and Marvin Ortiguerra.
Another sport where the Mapua Cardinals and Red Robins have performed well is in track and field. Prior to 1953, relay and track and field events were counted separately. Since 1953 when these events were formalized, MIT has won a total of 25 titles in the seniors' division and six in the juniors' division. Ateneo de Manila follows at a distant second with 17 juniors' and six seniors' titles.
Notable members
Henry Dagmil - member of the Philippine track and field team; 2005 South East Asian Games gold medalist and record holder in the long jump event
Florentino Toribio Manuel - member of 1950 Mapua Cardinals track and field
Ruben Nieva - member of MIT track and field 1979-1983; gold medal in 4x100 and 4x400 relay, bronze in 100m and javelin throw and bronze in 4x400 relay as a member of the NCAA selection during the annual NCR competition coached by Claro Pellosis; team captain of 1983 NCAA Track and Field champion
Claro Pellosis - member of the 1936 Olympic team for track and field
Rodelio Santos - member of MIT track and field 1982-1984; first winner of five gold medals in the NCAA for the MIT Red Robins in long jump, triple jump, 400m hurdles, 4x400 relay, and 4x100 relay under Coach Claro Pellosis
Simeon Toribio - member of the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympic teams; Olympic bronze medalist in the high jump event at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics; many-time Asian Games gold medalist; recipient of the 1930 World Helms Trophy for being Asia's greatest athlete, the only Filipino to be awarded this honor
Miguel White - member of the 1936 Olympic team; Olympic bronze medalist in the 400m hurdles at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
Other sports
Mapúa University has also shown great performances in other sports.
Swimming
The Mapúa seniors' swimming team, coached for many years by Edilberto Bonus, won 40 titles in the seniors' division and 22 in the juniors. This clearly dominating record is followed only by that of San Beda College with 21 championships in the juniors' division but only eight titles in the seniors' events. MIT's tankers last won the seniors' crown in 1997 while the last juniors' title was won in 1991. Bonus won the bronze medal at the first Asian Games held in New Delhi, India in 1951. Until his retirement, he was a professor of both Mathematics and Physical Education at the Institute. He also served as President of the Philippine Amateur Swimming Association for several years.
Chess
The MIT chess team has produced the likes of Eugene Torre, Asia's first grandmaster, as well as International Master Renato Naranja, both of whom represented the country in the 1972 Chess Olympiad and International Master Ildefonso Datu. Several notable players in the likes of Ernesto Encarnacion Jr., Diosdado Ortiz, Eric Quizon, Hoyle Disuanco and Julius Joseph De Ramos also honed their skills with the Mapua seniors' chess team during the mid 80’s contributed to the team’s championships. Mapua has won a total of 11 NCAA chess titles in the seniors' division, the last being in 1996, and six NCAA juniors' titles, the last being in 1996 also.
Tennis
MIT leads the NCAA with 16 seniors' and 17 juniors' titles, followed by San Beda with 11 seniors' and 14 juniors' championships. Mapua's tennis greats include former Philippine and Southeast Asian number one netter Manuel Tolentino, who represented the country in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Mapua last won the seniors' title in 1994 and the juniors' in 1997.
Football
Behind La Salle and San Beda, Mapúa has the third best winning record in football with seven juniors' titles and 12 seniors' titles. The MIT football team has produced several players who have played for the Philippine national football team in international competitions.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo was founded in 1986 by former Philippine team member and 14th Southeast Asian Games silver medalist middleweight jin Joal Pamintuan. Pamintuan was part of the Philippine contingent in the SEA Games, which was composed of Arnold Baradi, Stephen Fernandez, Monsour Del Rosario, Ernie Roque, Jobet Morales, and Bobby Vargas. Pamintuan is also a member of the elite Philippine Taekwondo Association's Taekwondo Blackbelt Brotherhood batch 5. The first batch of jins formed in 1986 the Mapua Taekwondo Association and is recognized by the Philippine Taekwondo Association. MITTA officially represented Mapua in various interschool and national championships starting in 1986 where it saw action competitively for the first time in the 1986 National Taekwonwondo Championships. Its best performance was at the 1989 Interschool Championships where it fielded two teams: Mapua Gold and Mapua Red. Mapua Gold won the bronze medal when it defeated the Gray team of the Philippine Military Academy in the quarterfinals. The founding members of MITTA were Emman Arquelada, Ray Arquelada, Egie Paredes, Gilbert Apolonia, Jay Pamintuan, who was also a member of TBB batch 8, Tang Manwai, Gilbert Dy, and Richard Tan, among others. It was disbanded in 1992 when most of its members had graduated, including Pamintuan. Taekwondo was taught again in the school after it was acquired by the Yuchengco Group and is currently developing players to represent the school. It is being handled by Emmar Progelia, a former member of the Philippine Taekwondo Team and an active member of the Elite Taekwondo BlackBelter Brotherhood.
Cheering at the NCAA
The MU Cheerping Cardinals
The Mapúa Cheerleading Association, known informally as the Cheerping Cardinals, won the NCAA's first ever cheerdancing competition held in 2004. They have since continued to show and exhibit competitive performances, including a runner-up finish in the 2007 competition where they lost to the University of Perpetual Help pep squad by a single point.
MU songs and cheers
The staple cheer of Mapúa University is the cry "Viva Mapúa!"
