Rodericko Cesar Escueta Racela, also known as Olsen Racela, (born November 1, 1970) is the head coach of the FEU Tamaraws men's basketball team. He is also currently an assistant coach of the

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (formerly, La Tondeña Distillers, Inc.), a subsidia ...

of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

(PBA). He is a retired PBA player and is considered to be one of the best

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

s who ever played in the league. He was also a notable member of the

Philippine national basketball team The Philippines men's national basketball team ( fil, Pambansang koponan ng basketbol ng Pilipinas), commonly known as Gilas Pilipinas, is the basketball team representing the Philippines. The team is managed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipi ...

on many occasions.

Early life

Olsen Racela, born on November 1 in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, was so named because he was born on All Saint's Day (his brother Nash was born on Bonifacio Day). As a young boy, he started playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

early in his life. It was just a simple game for Olsen back then, which consisted of a couple of shots through a hoop in his old neighborhood. Among his brothers, he proved to have the prodigious basketball skills which gave him a spot in

Ateneo de Manila University , mottoeng = Light in the Lord , type = Private, research, non-profit, coeducational basic and higher education institution , established = December 10, 1859 , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic (Jesuits) , academic_aff ...

's varsity team.

Amateur career

Racela played for the

Ateneo Blue Eagles The Ateneo Blue Eagles are the collegiate varsity teams of the Ateneo de Manila University that play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), the premiere collegiate league in the Philippines. The collegiate women's v ...

in a backup role to Jun Reyes and was a member of the Blue Eagles team that won the UAAP title in 1988. He also played in the Philippine Amateur Basketball League and the RP Youth Team.

PBA career

Purefoods

In 1993, Racela was selected 12th by Purefoods in the 1993 PBA Rookie Draft. From 1993-1996, he played the backup role to

Dindo Pumaren Ferdinand "Dindo" Pumaren, is a retired Filipino professional basketball player and former collegiate coach. In his professional playing career, he was nicknamed "The Bullet" due to his great passing and stealing. Early career Pumaren suited ...

and won two titles with the Purefoods franchise under a limited role with the team.

San Miguel Beermen

In 1997, Racela was traded to the

San Miguel Beermen The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with the Magnolia Hotshots and Barangay Ginebra ...

for merely two second round picks for the succeeding three years beginning 1998. This became the turnaround of his young career. Under new San Miguel head coach Ron Jacobs, Racela's skills were noticed under a rebuilding Beermen squad of

Nelson Asaytono Nelson Asaytono (born January 25, 1967) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player who played for Purefoods, Swift/Sunkist/Pop Cola, San Miguel Beer, and Red Bull in the PBA during his 17-year career. Collegiate / Amateur career Asa ...

Freddie Abuda Freddie Abuda (born October 8, 1969) is a Filipino former basketball player. He was drafted by Purefoods, then known Coney Island Ice Cream, in the 2nd round as the 14th overall pick. Abuda played eleven seasons in the PBA, most of them with th ...

and Mike Mustre. In 1998, Racela's game would improve and was rewarded with a spot on the

Tim Cone Earl Timothy Cone (born December 14, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach of Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He is the most accomplished coach in PBA history with t ...

-coached

Philippine Centennial Team The 1998 Philippines men's national basketball team, nicknamed the "Philippine Centennial Team", competed in the 1998 Asian Games. The team consisted of professional players in the country that included national team veterans Allan Caidic and Al ...

that took home a bronze medal in the

1998 Asian Games The 1998 Asian Games (), officially known as the 13th Asian Games and the XIII Asiad, was an Asian multi-sport event celebrated in Bangkok, Thailand from December 6 to 20, 1998, with 377 events in 36 sports and disciplines participated by 6,554 ...

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population ...

. A season later, with Racela as its top point guard, San Miguel became the league's new dynasty under

Jong Uichico Joseph Enrique Uichico (born July 15, 1962), better known as Jong Uichico, is a Filipino professional basketball coach who last coached the Bataan Risers in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League. Uichico is a former Philippine national team Y ...

, winning five titles from 1999-2001.

2002 Busan Asiad

He made his second stint in the national team in 2002 for the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. With Racela as point guard, the Nationals made it all the way through the semifinals against host South Korea. In the final minute, Racela scored a three-pointer to give the Philippines the lead. However, after recovering the possession and was fouled, he missed two crucial free throws that could have given the country a four-point lead. Instead, Lee Sang Min's buzzer-beating triple gave the Koreans a dramatic 69-68 victory. Some argued that the blame rested on Jong Uichico's coaching strategy in which he did not set up a plan to ease Racela's pressure from the 15 foot line. Despite the missed free-throws, Racela continued to shine in his point guard duties with San Miguel. In 2004, he dished his 2,000th career assist and was the starting point guard when the Beermen won another title in the 2005 PBA Fiesta Conference. Starting in the 2007-08 All Filipino Conference, Racela occasionally played off the bench in preparation for his retirement and later life as an assistant coach. On August 11, 2010, Racela became the fifth player alongside

Ramon Fernandez Ramon Sadaya Fernandez (; born October 3, 1953) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and current commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission. Fernandez won four PBA Most Valuable Player awards and a record 19 PBA titles. F ...

Robert Jaworski Robert Vincent Salazar Jaworski Sr. (; born March 8, 1946) is a Filipino former professional basketball player, head coach and politician who served as a Senator of the Philippines from 1998 to 2004. He played 23 seasons in the Philippine Bas ...

Abet Guidaben Alberto "Abet" Guidaben (born September 14, 1952) is a Filipino former professional basketball player in the PBA. He was part of the fabled Crispa Redmanizers ballclub that won two Grand Slams, in 1976 and 1983. He was a two-time PBA Most Va ...

Philip Cezar Philip Dudley Cezar (born December 1, 1952) is a Filipino former basketball coach, player and politician. Known by the monikers "Mr. Stretch", "''Tapal'' King" and "The Scholar", he was part of the fabled Crispa Redmanizers ballclub of the Phil ...

to play at least 900 games in the PBA.

League's oldest active Player and Retirement

After PBA legend

Johnny Abarrientos Johnny Abarrientos (born July 17, 1970) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association. He was also a many-time member of the Philippine National team, and was the 1996 PBA Most Valuable Player, bec ...

announced his retirement, Racela played for another season with San Miguel. He turned 40 on November 1, 2010 and was the senior statesman of the PBA during that season. He announced his retirement on January 28, 2011 at the

Araneta Coliseum The Araneta Coliseum, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Smart Araneta Coliseum, is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena that is part of the Araneta City in the Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. Nicknamed as "the Big Dom ...

at the start of Game 4 of the finals. He had played the entire finals series before he hanged up his #17 jersey in which

Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters The TNT (cellular service), TNT Tropang Giga is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the PLDT, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Associat ...

subdued

in 6 games.

Coaching career

On December 20, 2016, FEU announced the hiring of Racela as the head coach of the FEU Tamaraws men's basketball team in the UAAP. He replaced his brother Nash, who was appointed as the head coach of the PBA team

TNT Katropa The TNT (cellular service), TNT Tropang Giga is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the PLDT, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Associat ...

. This also serves as his first head coaching job in a varsity basketball team.

Coaching record

Collegiate record

PBA

Personal life

Racela's nickname was based on the day of his birth as it was during All-Saints Day. His brother, Raoul Cesar or Nash Racela, is currently the head coach of the

Adamson Soaring Falcons The Adamson Soaring Falcons are the collegiate men's varsity teams of Adamson University that play in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines which is the mother sports league of the ''Falcons''. The collegiate women's varsity team ...

and the former head coach of the

FEU Tamaraws The FEU Tamaraws are the varsity teams of Far Eastern University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). The collegiate women's varsity teams are called the ''Lady Tamaraws'' while the high school varsity teams are call ...

who were champions in the UAAP. Nash also coached the

Batangas Blades The Batangas Blades (or the LBC-Batangas Blades) were a professional basketball team of the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association from 1998 to 2002. Its moniker was taken from the province's popularity in making Balisong (a Filipino-ma ...

in the

Metropolitan Basketball Association The Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), or Metroball, was a professional basketball league in the Philippines that ran from March 7, 1998, to July 26, 2002. History The MBA played its first game on March 7, 1998, at the Don Narciso Ramos ...

. Olsen has 3 children namely Ryan, Raya, and Rafa.

Basketball career

School leagues

*1984:

Ateneo de Manila , mottoeng = Light in the Lord , type = Private, research, non-profit, coeducational basic and higher education institution , established = December 10, 1859 , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic (Jesuits) , academic_affi ...

- PAYA Aspirants *1985:

- PAYA Juniors *1986

- UAAP Juniors *1987-1992:

- UAAP Seniors

Philippine Basketball League

*1989:

Crispa Redmanizers The Crispa Redmanizers were a multi-titled Filipino basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) from 1975 to 1984. It was one of the nine founding teams of the PBA, winning a total of thirteen PBA championships, i ...

*1990-1991: A&W Rootbeers *1992: Pop Cola

Philippine Basketball Association

* 1993–1996: Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs * 1997–2011:

National teams

*1987 Asian Youth 18 years and below,

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

*1989 ABC Under-18 Championship,

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

*1998 Asian Games, Thailand *1998 Jones Cup, Taipei *2002 Asian Games,

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

, South Korea

Awards and achievements

Philippine Basketball Association

* 1993 Mr. Quality Minutes * 1998-1999 2-time Mythical Second Team * 2000-2001 2-time Mythical First Team * 2000-01, 2003–04, 2006 5-time All-Star * 2002-2003 Mythical Second team * 2004 21st member of 2000-Assist Club * 2010 5th member of 900 Games club

PBA career statistics

''Correct as of July 26, 2011''

Season-by-season averages

, - , align="left" , 1993 , align="left" , Coney Island/Purefoods , 43 , , 8.3 , , .514 , , .333 , , .700 , , 0.9 , , 1.3 , , .4 , , .1 , , 3.4 , - , align="left" , 1994 , align="left" , Coney Island/Purefoods , 62 , , 15.6 , , .479 , , .444 , , .661 , , 0.9 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , .1 , , 3.7 , - , align="left" , 1995 , align="left" , Purefoods , 59 , , 24.8 , , .502 , , .222 , , .851 , , 1.7 , , 3.1 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 6.7 , - , align="left" , 1996 , align="left" , Purefoods TJ/Corned Beef , 58 , , 22.6 , , .454 , , .115 , , .795 , , 1.5 , , 3.0 , , .8 , , .1 , , 6.4 , - , align="left" , 1997 , align="left" , San Miguel , 62 , , 40.0 , , .439 , , .316 , , .876 , , 1.8 , , 4.7 , , .7 , , .1 , , 11.4 , - , align="left" , 1998 , align="left" , San Miguel , 49 , , 38.2 , , .455 , , .292 , , .847 , , 2.8 , , 4.5 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 8.8 , - , align="left" , 1999 , align="left" , San Miguel , 53 , , 34.2 , , .399 , , .233 , , .843 , , 2.3 , , 3.6 , , .8 , , .1 , , 7.3 , - , align="left" , 2000 , align="left" , San Miguel , 58 , , 32.9 , , .461 , , .383 , , .839 , , 2.3 , , 3.0 , , .6 , , .1 , , 9.6 , - , align="left" , 2001 , align="left" , San Miguel , 70 , , 34.3 , , .395 , , .381 , , .871 , , 2.2 , , 2.8 , , .8 , , .03 , , 10.9 , - , align="left" , 2002 , align="left" , San Miguel , 12 , , 26.2 , , .384 , , .294 , , .800 , , 1.9 , , 4.6 , , .9 , , .2 , , 9.7 , - , align="left" , 2003 , align="left" , San Miguel , 50 , , 32.5 , , .417 , , .373 , , .865 , , 3.0 , , 4.8 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 10.8 , - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" , San Miguel , 78 , , 34.0 , , .398 , , .354 , , .827 , , 2.2 , , 5.3 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 11.4 , - , align="left" , 2005-06 , align="left" , San Miguel , 43 , , 32.6 , , .367 , , .305 , , .863 , , 2.7 , , 4.3 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 8.3 , - , align="left" , 2006-07 , align="left" , San Miguel , 62 , , 26.3 , , .373 , , .286 , , .872 , , 2.3 , , 3.5 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 8.5 , - , align="left" , 2007-08 , align="left" ,

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

, 47 , , 20.0 , , .426 , , .391 , , .912 , , 1.6 , , 2.5 , , .6 , , .1 , , 6.3 , - , align="left" , 2008-09 , align="left" , San Miguel , 56 , , 20.0 , , .387 , , .327 , , .828 , , 1.9 , , 3.2 , , .6 , , .04 , , 6.0 , - , align="left" , 2009-10 , align="left" , San Miguel , 39 , , 11.0 , , .393 , , .328 , , .833 , , 0.8 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .03 , , 3.2 , - , align="left" , 2010-11 , align="left" , San Miguel , 24 , , 12.0 , , .344 , , .303 , , .875 , , 0.8 , , 1.7 , , .3 , , .0 , , 3.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 925 , , 27.0 , , .419 , , .334 , , .841 , , 1.9 , , 3.3 , , .8 , , .1 , , 7.8

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Racela, Olsen 1970 births Living people Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines Asian Games medalists in basketball Basketball players at the 1998 Asian Games Basketball players at the 2002 Asian Games Filipino men's basketball coaches Filipino men's basketball players Filipino Roman Catholics Filipino television sportscasters Magnolia Hotshots players Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars San Miguel Beermen coaches Philippine Basketball Association players with retired numbers Philippines men's national basketball team players Point guards San Miguel Beermen players Basketball players from Quezon City Ateneo Blue Eagles men's basketball players Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Magnolia Hotshots draft picks Magnolia Hotshots coaches Barangay Ginebra San Miguel coaches FEU Tamaraws basketball coaches