Olsen Racela retires at 40

In a fitting tribute to one of the better PBA stories, one-time back-up Olsen Racela, 40, was acknowledged by just about every single Talk N Text personnel who was interviewed during their Philippine Cup coronation despite playing for the opposing (and losing) San Miguel team.

While I was too young to remember how Racela was when he first stormed into the league as a scrawny speedster out of Ateneo as the 10th overall pick in the 1994 draft, I saw glimpses of his game around '96-'97-- the height of legendary Robert Jaworski, Sr.'s Ginebra's popularity. This, if only because Racela struck me as a Bal David clone-- same speed, same "rah-rah" approach (pardon the pun) but with glimpses of knowing when to hit the breaks.


Of course, David probably enjoyed a year or two of maturity over Racela (even if Racela played for Ateneo and the RP team) because of the hands-on training (and beating) he got from the imortal Aric del Rosario (there's an urban legend in my alma mater, UST, that goes something like del Rosario giving David a punch to the gut in the dying seconds of a close game so that his stalwart would "man up"). Also, David knew how to correctly get the ball to his big men Marlou Aquino/ Noli Locsin (having played with UST's Dennis Espino) while Racela played in a then "faster paced, glamour boys" Ateneo team, making the adjustment in knowing when and where to hand the rock to Purefoods' Alvin Patrimonio/ Jerry Codinera a lot more difficult.

But the telling point in Racela's career, in my opinion, was when he was traded to San Miguel in 1997 under coach Ron Jacobs. They built a core, even winning/ settling for third place finishes time and again before really breaking through. Racela went from being Nelson "The Bull" Asaytono's running partner, to someone who'd set the table for young Danny Ildefonso and later on Danny Seigle and Dondon Hontiveros.

Would Racela be this legendary had Alaska's Johnny Abarrientos not been involved in so many drug and gambling accusations in the late 90s AND being dropped by Alaska like an ex-girlfriend who has served her purpose? Perhaps not. But that's how the breaks of the game goes.

When the PBA started getting more involved in Asian competitions, Racela was the lone point guard left which coaches could really trust. Abarrientos was shaky while guys like Dindo Pumaren, Gerry Esplana, Boybits Victoria and Ronnie Magsanoc were just about ready to fade into the sunset. There were young guys around, but I doubt people would've trusted the keys to any RP team to Jason Webb, Jon Ordonio or even Racela's one time rival Bal David.

To his credit, Racela added new dimensions to his game. While playing with Ildefonso, he realized that he needed to learn a couple of things: pass the ball into the paint on time, receive kick-out passes and knockdown open threes.

The fastbreak, uptempo game was always there-- but the ones I pointed out above are things that great point guards of champion teams always have (Pumaren, Esplana and Magsanoc can all run AND shoot from deep).

Was Racela the BEST point guard of the last decade? I doubt it. I'd give Jimmy Alapag all the credit and love in the world skills-wise (Alapag entered the league in 2003 so that means he shared the decade with Racela), but as a leader-- no one was better than Racela. He knew when to shoot, pass, speed the game up and slow it down (Alapag has a tendency to alienate his teammates by taking one too many deep threes and losing his temper).

If anything, I'd never accuse Racela of taking games off or just going through the motion (that would be best reserved for his teammate Dondon Hontiveros, free agent Marlou Aquino and so on).

So here's to a great guy, a class act on and off the court who played all out and knew when it was time to move on with his career and life in general. Kudos Rah-Rah!

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