Wikipedia

Olsen Racela

"Racela" redirects here. For his brother, see Nash Racela.
In this Philippine name, the middle name or maternal family name is Escueta and the surname or paternal family name is Racela.

Rodericko Cesar "Olsen" Escueta Racela (born November 1, 1970) is a Filipino coach and former player.[1] He is both the head coach for the Perpetual Altas in the NCAA, and is an assistant coach for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He played for 18 seasons during his PBA career. He was also a notable member of the Philippine national basketball team on many occasions.

Olsen Racela
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel
PositionAssistant coach
LeaguePBA
Personal information
Born (1970-11-01) November 1, 1970 (age 54)
Quezon City, Philippines
NationalityFilipino
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
CollegeAteneo
PBA draft1993: 2nd round, 12th overall pick
Selected by the Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs
Playing career1993–2011
PositionPoint guard
Number17
Coaching career2011–present
Career history
As player:
1993–1996Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs
1997–2011San Miguel Beermen
As coach:
2011–2012Petron Blaze Boosters (assistant)
2012–2013Petron Blaze Boosters
2013–2014San Mig Coffee Mixers (assistant)
2014–presentBarangay Ginebra San Miguel (assistant)
2016–2022FEU
2024–presentPerpetual
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As assistant coach:

As head coach:

Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Philippines
Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Bangkok Team competition

Early life

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Olsen Racela, born on November 1 in Quezon City, Philippines, 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 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's varsity team.

Amateur career

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Racela played for the Ateneo Blue Eagles 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

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Purefoods

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In 1993, Racela was selected 14th by Purefoods in the 1993 PBA Rookie Draft. From 1993 to 1996, he played the backup role to Dindo Pumaren and won two titles with the Purefoods franchise under a limited role with the team.

San Miguel Beermen

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In 1997, Racela was traded to the San Miguel Beermen 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, Freddie Abuda and Mike Mustre.

In 1998, Racela's game would improve and was rewarded with a spot on the Tim Cone-coached Philippine Centennial Team that took home a bronze medal in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand. A season later, with Racela as its top point guard, San Miguel became the league's new dynasty under Jong Uichico, winning five titles from 1999 to 2001.

2002 Busan Asiad

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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, Robert Jaworski, Abet Guidaben & Philip Cezar to play at least 900 games in the PBA.

League's oldest active player and retirement

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After PBA legend Johnny Abarrientos 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 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 subdued San Miguel Beermen in 6 games.

PBA career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

[2]

Season-by-season averages

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Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1993 Coney Island / Purefoods 43 8.3 .514 .333 .700 .9 1.3 .4 .1 3.4
1994 Coney Island / Purefoods 62 15.6 .479 .444 .661 .9 1.5 .4 .1 3.7
1995 Purefoods 59 24.8 .502 .222 .851 1.7 3.1 1.2 .1 6.7
1996 Purefoods 58 22.6 .454 .115 .795 1.5 3.0 .8 .1 6.4
1997 San Miguel 62 40.0 .439 .316 .876 1.8 4.7 .7 .1 11.4
1998 San Miguel 49 38.2 .455 .292 .847 2.8 4.5 1.1 .2 8.8
1999 San Miguel 53 34.2 .399 .233 .843 2.3 3.6 .8 .1 7.3
2000 San Miguel 58 32.9 .461 .383 .839 2.3 3.0 .6 .1 9.6
2001 San Miguel 70 34.3 .395 .381 .871 2.2 2.8 .8 .0 10.9
2002 San Miguel 12 26.2 .384 .294 .800 1.9 4.6 .9 .2 9.7
2003 San Miguel 50 32.5 .417 .373 .865 3.0 4.8 1.1 .1 10.8
2004–05 San Miguel 78 34.0 .398 .354 .827 2.2 5.3 1.1 .1 11.4
2005–06 San Miguel 43 32.6 .367 .305 .863 2.7 4.3 1.1 .1 8.3
2006–07 San Miguel 62 26.3 .373 .286 .872 2.3 3.5 1.0 .1 8.5
2007–08 Magnolia 47 20.0 .426 .391 .912 1.6 2.5 .6 .1 6.3
2008–09 San Miguel 56 20.0 .387 .327 .828 1.9 3.2 .6 .0 6.0
2009–10 San Miguel 39 11.0 .393 .328 .833 .8 1.2 .6 .0 3.2
2010–11 San Miguel 24 12.0 .344 .303 .875 .8 1.7 .3 .0 3.0
Career 925 27.0 .419 .334 .841 1.9 3.3 .8 .1 7.8

Coaching career

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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. This also serves as his first head coaching job in a varsity basketball team.[3]

Coaching record

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Collegiate record

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Season Team Elimination round Playoffs
GP W L PCT Finish GP W L PCT Results
2017 FEU 14 7 7 .500 4th 2 1 1 .500 Semifinals
2018 FEU 14 8 6 .571 4th 2 1 1 .500 Semifinals
2019 FEU 14 8 6 .571 3rd 1 0 1 .000 Stepladder round 1
2021 FEU 14 7 7 .500 4th 1 0 1 .000 Semifinals
2022 FEU 14 5 9 .358 7th — — — — Eliminated
2024 UPHSD
Totals 70 35 35 .500 6 2 4 .333 0 championships

PBA

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Season Team Conference Elims./Clas. round Playoffs
GP W L PCT Finish PG W L PCT Results
2012–13 Petron Philippine Cup 14 6 8 .429 7th 1 0 1 .000 Quarterfinals
Commissioner's Cup 14 8 6 .571 3rd 2 0 2 .000 Quarterfinals
Career Total 28 14 14 .500 Playoff Total 3 0 3 .000 0 championships

Personal life

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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 and the former head coach of the FEU Tamaraws who were champions in the UAAP. Nash also coached the Batangas Blades in the Metropolitan Basketball Association. Olsen has 3 children namely Ryan, Raya, and Rafa.

He is a cousin of former Blue Eagle and San Beda heas coach Yuri Escueta.[4][5]

Basketball career

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School leagues

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Philippine Basketball League

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Philippine Basketball Association

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National teams

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Awards and achievements

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Philippine Basketball Association

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  • 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

References

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  1. ^ "PBA legend Olsen Racela is new FEU Men's Basketball team head coach | Far Eastern University". Archived from the original on 2018-01-18. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  2. ^ "Olsen Racela Player Profile - PBA-Online.net". PBA-Online.net. Archived from the original on March 17, 2016.
  3. ^ Terrado, Reuben (December 20, 2016). "Olsen Racela takes over as head coach of FEU Tamaraws". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  4. ^ "Former Ateneo Blue Eagles guard Yuri Escueta finds his true calling as coach". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
  5. ^ "Olsen Racela turns golden boy with a simple bubble celebration". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-01-21.
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