Olsen Racela
Filipino basketball player and coach
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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.
Early life
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
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
Purefoods
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
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
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
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
| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | 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 |
Season-by-season averages
| 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
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]
Racela left FEU in 2022. Racela coached the Tamaraws to four semifinals appearances in his first four years, and ended with a 37–39 record. In his fifth year, the Tamaraws missed the playoffs.[4]
The Perpetual Atlas appointed him as head coach in 2024.[5] The Altas missed the playoffs in Racela's first season with them. In the next season, the Altas secured the number one seed for the first time in 21 years at the top of Group A with a 9-4 record in the eliminations. They missed the finals but secured the third place against the Benilde Blazers[6]
Coaching record
Collegiate record
| Season | Team | Elimination round | Playoffs | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | W | L | PCT | Finish | GP | W | L | PCT | Results | ||
| 2017 | FEU | 14 | 7 | 7 | .500 | 4th/8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | Lost in the semifinals |
| 2018 | 14 | 8 | 6 | .571 | 4th/8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | Lost in the semifinals | |
| 2019 | 14 | 8 | 6 | .571 | 3rd/8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost in the stepladder round 1 | |
| 2020 | Season cancelled | ||||||||||
| 2021 | 14 | 7 | 7 | .500 | 4th/8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost in the semifinals | |
| 2022 | 14 | 5 | 9 | .358 | 7th/8 | — | — | — | — | Did not qualify | |
| 2024 | UPHSD | 18 | 7 | 11 | .388 | 8th/10 | — | — | — | — | Did not qualify |
| 2025 | 13 | 9 | 4 | .692 | 1st/5th | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 | Lost in the semifinals | |
| Totals | 101 | 51 | 50 | .505 | — | 10 | 4 | 6 | .400 | 0 championships | |
PBA
| 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 | — | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 0 championships | ||
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 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 head coach Yuri Escueta.[7][8]
Basketball career
School leagues
- 1984: Ateneo de Manila - PAYA Aspirants
- 1985: Ateneo de Manila - PAYA Juniors
- 1986 Ateneo de Manila - UAAP Juniors
- 1987-1992: Ateneo de Manila - UAAP Seniors
Philippine Basketball League
- 1989: Crispa Redmanizers
- 1990-1991: A&W Rootbeers
- 1992: Pop Cola
Philippine Basketball Association
- 1993–1996: Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs
- 1997–2011: San Miguel Beermen
National teams
- 1987 Asian Youth 18 years and below, Qatar
- 1989 ABC Under-18 Championship, Manila
- 1998 Asian Games, Thailand
- 1998 Jones Cup, Taipei
- 2002 Asian Games, Busan, 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