Olsen Racela

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

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 1999-2001.

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.

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.

• 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

• 1989: Crispa Redmanizers
• 1990-1991: A&W Rootbeers
• 1992: Pop Cola

• 1993–1996: Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs
• 1997–2011: San Miguel Beermen

• 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

• 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