Basketball family

One of the pleasures I get from producing The Basketball Show (Saturdays at 4 p.m. on IBC-13) is that I meet many of the greats of the game in their natural state. I mean I see them at home relaxed, around their families, being themselves.

For a new segment called "Basketbol Family" we decided to interview the Racela clan, which has contributed more than its fair share to the game of basketball. The gregarious, infectious joy they have when they’re together is truly inspiring.

Olsen, Nash and Wally started very early in the game because they had uncles who played it, either for their schools or commercial leagues. In their neighborhood in Quezon City (a stone’s throw from the throbbing pit stop of Banawe along E. Rodriguez) they would tear up neighborhood leagues, often practicing on a makeshift goal in front of their house, along the narrow street where their parents still live.

"They would just play outside whenever there was an opportunity," recalled their father Cesar. "I think they saw it in their uncles, and learned to like the game."

Soon, the Racelas were the terrors of their neighborhood, always teammates, never rivals. Their formal names were all but forgotten when they were christened with amusing names that sometimes made them the target of schoolmates’ humor. Olsen was so called because he was born on All Saints’ Day; Nash because he came to the world on National Heroes’ Day; Wally, because, in the vernacular, the date of his birth was "walang okasyon."

"I had to learn to play wingman," says Wally, the youngest boy, now a CPA, "because they both played point guard. If I didn’t shift, I’d never had played. In fact, there was one time the coach called me. I thought I was going to play, but he just asked me to keep an eye on the timer," he laughs.

"I don’t ever recall them fighting with each other," remembers their mother, Rose, who also gave them their conversation-piece nicknames. "Especially Olsen and Nash, who are the oldest. They always gave way to each other."

Olsen was perhaps the biggest surprise. He dreamed of becoming a lawyer, in fact imitating former President Ferdinand Marcos on trips in the family car. However, basketball intervened.

"My one condition for them, especially for Olsen, who came first, was to keep their grades up," Rose explains. "Once, when Ateneo was fighting for the high school championship, Olsen’s grades went down. I told him to stop playing first. That was the first time I saw him cry. That was when I knew he was meant for basketball."

Some of the parents of Olsen’s teammates even tried to prevail upon Chot Reyes, then head coach of the Blue Eaglets, to convince Rose to change her mind.

Chot’s alleged response? "Ang Ateneo, kaya ko. Pero si Tita Rose, hindi ko kaya."

"I think the turning point was when I entered the PBL," the PBA’s pre-eminent point guard now reveals. "Even if I wasn’t making that much, there seemed to be so much I could buy." And there were many ways he could also help.

"One thing I will always be grateful for is his helping me graduate," Nash, coach of the LBC Blades, adds. "Mama told me that he didn’t want me to know, but when he was earning from the PBL, he was the one putting me through school."

When Nash ended up going to De La Salle University after a solid career in high school, he found it so hard to crack the Green Archers’ roster that he gave up playing. Wally, meanwhile, never really had a fondness for practice, and entered the workforce. Nash was somehow lured back into the game when the MBA opened in 1998, and he was given a chance to be on the Batangas Blades’ coaching staff.

To this day, the Racelas are galvanized by basketball. Rose is at many of the games, even the out-of-town ones. She and Cesar are in constant communication with their sons, especially after difficult times, like Busan.

"After the Korea game (in which Olsen missed free throws that could have salvaged a medal for the Philippines), he called me," Cesar relates. "I told him it was just part of the game. And he was the one who put them in that position. He was wandering the streets by himself, feeling bad. I said it was not his fault."

"Basketball has really given us so many blessings," Rose admits. "it has given my sons discipline, has brought us together, and helped us materially."

And seeing that is what I love about my job.