The Final Score: Petron’s Gee Abanilla – a quiet coach for a ferocious team

I remember 1989.

Ateneo, which was aiming for a three-peat (we used to call it a grand slam) failed to reach the 1989 UAAP finals. Masakit. La Salle, on the other hand, won the championship. Mas masakit. We finally lost. They finally won.

You never forget a year like that.

I remember La Salle’s back-up point guard in 1989.

His name was Gelacio “Gee” Abanilla.

He had a cheap barber’s cut; no gel or spray-net needed. He didn’t have the glow of a college hoops star back in those days. He had few shrieking fans and little mainstream charisma.

Instead, Abanilla looked like a really tall member of the La Salle chess team…or yung matangkad na economics professor na ‘di mo akalain marunong pala mag-basketball.

You never forget a player like Gee Abanilla.

“Before our championship year in 1989, I was just a benchwarmer for La Salle,” Gee, who is now Head Coach of the Petron Blaze Boosters, recalled. “I was trying to do my own thing. I wasn’t complaining about playing time. I knew that when the team needed me, I just wanted to be ready for the opportunity.”

I was still a young, foolish Atenean in 1989. Hence, I believed it was my sworn duty to hate Green Archers like Joey Santamaria, Dickie Bachmann and Rafa Dinglasan. Thankfully, I’m more mature and less foolish now. So Joey, Dickie and Rafa, I no longer hate you. I just dislike the three of you na lang. Big step na yan.

But the Green Archer I disliked the most, strangely, was Gee. Kasi nga, compared to his more popular, more glamorous, more athletic, more muscular teammates, hindi talaga siya mukhang magaling na Green Archer. Yet he always, inexplicably, played well against the Blue Eagles.

Teddy Monasterio, La Salle’s rock star point guard, was the starter. Abanilla, the introvert from La Salle Zobel, was the back-up. Tanggap ko naman noon if Monasterio played well. Yet based on my hazy recollection of La Salle’s victories, the ball-handler Ateneo’s defense couldn’t rattle was Abanilla. That was hard to accept.

“When the coach finally decided to use me, I had confidence kaya ready ako,” Gee said. “For some reason in 1989, napasok ako sa rotation and did well.”

Gee says nothing has changed. He says he’s still that same guy. He still hangs out with his friends from high school. He’s still shy when placed in social settings. He still has that same no-fuss haircut. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still wearing the same jeans. He’s still that guy who says: Let others have the limelight. Okay na ako sa background.

“Hindi talaga ako mahilig sa fanfare, yung ikaw yung center of attention,” Gee, one of the more low-key coaches in the PBA, admitted. “Kung pwede lang ordinary situation lang, okay na sa akin. Kasi hindi ako mahilig sa socialization. But because my job requires that I mingle with people so baka akala ng tao I really like to socialize. But my personality is really different. Gusto ko quiet lang.”

Maybe Gee was the kind of understated leader that Petron needed. Someone who wouldn’t, whether intentionally or unintentionally, attract attention. Because Petron’s roster already attracts enough attention as it is. Perhaps Petron, with its recent history of unfulfilled goals meshed with startling events, required someone who was fine with blending in instead of standing out.

“I’m low-profile because I come from a very simple family. I probably got it from my parents, yung pagiging low-profile,” Gee shared. His father, Jun, who passed away in 2004, was a successful banker while his mother, Eloisa, is a devoted housewife. Gee believes he turned out to be the fruitful combination of his parents. “I really admired them because they really got the job done.”

In a way, okay lang kay Gee if you say, “Yang si Abanilla, parang may kulang.”

What’s missing?

He doesn’t own a collection of multicolor shirts, PBA trophies and Gilas medals like Chot Reyes.

He doesn’t own a collection of neckties and PBA trophies like Tim Cone.

He doesn’t own a collection of PBA and UAAP trophies like Norman Black.

He’s just Gee – the man who used to coach La Salle, the man who served as an assistant coach in the PBA for many years, the man who doesn’t want any piece of the limelight. He’s just trying to win a PBA championship with the least amount of fanfare as possible.  

“To copy anyone else’s personality, you are pretending to be someone you’re not,” Gee said. “So I decided to be comfortable with myself. I maybe a little different with the way I handle my team. Ang importante lang ma-achieve mo yung objectives mo.”

It’s like 1989. That back-up point guard who never flinched, yung mukhang history teacher na may tira sa labas, is back. Abanilla is coaching the best team in the PBA. He is in a great position to win his first PBA championship. Yet he wants to do it as quietly as possible. Just like before, he’s ready to strike even if you weren’t expecting him to.

“All my life,” Gee said. “It was always like that.” - AMD, GMA News