Eugene Quilban burst onto the PBA scene in 1991, selected third overall by Alaska in the Rookie Draft, the first ever televised draft ceremonies of the Asia’s pioneering professional basketball league.
Although he wasn’t Alaska’s number 1 pick at that time as the Milkmen selected 6-foot-7 Alex Araneta as its top overall pick and Presto drafted Bong Hawkins, Quilban emerged as the Rookie of the Year and helped Alaska in winning the first of its 14 championships in the league.
Before Johnny Abarrientos, Quilban was the star point guard of Alaska’s team and he proved his potential right in his first season with the squad while playing alongside the franchise’s two superstars — Jojo Lastimosa and long-time collegiate teammate Bong Alvarez.
Lastimosa recalled how efficient Quilban was as a point guard as the former had one of his finest seasons in the league, coming off a trade from Purefoods for Boy Cabahug.
“One thing that stood out about Eugene, he was very creative with the ball. For such a small size like Johnny, he was very nimble and can create situations for his teammates,” wrote Lastimosa in a Viber message to Pinoystep.com.
“He was your classic point guard, who can dictate the tempo of the game. He may not be your typical scoring/jump shooting guard like today, but his skill set was very much of a true point guard.”
Unfortunately for Quilban, he can only enjoy that brief success for one season, but he emerged as the league’s top playmaker, dishing out 384 assists the following year while playing for 7-Up, the most by any local player at that time.
Tim Cone, who coached Quilban in that one season he played for Alaska, explained why the player didn’t have much success when he moved to the old Pepsi Cola franchise.
“We only had Eugene for one year. He won the Rookie of the Year and then, we ended up moving him to Pepsi for Jun Reyes, the younger brother of Chot Reyes, so we only have him for one year and then he went to Pepsi. He kinda languished at Pepsi because they were not a strong team. For a point guard to succeed, you need to have a strong team, guys you can set up, guys that can spread for you, so you can set them up. He didn’t have that early on in his career,” said Cone in an interview with The Link Podcast.
“He had that with Alaska because he had Jojo and got to play on with Bong Alvarez. He had more better players with Alaska. Pepsi was a rebuilding team and they were very weak when they came to the league. Eugene never really had a chance to develop in a good situation and that really hampered Eugene.”
But Quilban gave Cone something to remember as he was a key figure of the winningest coach in PBA history’s first ever title.
“Eugene was an amazing player and a really good person. He was extremely humble and a joy to be around. Those were the things I remembered about him,” added Cone.
Quilban also played in the Metropolitan Basketball Association, another professional league which came out in 1998, until he retired.
Prior to becoming a professional player, Quilban was also a part of the San Sebastian Stags team that established league dynasty during the late 1980s while playing alongside Alvarez, Cris Bade and Art dela Cruz among others and coached by Francis Rodriguez and was also a star player in the old PABL.
On Saturday, Quilban passed away after a bout with pancreatic cancer as Philippine basketball lost another great player.
