Barangay Ginebra and PBA legend Jayjay Helterbrand. Photo from Facebook/Jayjay Helterbrand - Kevin Leynes Photo & Films MANILA — As the PBA celebrates its 50th season in October, one of its most prolific legends reflected on his 17-year career in Asia’s first play-for-pay league.
Six-time PBA Champion Jayjay Helterbrand, a Barangay Ginebra-lifer, has been doing great since retiring in 2017, but he admits that his time in the league still has a huge impact on him until today.
“I will never forget the PBA. I owe my whole life to the PBA and the Ginebra organization,” Helterbrand, the 2009 Most Valuable Player (MVP), told ABS-CBN News.
A direct hire by the Ginebra franchise in 2000, the 5-foot-11 guard spent the entirety of his career with the Gin KIngs, earning himself one Finals MVP plum, two Best Player of the Conference citations, and a spot in the PBA 50 Greatest Players together with his titles and Season MVP award.
“The PBA provided me a platform para maipakita ko yung God-given talent na meron ako, and to experience becoming a professional basketball player in such a competitive league,” he reflected.
Known for his run-and-gun style which was a perfect fit with the Gin Kings’ play, Helterbrand became one of the best guards during his time in the PBA, even forming the famed “Fast and the Furious” duo with his fellow ex-Ginebra star and league MVP Mark Caguioa.
The two became the face of the franchise for a good part of the 2000s until the mid 2010s, winning titles back when the likes of Eric Menk, Rudy Hatfield, Sunday Salvacion, and Ronald Tubid were still with the squad, and then until names such as Tim Cone, LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar, Scottie Thompson, and Justin Brownlee joined the squad later on.
This allowed Helterbrand to become a beloved figure — to say the least — with the Ginebra faithful, and he said that he will always be grateful for the amount of support that his Kabarangay has given him even after his playing days.
“Ginebra fans? They are not NSD ('never say die') for no reason,” he said. “Even when you are retired, lumipat ka ng team, it’s always: ‘Once a King, always a King.’ They will always support you. That’s the difference between Ginebra fans and yung mga iba, NSD talaga. Wherever you’re at, whatever you are doing, they will support you.”
The Good News
Helterbrand also had his down years in the league, spanning from injuries, personal issues, and at one point even a health scare that concerned his daughter, but he said that it was his basketball career that eventually helped him strengthen his faith as a devout Christian.
“The biggest lesson that I have is to put my faith in God,” he shared. “It’s a blessing. I don’t think I’d be lasting 17 years without God’s blessing. I think I would have been very scared to retire.”
That is why even after countless setbacks especially in the early 2010s, he was still able to return to form until his last days in the PBA, even putting up a vintage performance with Caguioa in Game 4 of the 2016 Governors’ Cup Finals.
Back then, the duo sparked a comeback in the said game of their Best-of-7 affair vs. the Meralco Bolts — with Helterbrand putting up a crucial 11 points on 3/3 shooting from 3-point range — allowing Ginebra to not only avoid a 3-1 hole, but also end an eight-year title drought with the help of Brownlee’s buzzer-beating trey in Game 6.
While Helterbrand still had some more left in his tank, he eventually called it quits after just one more season, and he said that it was his faith that also allowed him to move on to his next chapter.
“If you have God on your corner, if you have faith in Him, hindi ka matatakot sa next chapter ng buhay mo,” he said. “Put God first, strengthen your faith, and make sure that God is at the center of your life.”
Today, Helterbrand still plays together with his fellow former league stars around the globe through the PBA MotoClub, but he is also grateful to have settled and has the chance to focus on other ventures.
“I have the MAG Soil Testing, part ng construction, so we stay busy naman,” he shared. “Pero we don’t forget to still have fun, get steam off, and enjoy.”
“We still need to enjoy life. There are a lot of things around the world, a lot of tragedies are happening, so we still need to find ways to enjoy life,” Helterbrand added.
The PBA will open its Season 50 on October 5 at the Araneta Coliseum.
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