Paul Rico Galenzoga Maierhofer (born November 4, 1985) is a Filipino former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and current assistant coach for the Imus SV Squad of

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...

. He was drafted 2nd overall by the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Professional career

Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants / B-Meg Llamados

As a rookie with the Giants, he made an immediate impact on the team as an athletic and rebounding combo forward. He was one of the key players that helped former teammate James Yap and the others beat the Alaska Aces in the finals of the 2009–10 PBA Philippine Cup. After winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2010, Maierhofer looked poised for a breakout year. With B-Meg Llamados' (Purefood's Tender Juicy Giant's new name) frontline depleted because of injuries to

Marc Pingris Jean Marc Prado Pingris Jr. (born October 16, 1981) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Biñan Tatak Gel of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) and the Pilipinas Super League (PSL). Regarded as an all-time grea ...

Kerby Raymundo Kerby Mariano Raymundo (born January 19, 1981) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He last played for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Known as The Kid, he was a former star player ...

, and Rafi Reavis, Maierhofer got a lot of playing time in

2010–11 PBA Philippine Cup The 2010-11 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup was the first conference of the 2010-11 PBA season. The tournament started on October 3, 2010, with the new team, Meralco Bolts defeating the Brgy. Ginebra Kings in the openin ...

, and he responded by averaging, for the tournament, 9.6 rebounds (5th in the league) and 1.2 blocks (4th) — leading the team in both categories. But tragedy struck in the Commissioner’s Cup on that same season, when he suffered a torn ACL injury. He has struggled in his return in the 2011-12 PBA season, averaging just 2.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in only 11 minutes per game. This prompted B-Meg to trade him.

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel

He was traded to Ginebra via a three-team trade which involved

Yancy de Ocampo Yancy Rozal de Ocampo (born November 11, 1980) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He is the elder brother of basketball player Ranidel de Ocampo. He is a 12-time Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketbal ...

(along with a 2012 2nd round draft pick) going to B-Meg, Allein Maliksi going to Ginebra, and Jimbo Aquino (along with 2013 1st round pick) going to Barako Bull. Since joining Ginebra, he admittedly struggled to get playing time in a roster filled with big men like

, veterans

Rudy Hatfield Rudolph Conse "Rudy" Hatfield II (born September 13, 1977) is an American-Filipino former professional basketball player who played for Laguna Lakers in the Metropolitan Basketball Association and for Tanduay Rhum Masters, Pop Cola Panthers, Coc ...

and Willy Wilson, and now the 6-foot-9 Japeth Aguilar. He's also been involved in several trade rumors. During the

2013 PBA Commissioner's Cup The 2012–13 PBA season, 2013 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) PBA Commissioner's Cup, Commissioner's Cup was the second conference of the 2012–13 PBA season. The tournament began on February 8 and ended on May 19, 2013. The tournament i ...

alone, he just logged in an average of 6.36 minutes, contributing 2 points and 2.14 rebounds – numbers that are way behind his season average of 22.43 minutes when he was still with B-Meg in 2010.

Barako Bull Energy Cola

Eventually, he was again traded to Barako Bull along with Wilson in a draft-day trade for the No. 4 pick which Barangay Ginebra used to pick James Forrester. While playing for Energy Cola, he was a part of the formidable veteran crew which gave

Petron Blaze Boosters The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Magnolia ...

a run for their own money during their 2013–14 PBA Philippine Cup best-of-3 quarterfinal matchup, yet they were swept in that series.

San Miguel Beermen

On February 18, 2014, Maierhofer was traded to San Miguel via a complex four-team trade which also involved GlobalPort, Barako Bull, and Air21. The series of trades started with San Miguel, formerly Petron, acquiring Maierhofer from Barako Bull in exchange for Jason Deutchman and the Beermen's second-round picks in 2016 and 2017. San Miguel then added

Sol Mercado Solomon Jemuel Rayos Mercado (born May 6, 1984) is a Filipino-American former professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Known as the "Sol-Train", he had an impressive PBA rookie season and eventually became ...

to its pool of stars in a straight swap with GlobalPort for guard Alex Cabagnot. In the third step, Barako Bull acquired veteran wingman

Leo Najorda Leomar S. Najorda (born February 16, 1982, in Bangui, Ilocos Norte) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Abra Solid North Weavers of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL). He was drafted ninth overall by the Red Bull B ...

from GlobalPort in exchange for guard Jonas Villanueva, who was traded by the Batang Pier to Air21 for Bonbon Custodio.

Return to Barako Bull

On April 6, 2015, Rico Maierhofer traded back to

Barako Bull Energy The Barako Bull Energy were a Philippine Basketball Association that began in 2002 as the FedEx Express. From its first season until 2005, the team was dubbed as the FedEx Express before changing to Air21 Express. From the 2009 PBA Fiesta C ...

for

Billy Mamaril John Billy San Luis Mamaril (born June 25, 1980) is a Filipino-American former professional basketball player who last played for the San Miguel Beermen of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He plays the forward and center positions. ...

in a part of four team six players trade. On May 27, 2015, he became famous throughout the whole world after using his shoe to block a shot by

Gabby Espinas Gabriel Espinas (born January 3, 1982) is a Filipino professional basketball player and head coach for the Caloocan Batang Kankaloo franchise of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) and Pilipinas Super League (PSL). A 6'4" forwar ...

against his former team, the San Miguel Beermen. Two days later, he was fined

₱ The Philippine peso sign (₱) is the currency symbol used for the Philippine peso, the official currency of the Philippines. The symbol resembles a Latin script, Latin letter P with two horizontal strokes. It differs from the currency symbol u ...

20,000 for “using a foreign object as an aid in performing an offensive or defensive move.” Maierhofer then publicly apologized for his conduct, saying it was unprofessional and should have not been done.

GlobalPort Batang Pier

On October 13, 2015, Maierhofer was traded by the

to the

GlobalPort Batang Pier The NorthPort Batang Pier is a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team that first played in the 2012–13 PBA season. The team took over the franchise of the Powerade Tigers in 2012 after it was sold to Sultan 900 Capital, Inc. Besides N ...

in exchange for Jervy Cruz.

Alab Pilipinas (ABL)

On October 17, 2017, Maierhofer was signed by ASEAN Basketball League club Alab Pilipinas after being released by GlobalPort. The signing was confirmed on the club's social media accounts, along with the signing of

Dondon Hontiveros Donaldo "Dondon" Cabañes Hontiveros (born June 1, 1977) is a Filipino politician and former professional basketball player and coach. He has been serving as vice mayor of Cebu City since 2024 by virtue of succession, due to the suspension of ...

PBA career statistics

Season-by-season averages

, - , align=left , , align=left , Purefoods / B-Meg Derby Ace , 62 , , 17.9 , , .516 , , .200 , , .684 , , 4.9 , , .9 , , .3 , , .7 , , 6.2 , - , align=left , , align=left , B-Meg Derby Ace , 23 , , 22.4 , , .406 , , .286 , , .560 , , 9.0 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , 1.1 , , 7.0 , - , align=left rowspan=2, , align=left , B-Meg , rowspan=2, 22 , , rowspan=2, 11.7 , , rowspan=2, .531 , , rowspan=2, .000 , , rowspan=2, .484 , , rowspan=2, 3.8 , , rowspan=2, .6 , , rowspan=2, .3 , , rowspan=2, .6 , , rowspan=2, 3.1 , - , align=left , Barangay Ginebra , - , align=left , , align=left , Barangay Ginebra , 40 , , 14.3 , , .526 , , .143 , , .500 , , 5.2 , , .9 , , .3 , , .3 , , 4.0 , - , align=left rowspan=2, , align=left , Barako Bull , rowspan=2, 29 , , rowspan=2, 11.6 , , rowspan=2, .494 , , rowspan=2, .200 , , rowspan=2, .614 , , rowspan=2, 3.4 , , rowspan=2, .8 , , rowspan=2, .1 , , rowspan=2, .3 , , rowspan=2, 3.9 , - , align=left , San Miguel , - , align=left rowspan=2, , align=left , San Miguel , rowspan=2, 24 , , rowspan=2, 10.1 , , rowspan=2, .525 , , rowspan=2, .000 , , rowspan=2, .600 , , rowspan=2, 3.0 , , rowspan=2, .4 , , rowspan=2, .2 , , rowspan=2, .3 , , rowspan=2, 2.6 , - , align=left , Barako Bull , - , align=left , , align=left , GlobalPort , 26 , , 15.2 , , .547 , , .200 , , .694 , , 6.2 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , .7 , , 3.7 , - , align=left , , align=left , GlobalPort , 27 , , 8.4 , , .467 , , .000 , , .615 , , 2.8 , , .3 , , .2 , , .2 , , 1.6 , -class=sortbottom , align=center colspan=2 , Career , 253 , , 14.5 , , .499 , , .193 , , .608 , , 4.8 , , .8 , , .3 , , .5 , , 4.3

Personal life

He was born to an Austrian father and a

Filipina Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino, English, or other Philippine languages. Despite formerly being subject to ...

mother Elenita. He is married to Jeck Maierhofer (''née'' Conwi), and has two sons and two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maierhofer, Rico 1987 births Living people Barako Bull Energy players Barangay Ginebra San Miguel players Basketball players from Metro Manila Basketball players from Oriental Mindoro Filipino men's basketball players Filipino people of Austrian descent NorthPort Batang Pier players Magnolia Hotshots players People from Pasay Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars Power forwards San Miguel Alab Pilipinas players San Miguel Beermen players De La Salle Green Archers basketball players Magnolia Hotshots draft picks 21st-century Filipino sportsmen