He shifted to basketball because people noticed he is a high leaper and is also good at positional plays.
He tried out at University of Santo Tomas and made it to the Glowing Goldies lineup under coach Aric del Rosario.
He saw action for Nikon Home Appliances in the Philippine Basketball League in 1993 and turn pro in the following year.
In his first season, Rey was the only rookie included in the Philippine team that went to Hiroshima, Japan for the Asian Games.
He spent all of his 14 seasons in the PBA with the Purefoods franchise and retired from active playing in 2008.