It has been 50 years since the Australian Men’s Olympic Basketball Team, stacked with Victorians, the godfathers and legacy creators of basketball in this country, hit the court in the infamous 1972 Munich Olympic games. However, when the team reunited to celebrate the historic moment at a lunch overlooking the hallowed turf of the MCG, the energy, laughter and stories that were told in the room, it could have been yesterday.
In attendance were:
Players
- Perry (Rocky) Crosswhite
- Toli Koltun
- Ray Tomlinson
- Brian Kerle
- Peter Byrne
- Glen Marsland
- Bill Wyatt
Coach
Lindsay Gaze
Referee
John Holden
It was obvious looking around the room they are still very fond of each other and had the utmost respect of the legacies that were carved out. This was especially evident, when their coach, the FIBA Hall of Famer and architect of basketball in Victoria - Lindsay Gaze spoke - the room would fall silent, just as if he was addressing the team before a game.
With Gaze holding court, he remembered some amazing anecdotes that made everyone laugh or even cringe, one such story was about the uniforms they had to wear, not exactly conducive for the “athletes' performance”. Apparently, they were made of an unforgiving satin that was a little “restrictive” and couldn’t breathe, so there was the big possibility of having uniform “malfunctions”, which came close a couple of times.
Throughout the event, one by one each legendary athlete stood up and spoke about their personal memories of the team, what went right and what maybe could have been done a little better. One theme that was repeated, was the height of the athletes from other countries. Especially the USA and Russia (who were the Soviet Union in 1972). Rocky (Perry Crosswhite), who was the Australian Centre at the time, remembers lining for the tip off against the USA’s Tommy Burleson and even though Rocky stands at 6’9” he felt a little short against the height and might of the American team (Tommy was 7 Foot 4 Inches or 224cm!).
Throughout the day as more stories and memories unfolded, it was interesting listening to John Holden, who was the Victorian referee chosen to represent Australia at the Olympics. He spoke about the competing teams and the referees from the other countries and reminisced how some of the rules were a “little grey” with the other refs, which sometimes he found a difficult, but he stuck to his guns and made the calls as he saw them.
Even though there were several players who unfortunately are not with us anymore, the air in the room was of joy and friendship.
The Munich Olympics did bring a range of controversial events, the biggest and most well-known was the terrorist attack on the Israeli team (killing 11 Israeli athletes). This affected all of the athletes and officials who were staying in the village (where the attack occurred), the legends at the lunch event recounted the huge shift in the atmosphere after the attack. The team were given permission to head home if they didn’t feel safe, however after a vote they all decided to stay on and finish the tournament.
Once all of the basketball teams decided to stay and play, the next controversial moment was the gold medal game between powerhouses the USA and the Soviet Union! The USA had legendary names like Doug Collins, Bobby Jones and Jim Brewer (who is the uncle of Philadelphia 76ers Coach Doc Rivers).
With the ending mired in controversy, the Soviet Union defeated Team USA by one point, marking the latter's first ever loss in the event. Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union won their first eight games of the tournament, with the US team having its overall Olympic record at 63–0 when they advanced to the final. The last three seconds of the game was replayed three times with the Soviet team coming out on top, next came accusations of possible fixing, as the Cold War was going on at the time.
To this day the USA feel as though they should have won and still haven’t collected their silver medals (as far as we know). If you haven’t read about this event or seen any footage, it is well worth a trip down memory lane. It is also highlighted in the recent Netflix documentary on the 2008 USA “Redeem Team” with Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, as Doug Collins plays a key part in that also.
The lunch continued on and coincided with a tour of the MCG National Sports Museum with a few artifacts on the walls a result of the hard work, sacrifice and pathways these men carved out for basketball in Australia.
For the record, the Australian team competed hard, even pushed Team USA and finished 9th with a respectable 5 wins and 4 losses, two of those being nailbiters to Spain and Czechoslovakia – which if they went the other way would’ve been top 4 in their group.
As the team reminisced, laughed and bantered as if they were back in their change rooms at the 1972 Olympics, it was a privilege to be a fly on the wall, get a glimpse of history and how a small group of dedicated people can make such a lasting and positive effect on one of the largest and fastest growing sports in the country.
