Basketball On The Internet.

*FLASHBACKS, my weekly "lucky dip" where I just reach into my drawers of old Australian basketball stuff and transcribe whatever I find for you.

I LOVE a great fluke or coincidence. I know it might be hard to believe but I swear, for this week's Flashback, I pulled out a copy of "Basketball Week" from February 3, 1993 and turned straight to an article I'd written 21 years ago about the Warrnambool Seaside Carnival ... turning 21! (Truth IS stranger than fiction. Twenty-one years after the carnival turning 21? And with the WSC next weekend? It's the kind of coincidence which freaks me out, to be honest! Admittedly, pulling it out next weekend when it is actually being played would have been even better but that's the way it goes. And maybe it can be a reminder of how big the WSC is and was.  

 

CLASSIC SEASIDE MEMORIES FROM A GRAND OLD LADY

(The Warrnambool Seaside Classic, that grand old lady by the sea, turned 21 last weekend. Boti Nagy was there as a Norwood rookie for the first Australia Day carnival in 1973 and was there last weekend for the 21st one. He salutes the Classic's "coming of age" and the players who have made it great, with more than two decades of grand memories.)

"IT'S always been like this," I remember saying last year to a colleague experiencing his first Warrnambool Seaside Carnival.

We'd just seen Bruce Bolden swish a three to give his Eastside-based team the lead in the final seconds of the men's A-Grade semi-final.

While he was still trotting back downcourt receiving the exulted congratulations of his delighted teammates, Broadmeadows' American swingman Randy Anderson accepted the inbounds pass, heaved the ball at the far end basket, and drilled it to give the Broncos a shock victory!

While the one-time Warrnambool water tanks were still reverberating to the sound of the crowd's roar, my friend turned to me and asked incredulously: "Always?"

"Yep. Always. The Warrnambool Seaside Carnival has always been special."

It has prevailed for 21 years, truly coming of age this year in what, sadly, will be its last in this form.

No longer may we see the likes of Bill Palmer, Ken Richardson or Cal Bruton prowling the Warrnambool hardwood. Or Karin Maar, Jenny Cheesman or Robyn Maher sending games into overtime.

In truth, the WSC has slipped a little since its halcyon days pre-NBL in the 70s. But while the biggest names have visited less frequently over the past decade, the essential magic of the carnival has never waivered.

I've never been able to work out exactly what it is, or has been, that has made the WSC such a delight for players, coaches, officials and spectators.

I still recall the inaugural WSC on the long weekend of January 27-29 in 1973. I was just a rookie forward on the Norwood team which travelled from Adelaide to contest the A-Grade men with Lindsay Gaze's Melbourne Church (now the Melbourne Tigers), Norlane Tigers/Geelong and the Warrnambool men. Yes, humble beginnings.

We hadn't booked enough beds at the Lady Bay Hotel so I was relegated to the floor, and there were still more surprises in store.

Walking through the doors of the stadium for the first time was something of a revelation. You had to go up the walkway to get to the stand, or down the stairs to get to the playing surface. And the interior was nothing like any of us had ever seen before.

"What is this? Some kind of water tank or something?" I recall Nick Buvinic, the Norwood team manager, asking aloud.

Nick actually took the time to find out and later informed all of us that we were, indeed, playing in a water tank and pumping station.

Carnival secretary Bernie Garner, a veteran of 13 WSCs, said the tanks at one time were Warrnambool's water supply and that the walkway and current stand had divided the two tanks. Until the conversion, Warrnambool basketball used to be played at the YMCA.

"The women's competition wasn't getting enough court time at that time so they shifted and started playing in the water tanks. It had no roof and the court lines were drawn on the cement floor," he recalled.

By March, 1972, the stadium formally was opened and inside a year, the first WSC was inaugurated.

Past president Ron Blackney said: "We were very nervous about it (the first carnival). It was just an experiment and we didn't know what the response would be like.

"There were some carnivals being run in other country venues but this was our first attempt.

"The response though was very good; I think we had 46 teams.

"The prizemoney was $240 for A-Grade but a lot of the other prizes were donated by the Warrnambool Woollen Mill."

A-Reserve men and women collected travel rugs and blankets, B-Grade men had barbecue sets and B-Grade women won towel sets.

Things have certainly changed.

While Ron, secretary Lindsay Miller and their host of co-workers were cooking the barbie in the area where the canteen now stands, the mouth-watering aroma of snags and chops wafting over all the Court One action, Norwood was heading for the grand final confrontation with Melbourne.

Getting past Norlane Tigers/Geelong was no easy feat, Russ Riches' imposing figure dominating the keyway. But I'll never forget the Final.

There we were lining up against a team laden with Olympians such as Ray Tomlinson, Ian Watson, Ken James and John Maddock.

I'd spent most of the previous year trying to shoot free throws like Ken James, with his long, slow knee-bend and soft final release. The late Dick Mason's television commentary - back in the days when 20 seconds of basketball from the Olympics was considered 10 seconds too long by the networks - was still ringing in my ears.

"... Ken James of Australia," he'd be saying in that hushed, excited tone of his "... lining up at the free throw line."

And swish, Australia had another point.

Now, only months later, Norwood's American player-coach Kerry Vinson was subbing me into the game to guard him!

I don't remember the final score. I clearly remember that Melbourne won, and now Bernie Garner has confirmed the loss of the scoresheet from that original WSC A-Grade men's final, I'm starting to recall throwing 35 points, or so...

A year later, the barbecue was going strong again but my only recollection is of travelling home to Adelaide, trying to pick up the local radio call of the final until its reception disintegrated beyond our ability to piece together the scenario.

That year, injured, I'd discovered the vertigo-inducing joys of scoretable officiating on the dreaded Court Two. Up the ladder, cramped into no-man's land, the cry of "turn the bloody clock on" serenading my every move.

Like I said earlier, things have changed. But not that much.

"Last year, we peaked at 136 teams," Garner said. "This year it was back to 129, which is a little more manageable."

A little more.

"We've always been proud of a couple of things," Garner said.

"We've always guaranteed every team a minimum of three games and we've always treated the women equally."

We're talking prizemoney and Court One usage there.

Back during the WSC's halcyon period of the 70s, then-secretary John Pickett recalled the carnival growing to the point where it was positively bursting at the seams.

"In A-Grade, we've had 14 men's teams and we've had up to 10 in women's," he said. "And we had to knock a lot of teams back."

Pickett said he truly felt the WSC had "come of age" as a tournament when 1984 Olympic women's coach Brendan Flynn announced that the Australian women's squad would not be selected until after the Warrnambool carnival.

"That just stands out for me," he said.

Indeed, women's basketball has had plenty of exposure at the WSC and the great interstate CYMS-Glenelg rivalry for many years started with an annual WSC clash. In the grand final, of course.

Little too would Lyn Palmer (nee Tucker) have guessed then that while she and Karen Blicavs (nee Ogden) and Trish Cockrem and Co were carving out a chunk of history for St Kilda, that the national league of which she one day would become general manager, was holding its first formal meeting in 1981 ... at the Warrnbambool Seaside Carnival.

You better believe the WSC has played its part in Australian basketball history and lore.

Where else could you have seen players such as Dean Uthoff, Herb McEachin or Kent Lockhart making their Australian debuts?

And who can forget seeing that irrepressible little guy leading that incomparable Geelong men's team to victory?

I certainly can't.

There was Cal Bruton pulling up and drilling Js from miles beyond where we were used to. And inside, he had the biggest American this side of Dean Uthoff prowling the paint ... and, even more surprisingly, the perimeters.

Steve Kalocinski is one 208cm American you cannot forget.

"The thing about Steve was that he was very religious and wore a crucifix on a chain around his neck," Bruton said.

"He wouldn't take it off so he had to wear adhesive tape around it. So there's this guy standing 6-9, 6-10 and everyone's thinking we've got Frankenstein playing for us."

Kalocinski was a monster on a ball club trying to make the transition from a country Victorian team, to a VBA, SEABL and, eventually, NBL-status team.

 In 1980, the WSC was the Cats'  launching pad.

"I'd say without doubt and without over-stating it, that Warrnambool in 1980 was Geelong's springboard," Bruton said.

"Our whole pitch was to get into the NBL and that (the WSC) is where it started."

In 1980, Geelong beat Wayne Burden's Frankston - or was it Chelsea? - in the final. The following year, with fans dangling from the rafters, Nunawading beat Geelong in a classic final.

But the secret of the WSC hasn't just been A-Grade.

The "Tinhouse" as it's now known in the CVIBL, has often hummed to the sounds of serious action from the grades, half-court length shots that have saved games, and on-court heroics soon celebrated in the pub.

"We've seen some terrific games of basketball," said Ron Blackney.

"But I can still recall an A-Reserve men's game between two South Australian teams who had some sort of history. Both teams had been drinking before the game and I think they just decided to settle all their scores in one hit."

Blackney, who was umpiring the game, said players were being thrown out of it at a rate of knots. Warrnambool has not been without its share of controversy.

"But the thing that has been the best about it (the WSC), is that it's been great for our local basketball," he said.

"We've had a lot of the great players here and our kids have had the chance to see how it should be played."

And people just keep coming back.

But none moreso than Melbourne women's coach Ray Tomlinson.

Tomlinson has attended every - that's right, EVERY - WSC!

He's either been there as a player with Melbourne, player-coach with Coburg, or women's coach with Telstars or the Tigers. For 21 years.

"More, actually," he said. "My first basketball trip, I was 15, was to Warrnambool.

"We played in the quarry. I was playing with YMCA against Warrnambool YMCA."

What makes a man keep coming back, year-in, year-out? I thought my effort of 13 was pretty good.

"I think it's the fact that it's still preseason and it's also a bit of a social event," he said.

"Plus this is your first chance to see how your (off-season) summer preparation has gone.

"As a player, you really look forward to it, especially now when there aren't too many tournaments outside the VBA."

Or the BASA.

And now, sadly, the annual Australia Day WSC also is history.

Well, not exactly.

Warrnambool officials have been working hard to guarantee the tournament's life, despite losing the Australia Day holiday.

"We'll just start it on the Friday afternoon - the last day of school holidays - next year and play through the weekend," Blackney said.

Ah mate, but it won't be the same. It can't be the same.

Can you imagine going to the WSC and actually being able to find accommodation WITHOUT booking 17 years in advance? It's not on.

Or finding Warrnambool isn't bustling with the annual Sprintcar Classic and tennis tournament and nearby horse-racing festival?

It was tough enough getting used to the disappearance of the end-to-end caravan parks on the road to the Lady Bay, finding them replaced by picturesque landscaping and man-made lakes to have endless fun on. And I'm still not sure about playing without the smell of barbecue meats and onions drifting over the floor.

After 21 years, it just won't be the same.

No. It might actually be better.