Basketball On The Internet.

NO-ONE outside Ballarat expected it. Even fewer believed it could happen. But one of the greatest upsets in Australian basketball history occurred 25 years ago at Melbourne’s hallowed haven for hoops, Albert Park Stadium.

These were the days when the VBA (Victorian Basketball Association) rightfully could boast to having the best domestic competition in the nation.

Few would dispute it always did anyway, but during this (sadly) bygone era, it was unquestionable.

The Wednesday night VBA competition included Victoria’s NBL teams - Eastside Melbourne, Geelong, Melbourne, North Melbourne and Westside Melbourne - suiting their national league lineups but competing under their original names of Nunawading Spectres, Geelong Supercats, Melbourne Tigers, Coburg Giants and St Kilda Saints.

Then the state’s SEABL contingent of clubs such as Dandenong Rangers, Bayside Blues, Bulleen Boomers, Broadmeadows Broncos, Knox Raiders, Kilsyth Cobras – to name just a few – also competed, making life nightmarish for those clubs for which the VBA was their pinnacle competition.

Indisputably, the VBA was THE domestic league which is why its 1989 Grand Final rightly has gone down in legend.

“We didn’t quite know what we were getting ourselves into,” Ballarat Miners’ club president of 20 years, Dennis Foley told me.

For years Ballarat had produced talented young players such as Ray Borner and Robyn Maher (nee Gull) who then had to travel to Melbourne to further their playing careers.

Development avenue

Ballarat formed the Miners in 1985 to provide an avenue for developing players, rather than lose them to the big smoke.

Foley served as president from 1985-2005, presiding over the club’s tentative emergence to become the premier non-NBL environment in the country.

But it was small steps.

“When we went searching for a coach, we had a couple of knock backs with people saying we wouldn’t be competitive,” Foley recalled.

“We saw (Brian) Goorjian playing summer league at Albert Park, approached him and struck a deal.”

Goorjian already had been assistant-coaching at Geelong and was ready to take charge of his own team.

“Brian coached the Miners in 1985-86, then went to the NBL to coach Eastside,” Foley said, the Miners’ launch-pad the start of Goorjian’s illustrious career as the NBL’s most successful coach, ultimately putting him on par with the most successful sporting coaches in Australia.

“After Brian, we recruited Al Westover from Dandenong Rangers to coach.”

Goorjian, Westover, Brendan Joyce, Mark Leader … Ballarat has given the sport some of its biggest coaching names.

The Miners moved into the VBA first division and the South East Australian Basketball League in 1986.

Cooking up an import hero

“An important key for us was recruiting a quality import and we struck gold with Eric Cooks,” Foley said.

“We could only afford to bring one import out from the US.”

Melbourne Tigers coach Lindsay Gaze supplied Foley with footage of their potential new face.

“Lindsay gave us a video of Eric but it was in the American format and not compatible with our (video) players,” Foley said.

But he persisted and finally was able to watch the tape of Cooks at a school in Ballarat.

“We found one,” Foley said of the VCR player.

“And we found an outstanding player and person in Eric Cooks.

“He played more than 500 games for us before Brendan (Joyce) took him to Wollongong to play NBL.”

The Miners’ second import, Gary Gaspard, played the 1988 NBL season with the Hawks.

A night to remember

Wednesday, August 16, 1989, is a date no Miners fan will ever forget.

Westover, who eventually would join Lindsay Gaze as his assistant for two Tigers’ NBL Championships before steering Melbourne to two of his own, knew his team was up against it.

To even reach the Grand Final, Ballarat had pulled off a minor miracle by beating Geelong Supercats’ NBL lineup which included players such as Shane Heal, Jim Bateman, Craig Irvine and Bruce Hultgren and was coached by Barry Barnes.

“I had a great group in Ballarat and our star was Eric Cooks, who was a great player and a perfect fit for our group,” Westover said.

“He was assisted by a bunch of guys who played their asses off, who played without fear and who truly believed that we would win.

“Just to get to the grand final we had to defeat Bendigo, who won the SEABL the year before, and then Geelong Supercats, and then of course the Tigers.”

Some 800-plus Miners fans made the trip from Ballarat to cram Albert Park’s Court One confines, fans five-six deep along the baseline.

“Our slogan was ‘It's Miners Time!’ We believed that it was our time to shine, not the Tigers as they had their's already,’” Westover said.

Melbourne’s lineup was not only coached by the Silver Fox, Lindsay Gaze, but he also was assisted by eventual NBL Championship-winning coach, Boomers’ Olympic coach and current NBA coach with Philadelphia 76ers, Brett Brown.

The youthful curly-haired Brown had Moscow Olympian Les Riddle to the other side of him as another Gaze assistant.

Handing out the towels and drinks was legendary basketball writer at the Melbourne Herald, Graham Burke, a personal friend and longtime inspiration for me in my own journalistic career.

Then, of course, there was the actual Tigers’ team.

Try this for size.

Gaze in his prime

Andrew Gaze in his prime, star imports David Simmons (better known now as father of Ben!), David Colbert, plus Americans Eric Bailey and Brad Pineau.

The Australian content was none too shabby either, with Warrick Giddey, Ray Gordon, Mark Gaze (sporting a mullet Mark Bradtke must have used as his blueprint), Nigel Purchase, Stephen Whitehead, Peter Walsh and Ian Rouse.

The Grand Final venue was Albert Park Stadium, Court One, where the Tigers played and trained.

In stark contrast, Ballarat had Cooks and Gaspard, then local talents Scott Henderson, Anthony Hotchin, Glenn White, Jason White, Pat Short. Barry Stevens was a policeman stationed in Ballarat, Craig Gilbert moved there with his family and Chris Ash came down from Melbourne.

Comparatively speaking, it was the cast of The Godfather (Parts I and II) versus the cast of The Untouchables TV show.

Eddie Crouch and Ray Hunt were the referees for the Championship decider and during a first half scoretable kerfuffle over a Miners steal and basket while the Tigers were trying to get a time-out, it was the irrepressible Mal Cooper settling the issue at the bench.

Truthfully, virtually every big name involved in basketball at the time was in some way connected to this epic confrontation.

Melbourne started with aplomb as Ballarat wracked up early fouls, slipping behind 22-30 at the first break.

Gaspard was struggling too but what the Miners quickly did establish was that they were going to compete on every play, Pat Short one of the standouts with his defensive work on Colbert.

Cooks too, was a monster throughout at both ends of the floor but particularly in the offensive keyway.

By halftime the Miners had snuck to a 57-55 lead, despite Andrew Gaze being virtually unstoppable.

The third quarter was again high quality and the clubs went into the final quarter locked away at 80-80.

It was 96-96 with just over a minute to go but with the crowd deafening in its support, Ballarat edged ahead.

When Hotchin sank a 3-pointer, the Miners were ahead 101-98 and a miracle was seconds from completion.

Missed long shots to tie by the Tigers came to an end when Ballarat finally grabbed a defensive board and fans flooded the court, celebrating this outrageous victory.

Lindsay Gaze even crossed to Westover to congratulate him on the win, when it suddenly became clear there still were five seconds to play.

Tree sloth

When the pandemonium subsided and fans back in their seats, Ballarat had a sideball at the centreline, Melbourne still with a chance to steal and possibly tie.

That, however, was never going to happen, a frustrated Dave Colbert giving up a foul before the inbounds pass, resulting in an unsportsmanlike, two free throws plus possession to the Miners.

“A three-toed tree sloth would have had more sense in this situation,” was how North Melbourne Giants coach Bruce Palmer, doing the television commentary, described Colbert’s brain fade which denied the Tigers any chance at a tie.

Ballarat converted one free throw to put the game out of reach, then a break to the basket on the inbounds resulted in a layup punctuation point on a 104-98 victory for the Miners’ Davids over Melbourne’s Goliaths.at

This time the pandemonium was unrelenting, court scenes reminiscent of the mid-80s NBA Championship win at Boston Garden by the Celtics over the LA Lakers.

“After the game there was a big drink at the Minerdome as we celebrated,” Westover said.

“I was also a full-time teacher then and remember working the next day, and then we had to front up the next night and play Minnesota University who were touring Australia.

“It was a tough ask, but we were all on Cloud 9.”

Cooks finished with 34 points, Hotchin 20, Ash and Gaspard with 12 apiece. But the points do not reflect the grit and determination of the Miners, Short’s overall influence, Stevens’ presence, Gilbert’s putback bucket.

“It was my coaching highlight, and a great memory,” said Westover, who won many titles at various levels after this success.

“It was a great team and a great time in my life.

“It's too bad that they don't have the state league anymore. It was always a great challenge for us to get to play NBL teams.”

Unique hat-trick

Ballarat not only clinched the VBA Championship but also the Country Victoria Championship (without any imports) and won the SEABL.

That hat-trick had never been done before and has never been repeated, Ballarat the first country team to win the state title.

A few nights later at the VBA Awards night, while accepting the trophy, Foley came up with: “What’s red and yellow and has been in a mining accident?

“Andrew Gaze.”

 

BALLARAT will mark the anniversary of its unlikely title win on Saturday, July 19 with a reunion dinner deep in Miners’ territory, on Court One at the Minerdome.

They will relive every moment, with the match played on big screens courtside and live player interviews.

Tickets will be on sale shortly at the Minerdome.

For further information, email rsvp.events@ballaratbasketball.com

 

FOOTNOTE: Almost as legendary as the game itself is the TV commentary by Bruce Palmer and Brian Goorjian, with Ballarat TV’s Glenn Driscoll.

Palmer and Goorjian became increasingly animated with their call as the game progressed, Goorj several times referring to the contest as a “Hoosiers” scenario.

The officiating came under scrutiny and when fans invaded the court early to celebrate the win, Palmer recalled how he had once been technical fouled coaching an NBL game against Illawarra for celebrating prematurely by walking onto the court.

Driscoll spent three-quarters of the game referring to Eric Cooks almost exclusively as “Cooky” or “Cooksy” and the hometown bias becomes increasingly more entertaining as the contest progresses and the Miners look capable of causing a Tigers cave-in.

“I must confess, I had an Esky stocked with Bourbon and Coke cans which we kept restocking for the full game for them,” Foley said.

If you can grab a copy of the match video or DVD, it is well worth the trip down memory lane.

 

PS

JUST in case you think maybe I was a little over-the-top in saying virtually every key figure in basketball at the time was in some way linked to this night, the women’s final was between Nunawading Spectres and Bulleen Boomers.

The Spectres were Michele Timms, Merrin Ashley-Cooper, Sharon Deacon, Tracey Browning, Shelley Gorman, Gaylene McKay, Jenny Lind, Sam Russell, Lucille Hamilton and Dale Manlein.

Bulleen suited Chris Saunders, Lynda Barker, Julie Wilts, Debbie Slimmon, Paula Martin, Cheryl Chambers, Karin Maar, Sharon Castledine, Simone Gloster and Jodi Clues.

I rest my case and doff my toupee to the Miners for a night to remember.