Harry Burgess

HARRY BURGESS

ASSISTANT COACH 1956 OLYMPIC TEAM

Born in 1925 Harry Burgess grew up in the Surrey Hills area of Sydney. He first became interested in basketball at the Moore Park Playgrounds under the coaching of Ray Rosbrook who was to have a profound influence on basketball in Sydney and NSW. Harry played basketball during the Second World War until he enlisted (at 17) in the navy where he saw action as a seaman on HMAS Shropshire.

After the War Harry continued with his basketball and was selected on the first ever NSW State team that won the inaugural Australian Championship. He was named to the First Five of that tournament. He continued to play for NSW in subsequent years.

Harry came to coaching in the early fifties with the Newtown Police Boys Club. His team at the Club was considerably strengthened by a number of players who came over to the Police Boys Club from the very strong YMCA club and the Camperdown Playground team.In 1954 under Harry the club won all three State titles (senior, intermediate, and junior).

Harry was a strong disciplinarian and a fitness coach. His teams became very aggressive defensively and relied on fast-breaks out of defence and aggressive rebounding. When the fast-break was not available Harry stressed set plays on offence and correct execution of those plays. Harry was renowned as a very intense and explosive personality.

Burgess was influenced by Ray Rosbrook the champion NSW coach who coached NSW to Australian Men’s Championship titles in 1946, 1947 and 1949 and was named honorary coach of the Australian team in 1948. Harry is also reported to have been influenced by a book by Adolph Rupp the legendary coach from Kentucky University in the USA.His players credit Harry as the first NSW coach to use set offenses. Harry was also the first coach in NSW to use individual and team statistics, circuit training and country and interstate tours for his teams.

According to Ken Finch (1956 Olympian) Harry “did not suffer fools gladly and was never a favourite of officialdom”

Harry Burgess playing basketball

Harry coached three NSW’s men’s teams at the Australian Championships. He coached the NSW teams that won the Australian title in 1954 and were second in 1955. He was an Olympic selector and was named as Assistant Coach of the 1956 Australian Men’s Olympic Team. The players on that team remember Harry well as a fitness fanatic who drove them fiercely in the few weeks the team was together prior to the Games. His approach was quite a shock to many of the players who were in varying stages of fitness and questioned the sense of running through the streets of Melbourne, doing physical exercises then fronting up to training sessions with Coach Ken Watson. But that was Harry’s way and he demanded top physical fitness from players.

Ken Finch again “Harry was instrumental in my career and with his strong values and discipline he kept many young lads on the straight and narrow in those early inner city days.”

Three of the players on the 1956 Australian Olympic Team were coached by Harry at the Newtown Police Boy’s Club. These players were Merv Moy, Bruce Flick and Ken Finch. He also coached 1960 Australian Olympian Ross Graham.

These players recall that they did not always agree with harry and at times had their “run-ins” with him but such was their respect for him that they continued to play for him and to admire him.

Harry Burgess had a profound effect on basketball standards in NSW and on many young players who developed not only their basketball skills but their skills for life as he was strong on ethics and discipline. He also saw it as his mission to take basketball to other clubs and to country areas to introduce the game and to foster the game he loved.

Both Rosbrook and Harry Burgess came from the same culture and Harry was coached in the early days by Rosbrook, and their culture meant that they both kept a lot of young guys on the right track, with discipline and consistency in that discipline. Harry favoured no one, although I’m sure he had his own thoughts but never put himself in a position above anyone else. He was a level headed bloke and he set a fine example to those young guys, who all treated him like how Wayne Bennett (Rugby League