Barry Barnes
Barry Barnes enjoyed a highly prestigious national and international coaching
career for over 20 years. After establishing his reputation as a junior coach he
progressed to the National Basketball League where he coached for
12 successful years and was named Coach of the Year in his 1980 Rookie season.
He became assistant coach in 1985 of the national men’s team that claimed an
historical fourth place at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and sixth at the 1992
Olympic Games in Barcelona before becoming head coach in 1993.
After 172 games as an assistant coach, he led the Boomers on a further
172 occasions and amassed an amazing 119 wins, highlighted by consecutive
fourth place finishes at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and the
2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
A Life Member of the Australian Basketball Coaches Association, he was
awarded the Basketball Australia Merit Award in 1996 and has been responsible
for the development of many of Australia’s greatest ever male players.
I was introduced to Basketball through my church St Mathias in 1954 when I was 12 years, the older boys started playing in out very small church hall, parents made a sandbagged structure that sat on the floor and the other backboard was flush on the wall over some double doors which you went through if you made a layup.
My first competition was at the Fitzroy Police Boys Club on a Sunday night an under 21 comp loosing most games by 50pts. The younger group I grew up with were know as the gym rats spending a lot of time shooting around and playing pickup.
The older boys decided to put us younger kids in a C of E u/16 competition which was played on a home & away, after the first round teams refused to play on our court as our local knowledge of shooting thru the trusses because the ceiling was to low was believed to be too much of an advantage, we won the competition and was entered into the Victorian champ’s.
The church organisation arranged a coach Bob Denholm who was attached at the time to C of E senior team coached by Ken Watson with Lindsay and Bill Wyatt in the team.
We went on to win the Vic Champ’s u/16 and u/18 twice. Games were played on asphalt in the dog pavilion at the show grounds, wooden b/boards sloping to one end.
In 1957 I captained the Vic U/16 team that beat NSW at Sydney Boys High Ray Livermore captained NSW, they won the U/18 in 1959, I played football in 1958.
After the Olympics in 1956 and the development of Albert Park I remember going and pulling out nails from the Olympic floor to use the timber as seating in the stadium.
I went to the opening of A/park where Vic Seniors played a Mormon team a player was injured and Ken asked me to play , uniform and shoes to big for two minutes it was great.
I played and Coached Victorian senior teams and represented Australia at an invitational tournament in Manila in 1962 as the World Championships were called off due to the Philippines not allowing any communist countries to enter.
Barry Barnes - Coach Barry Barnes enjoyed a highly prestigious national and international coaching career for over 20 years. After establishing his reputation as a junior coach he progressed to the NBL where he coached for 12 successful years and was named Coach of the Year in his 1980 Rookie season. He became assistant coach of the 1985 national men’s team that claimed an historical fourth place at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and sixth at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona before becoming head coach in 1993. After 172 games as an assistant coach, he led the Boomers on a further 172 occasions and amassed an amazing 119 wins, highlighted by consecutive fourth place finishes at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. A Life Member of the Australian Coaches Association, he was awarded the Basketball Australia Merit Award in 1996.
Hurle’s sorry it has taken so long hope you and family are all well.
Love to Carolyn
RegardsBarryBarry BarnesManager, Residential Athlete WelfareAustralian Institute of SportLeverrier CrescentBruce ACT 2616T: 02 6214 1417
Date of birth: 29 March 1942Town: EvattState: Australian Capital Territory
State Finalist Senior Australian of the Year 2010
Barry Barnes
Basketball coach
Barry Barnes has been involved with basketball for more than four decades. He played for Australia at the 1962 World Championships and represented Australia as a player and coach at over 300 international games. After establishing his reputation as a junior coach he progressed to the National Basketball League (NBL) where he coached for 12 successful years and was named Coach of the Year in his 1980 Rookie season. Barry has attended four Olympic Games, two as assistant coach and two as head coach.
In 1998, Barry was the first coach to be inducted into the NBL Hall of Fame and in recent years he was inducted into the ACT Sports Hall of Fame and Basketball Australia Hall of Fame. Now in his sixties, Barry is still contributing to the sport. He currently volunteers his time to manage the ACT Under 12 Boys Basketball program, inspiring the next generation of up and
Represented Australia as a coach and a player in over 300 international games
Played in the 1962 World Championships
Coached Junior Basketball with Nunawading Spectres
Head Coach of U16, U18 and U20 State sides from 1972
12 year NBL coaching career. Head Coach NBL-Nunawading Spectres, Eastside Spectres, Geelong
Supercats and Canberra Cannons
Assistant Coach National Men’s Team-1988-1992, including 1988 & 1992 Olympics, 1990 World
Championships
Head Coach National Men’s Team-from 1993-2000, including 1996 & 2000 Olympics, 1994 & 1998 World
Championships
Life Member of the Australian Coaches Association
Awarded Basketball Australia Merit Award in 1996
Basketball Australia Hall of Fame
(Basketball Australia)