TERRY CHARLTON
1988 Olympic Games
Terry Charlton was born on the 7th of September 1940 in Newcastle, NSW.
As a schoolboy he was an outstanding sportsman in a number of sports and was a NSW champion swimmer in backstroke when he was thirteen. He started basketball at 12 years of age and early on was influenced by future Australian Coach Dr John Raschke and local sports personality RegGazzard.
In 1955 Terry was captain of the NSW Under 16 Men’s Team that won the inaugural Australian Under 16 Men’s Championships.He went on to represent NSW at the Under 18 Australian Championships in 1956 and 1957 and winning the title in 1957.
As a nineteen year old Terry was selected to his first NSW senior Men’s Team. He represented NSW again the next year (1959) and was selected on the Australian Olympic Team to play at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games.
In the 1960 Rome Olympic Games the Australians failed to qualify through the Qualification Tournament in Bologna and did not play in the finals in Rome.
After the 1960 Olympic Games Terry continued to play for Newcastle in the NSW competition and in the interstate South East Conference. He won 12 NSW State senior basketball titles playing with Newcastle.
He represented Newcastle and captained NSW over many years and was captain of the NSW team that won the Australian title in 1967. In 1968 he was selected as the NSW captain but a few weeks before the Championships in Sydney his nose was broken in NSW team training and he was unable to play in the championships.
After his retirement in 1969 from playing representative basketball his involvement in basketball continued as an administrator and coach. He was fulltime Secretary Manager of Newcastle Basketball Association from 1966 to 1975 and the first full-time basketball employee in NSW. He coordinated the construction of the Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium, while also managing the basketball stadium at Wickham. In 1979 he assisted Dr John Raschke as manager of Newcastle Basketball Association 1966 to 1975. In 1979 he assisted Dr John Raschke in forming Newcastle’s entry into the NBL. For nine years Terry was a basketball NBL television commentator on the local Newcastle television station.
In 1985 Terry was appointed as the Manager of the Australian Men’s Basketball Team(Boomers). His first duty with the Boomers was in the Oceania 1986 World Championships Qualification Tournament which the Australians won. Later that year, Terry managed the Boomers on a ten match tour of the PAC 10 in the USA. On that tour the Australians played some of the best Colleges in the USA including UCLA.
The 1986 Men’s World Championships were held in Spain. Terry managed the Boomers in lead up games against the NBL and the University of Las Vegas in Australia and then in games in Verona, Italy and Menorca, Spain. The Boomers did not perform well in Spain and secured a disappointing 13th place.
It was obvious that the Boomers needed more and better preparation. Terry managed the team in a series against the Big East and the USSR in Australia. The USSR series of six matches in particular were what the Boomers needed…competition against one of the best teams in the world. The series against the USSR ignited basketball all over Australia and raised the profile of the whole team, including Terry’s.
The Boomers under Terry’s management won the Oceania 1988 Olympic Qualification Tournament and then undertook a 9 match tour of Europe.
In 1988 Terry managed the Boomers in series in Australia against Czechoslovakia, Nebraska University and the USSR. The USSR series was again a success as it had been in 1987. The competition was fierce and Terry could see that the Boomers were a much better side than they were two years before. Just as important the NBL had finished and the Boomers had four weeks to prepare for the Olympic Games.
Terry’s skills as a manager were highly regarded. He was meticulous in his preparation and management of the tours, games and players. No problem was too hard to solve. Perhaps one of his greatest attributes was his empathy with the needs of the players and coaches. As an Olympic player himself he recognized what was need and what should be done and got on and did it.
“Terry was a tremendous manager and friend,” says 1988 Boomers Head Coach Dr Adrian Hurley. “Terry was fiercely loyal to the team and the coaching staff. He was also very protective. Everything around the team moved like clockwork under his management and he ensured that we could all do our jobs and not worry about the “outside” things. He is certainly one of the great team managers in my time in basketball.”
At the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games the Boomers astounded the basketball world by making the Olympic semi-finals and securing 4th place. Terry’s role as manager was an important piece of the puzzle that led to such an outstanding result.
“As Manager of the 1988 Seoul Australian Olympic basketball team it was very gratifying to be part of a team that finished fourth and actually play off for a Bronze Medal. I felt that I had been involved in the full circle from my experiences in 1960 where we did not win a game to 1988 where we recorded our best ever result,” says Terry.
After the 1988 Olympic Games Terry stayed involved in basketball in the Newcastle area.
Terry retired in 1997 from basketball after 44 years in the game.
He has been inducted as a Life Member of Newcastle Basketball and into the Hunter Region Sporting Hall of Fame.
As a director of the Hunter Academy of Sport he continues to have an influence on sport across the board in Newcastle. He is a member of the Basketball NSW Honours Committee.
In 2000 Terry was an Olympic Torch bearer and was awarded an Australian Sports Medal.