No 6 KEN FINCH
5 feet 10 inch (180cm) Guard
1956 Olympic Games
Growing up in Camperdown Sydney after the Second World War was a pretty tough environment as a lot of families were underprivileged and children could get into trouble. The Sydney Council provided a Park Playground at Camperdown in an effort to provide youngsters with activities to improve their physical activity and hopefully to “keep them out of trouble.” They also provided a paid supervisor to help the kids and to manage the equipment for the younger ones, a park with cricket pitches, a soccer field, paddle tennis courts and basketball courts. While their motives were to provide physical activities to occupy the children, the Council was unaware at the time that as well as imbuing kids with a love of sport out of this park would also come a number of Australian representative athletes in a number of sports such as soccer, basketball, rugby league and cricket. One of these youngsters to become an Australian representative basketball player was Ken Finch.
Kenneth Roy Finch was born June 9th 1936 in Camperdown, Sydney NSW.
He commenced playing basketball at fourteen years of age when he played juniors with future fellow Olympian Bruce Flick for Camperdown Playground in the City of Sydney competition.
In 1951 he joined Newtown Police Boys Basketball Club with Bruce Flick and Merv Moy (another future 1956 Olympian) and was coached by the future 1956 Olympic Assistant Coach Harry Burgess, who Ken credits with much of his early success.
In 1954 the Police Boy’s Team became the “Paratels” one of the first sponsored teams in basketball. The team won the NSW under 16, under 18 and senior NSW’s titles.
Ken represented and captained NSW at the first Australian Under 18 Championships held in Launceston in 1954 when NSW won the title.
Ken Finch drives to the basket for NSW in 1955(Courtesy K. Finch)
In 1955 he represented NSW on the senior team at the Australian Championships which were held in Sydney. Bruce Flick and Merv Moy were also on that team which was coached by Harry Burgess. At the conclusion of those championships at the age of nineteen he was selected on the sixteen man 1956 Olympic Squad.
At that time Ken was a clerk in the Police Department.
Ken was selected to the 1956 Olympic Basketball Team. He was twenty years of age and the youngest player on the team. He along with Bruce Flick and Merv Moy became NSW’s first Olympic basketball players.
At 5 feet 10 inches inheight he played the guard position and was also one of the shorter players on the team.In the words of team-mate Bruce Flick, “Ken Finch was what we would call a playmaker in modern terms, and was one of the smoothest movers on the court, seeming to glide over the boards with ease. He had a great chest pass that could travel the length of the court and was a tough defensive player. His tenacity gained him selection in many State teams and in the 1956 Olympic team.”
The Australian 1956 Olympic Basketball Team was a mixture of “refugee” players from Europe and Australian born players.
“Being part of the Olympic Games was an overwhelming experience,” says Ken.
“We entered the Village some two weeks before the Games and played practice games against other countries. Particularly memorable games were against the USA and Russia”. These games were played in the historic Exhibition Building.
The team lacked the preparation needed for them to perform to the levels they wanted to but they gave a very good account of themselves. They enjoyed playing against the European style power teams and then having to play against the very quick and unorthodox Asian teams. It was a great learning experience for all the players and for Australian basketball as a whole. Ken, Harry Burgess and the other NSW players were able to take back to NSW those lessons and pass them onto other players and youngsters learning the game.
In the words of a team-mate, “Ken was a thorough gentleman on and off the court and was certainly a role model for the younger players in the club.”
Ken again represented NSW in 1958 before chronic knee injuries forced his early retirement from basketball at the age of 24 years.
Many years later he retired from the police force as a Superintendent.
In 2000 Ken carried the Olympic Torch through the streets of Newton where he had grown up and played basketball.
In 2011 Ken Finch was inducted into the Basketball NSW Hall of Fame.
Ken Finch in his Newtown Club uniform (Courtesy K. Finch)