No 11 MERV MOY
6 feet 0 inch (183cm) Guard
1956 Olympic Games
Mervyn Charles “Merv” Moy was born 19th April 1930 in Sydney, NSW.
He joined the YMCA in 1948 at eighteen years of age and played his first game of basketball in C grade in the City of Sydney competition. He says, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that another eight years down the track I’d be playing basketball at the Olympic Games.”
He soon made A Grade and continued playing for the “Y” for the next five years.
In that time he was selected to the Sydney YMCA representative side that played regular matches in Sydney, in the NSW country areas and all around Australia (particularly in the capital cities) against other YMCA teams.
In 1951 Merv was selected to his first NSW representative team and played in the Australian Men’s Championships that were played in Perth. (Dr John Raschkethe “father of the NBL”was also in that team). NSW was beaten in the Final in a close match against Victoria.In a tremendous achievement Merv was named in the All Australian Five at the completion of the Championships. He would continue to represent NSW at successive Australian Championships (except for 1953 when the Championships were not held) until 1958. In his last year he was also Captain of the NSW team.
In 1953 he left the YMCA to join Newton Police Boys Club where he played with future 1956 Olympians Ken Fitch and Bruce Flick under soon to be 1956 Olympic Assistant Coach Harry Burgess. Many of the highlight games he played in that period were against Mormon teams based in or touring from the .
In 1955 at the conclusion of the Australian Championships Merv, along with other NSW players Bruce Flick and Ken Finch, was named to the Olympic Squad of 16 players and then to the team to compete in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He would be 26 years of age at the 1956 Olympic Games.
Merv Moy’s Olympic Identification Card
(Courtesy M. Moy)
At the 1956 Olympics a highlight for Merv was to play “International Friendly” games against the USSR and the USA just prior to the Olympics.
“We played the game against the USA at the Olympic Stadium and the game against the USSR at the Exhibition Building. The USA team contained Casey Jones and the giant Bill Russell both who turned professional after the Olympics and became legends of the NBA. My job was to try and defend Casey and I loved every second I was on court,” remembers Merv. He adds, “I scored a couple of baskets and remember I took a shot from the top of the key and Bill Russell swatted the ball into the stands and said, “Try that again and it will be your head”. Merv adds, “Another time Russell dunked the ball and it hit me on the back of the neck and it knocked me to my knees. But I loved every minute of it. It was wonderful.”
Merv goes on, “The life in the Village was absolutely wonderful as well as the camaraderie with your team-mates, even though they mostly came from others States. I roomed with Peter Bumbers from Victoria...he was a good friend, a good mate. But on the court he was hell to guard.”
Merv adds,“You could walk down from your house in the Village and see the legends of sport...such as Parry O’Brien the shot putter, Richards the pole vaulter and Bobby Morrow the great sprinter.” As an aside Merv adds, “We also became very friendly with the Australian swimmers, particularly the girls and would travel in the bus with them and go and watch them train and swim and they came and watched us play.”
The Australian Olympic Basketball Team lacked preparation and game practice together and were a mixture of European born players and Australian born players who played somewhat differently. The team was unable to train together in the months before the Games and the NSW and SA team-members trained by “correspondence” from Coach Ken Watson. The team assembled in Melbourne some week or so before the Games and tried to make up for their lack of time together by vigorous training and fitness as well as practice games against other nations.
The Australian Team had a wonderful experience playing in the Olympic Tournament and finished 12th out of 15 participants. They had learnt a lot and would pass on those lessons and begin Australia’s rise to a power in Olympic basketball.
Merv comments on his Olympic experience, “The honour and privilege of becoming an Olympian....the pride and indescribable feeling of marching with my team-mates behind the Australian Flag at that magical Opening Ceremony.....the wonderful experience of life in the Olympic Village, the events have all provided me with great memories that seem to be more enhanced every year of my life-especially because I know that no one or nothing can take them away from me.......they belong to me forever.”
Merv spent most of his working life in the N.S.W. Police Force and in his later years was assigned as a Police Prosecutor where he rose to the rank of Superintendent.
Heretired in 1989 after 30 years of service in the Force.
Merv was a member of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch relay and was awarded an Australian Sports Medal in 2000.
Merv Moy was inducted into the Basketball NSW Hall of Fame in 2011.
Merv Moy and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch
(Courtesy M. Moy)
Merv Moy (17) rebounds against Canada at the 1956 Olympic Games
(Courtesy of the Public Record Office Victoria)