No 27 JOHN GARDINER
6 feet 3 inch (191cm) Forward
1964, 1968 Olympic Games
John Neville Gardiner was born March 3rd, 1943 in Newcastle, NSW. Like most kids in Newcastle he played all sports until he was introduced to the game of basketball with the Dynamo Club in 1957 when he was fourteen years of age.
Basketball in Newcastle was taking off in the late nineteen fifties. Players such as Denis Kibble, Terry Charlton, John Milburn and Colyn Whitehead were setting local basketball alight. Both Charlton and Whitehead would be selected to the Australian Olympic team for the 1960 Rome Olympics. The young Gardiner was able to watch the best players in the State and evaluate what he needed to do to be successful.
John made his first NSW State team in 1960 when he was selected to the Under 18 team. The next year he was selected to his first NSW senior team and was now a member of the Newcastle men’s representative team.
This was the beginning of a remarkable fifteen year career with the Newcastle senior representative side, highlighted by a record twelve NSW State titles.
As a senior NSW representative player John was a hub of the team and captained his State during his period on the team which included eight successive years from 1961 to 1968. John and the NSW team won the 1967 Australian title, the States first national title since 1949. In 1974, John came out of “retirement” to Captain-Coach NSW.
Within three years of selection to the NSW team John was named as a member of the Australian Basketball Team for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. The Olympic Team was chosen at the completion of the 1964 Australian Championships in Adelaide. The 1964 Australian Olympic Basketball Team was the first team to put Australia on “the world map” as a basketball nation when they won through the very tough Yokohama Olympic Qualification Tournament and went on the gain 9th place in the Olympic Finals played in Tokyo. John and the team received wonderful accolades on their return to Australia.
The Newcastle senior team and John were enjoying great success in NSW and also performing very well in interstate tournaments. Australia did not enter the 1966 World Championships and John’s next chance at international tournament play was when he was selected for the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games after the National Championships which were held in Sydney.
The 1968 Mexico Olympic campaign and Olympic Qualification Tournament in Monterrey, Mexico did not go well for the Australians. They battled, injury, sickness, poor officiating, lack of international match play and some bad luck to fail to win through the Olympic Qualification Tournament. It was a big disappointment for all the team. Coach Ken Watson did add in his report that he was very impressed by John and he “would have no hesitation in recommending him for the position of a future Australian Captain.”
In 1970 John and his good friend and fellow Novocastrian Denis Kibble were selected to the Australian team for the 1970 World Championships held in Yugoslavia. These were the first World Championships attended by Australia and the team (coached by Newcastle’s Dr John Raschke) struggled in the competition and coping with the local conditions to finish in 12th position. Again lack of preparation and international competition was cruelly affecting Australia’s chances at world tournaments.
By now John was a veteran of NSW and Australian basketball and a figure of considerable status in the game. After the 1970 World Championship he concentrated on coaching and administration of basketball.
Following his retirement from play, John began a long and successful coaching career. He coached Newcastle on its first overseas tour of North America in 1974. His administrative career began as Athletic Director in the Newcastle ABA from 1977 to 1980, and he was the inaugural Commissioner of the National Basketball League (NBL) of Australia from 1979 to 1980.
John moved to Western Australia (WA) and established a long and distinguished career as a coach and administrator in that State. He coached WA teams to Australian Championship titles and assisted in the development of the NBL in WA with his work for the Perth Wildcats. He became the coaching mentor of the Perry Lakes Basketball Club (he coached at the club from 1982 to 2008).He won many State Club titles and developed many of the fine young players who came to the fore in Australian basketball from that State.John was Basketball WA Coach of the Year on four occasions and Coach of WA’s first ever U20 National Men’s Champions in 1987.
In that same year he was Assistant Coach of the Perth Wildcats in their first NBL Grand Finals.
He served on many basketball Boards including the Newcastle Falcons, Perth Wildcats, WA State Basketball Council, Perth Lynx and has been a member of the BA and NBL Hall of Fame Commissions.
John is a Life Member of the Newcastle Association, a Life Member of WA Basketball, a member of the Newcastle Region Hall of Fame and received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000.
John Gardiner was inducted into the Basketball NSW Hall of Fame in 2011.
John Gardiner playing for Newcastle(Courtesy of J. Gardiner)
John Gardiner (8) playing against the Big 10 USA in 1974
(Courtesy of J. Gardiner)
Below: John Gardiner scoring for Newcastle (J. Gardiner)
John Gardiner the Coach (Courtesy J. Gardiner)