No 37 TOM BENDER
7 feet 0 inch (213cm) Centre
1972 Olympic Games
Winters in Iowa USA can be very cold for basketball players, especially if your only basketball court is outdoors. When youngsters wanted to play a “pick-upgame,”theyhad to first shovel the snow off the court. Their hands were cold and some played in gloves, but they soon got the game going even though the temperatures were well below freezing. Before too long their bodies warmed, their breaths came more easily and they were playing the game they loved.
Thomas Erwin “Tom” Bender was born on the 27th of September 1944 in the USA. He started playing basketball in the small town of Westgate in Iowa, USA when he was about seven years of age. There was only one basketball court in the town, an outside court at the localprimary school. The nearest gym was at the high school some eight kilometres away.
Basketball was often played after shovelling the snow off the court. Tom recalls, “The temperatures were often below freezing...which meant the balls were difficult to bounce. As a result of that,I became an excellent passer”.
His father was an outstanding baseball player and had a chance to become a major League pitcher with the Detroit Tigers but didn’t take up the offer.
“My dream was to take my high school team to the Iowa State basketball finals where we would play in front of some 10,000 people,” says Tom.
This did not happen but Tom was named to the Dell Sport High School All-American Honourable Mention team in 1962. He received basketball scholarship offers from over thirty Colleges across the USA.
He accepted a scholarship to the University of Tulsa, in Oklahoma. At that time the University played in the tough Missouri Valley Conference.
In 1967 Tom’sTulsa University team came third in the Conference and went to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) which was played at Madison Square Gardens in New York. “Itwas one of the highlights of my career,” remembers Tom.
After he graduated from College Tom had an unsuccessful try-out with the Dallas Chaparrals in the now defunct American Basketball Association (ABA).
In 1968 he came to Australia and joined the Sydney “Paratels” Basketball Club who had recruited him to play in the South Eastern Conference (SEC).
In 1970 he played for Sydney YMCA, and later that year joined St Kilda Saints in the Victorian Basketball Association (VBA) competition. The following year he joined the Dandenong Rangers.
Tom was one of the rare breed of seven feet tall players playing basketball in Australia and one with rare skills for a player of that height in Australia. He could dominate games with his shot-blocking and around the basket in defence. On offense he was very difficult to guard.
Because of his basketball abilities and skills he was encouraged to become an Australian citizen which he did. After Olympic trials that were held at Albert Park basketball stadium in Melbourne he was selected as a centre on the Australian Basketball Team for the 1972 Munich Olympic team. He became the first seven feet tall player on an Australian National Men’s Basketball Team.
Ten of the twelve players selected for the Olympics were from Victoria, and the Coach was Lindsay Gaze.
“Lindsay was a smart coach who needed smart players to run his offence,” says Tom. After preparing in Melbourne the team travelled to Europe for the 1972 Olympic Games.
Arriving in Europe the team played practice games against England, Senegal, Italy, Yugoslavia and the University of Munich. Tom remembers, “The people of Germany were most hospitable and supportive.”
Tom was thoroughly enjoying his basketball career and the incredible journey it was taking him...fromWestgate, to Tulsa University, to New York, Australia, and now the Munich Olympics.
Tom recalls, “As the Australian Team was marching into the Olympic Stadium for the Opening Ceremony I was overwhelmed by the thought that this may be the greatest moment in my sporting career. I had gone from playing ball on an outdoor court in my small town of Westgate, Iowa (220 population) to walking into a stadium wearing the Green and Gold with a worldwide television audience of over a billion.”
He adds, “However the storming of the Israel compound in the Village and the killing of eleven Israelis by the Palestine LiberationOrganization's ‘Black September` terrorist group changed the Munich Olympics and all Olympics in the future.”
Tom describes himself as “the back-up centre” who was used in games against tall teams (such as the USA) to neutralise their height.
The Australians performed very well and only lost to a star studded USA team by 26 points. They beat Brazil by six points in an 8.30am game, and then lost to the Czech’s by one point and to Spain by five points. Then two wins over Germany and Poland placed the Australian Team 9th with a 5-4 record. This was the equal best performance by an Australian team to that time.
“Eddie Palubinskas was our spark-plug. If he was firing we would be in the game.....he would launch shots from anywhere,” says Tom.
The team also witnessed the most controversial basketball game in Olympic history when in a replay of the last few seconds the USSR team inflicted the first ever loss to the USA in the history ofOlympic men’s basketball.
After the Olympics, Tom played basketball in Europe for six years. This entailed a year in Holland, one year in Sweden, then two years in France. He also played for two seasons with Maccabi Ramat Gan in Israel.
In 1979, he returned to Australia and lived in Queensland andWA with his family for 26 years. His son Josh was an outstanding junior basketball player in Perth.
In 2005 he and his wife Ronit moved to Israel where he was heavily involved in coaching juniors and running a youth outreach program for minority groups.
Tom Bender had indeed come from a small town in Iowa, USA to be an Olympian for Australia and then to travel the world. It was a long and rewarding journey. He continued to contribute to the game he loves and to the youth of his new home in Israel.
Tom Bender passed away in January 2014 at the age of sixty nine.
Tom Bender (8) rebounding in a game in Den Helder Holland in 1973 (Courtesy T. Bender)
Tom Bender a centre with skills
(Courtesy T. Bender, and the Toowoomba Chronicle.)