No 50 JOHN MADDOCK
6 feet 2 inch (187cm) Guard
1976 Olympic Games
John Maddock was born October 19th, 1951 in Hobart, Tasmania. Competition basketball started for John when he joined the Melbourne Church Club in 1965 at the age of fourteen. He gained selection to the Victorian Junior Teams not long after to play at the National Championships.
John was a member of the Victorian Senior State team that competed at the National Championships held in Adelaide in 1970 when South Australia defeated Victoria 77-70 in the final. At those Championships John was selected to play for Australia in the Oceania 1972 Olympic Qualification Series against New Zealand which were held in 1971. Australia won the Series to win a place at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. John was not selected for the Munich Olympics.
During the early seventies the Melbourne Church (Tigers) with John as a team member was one of the dominant teams in the Victorian Basketball Association (VBA) competition, the Australian Club Championships and the South Eastern Conference (SEC).
John was honing his skills and gaining experience against the best each day at practice and in competition. His Melbourne coach Lindsay Gaze describes John as a mixture of Bill Wyatt and Rocky Crosswhite. “He had a similar jump-shot to Bill Wyatt and like Rocky preferred to take a pull-up jump-shot rather than drive to the basket for a lay-up.”
John was selected to play for Australia at the 1974 World Championships that were held in Puerto Rico. Others in that team included Eddie Palubinskas, Andris Blicavs, Richard Duke, Perry Crosswhite and Ray Tomlinson. The Australians were somewhat disappointed with their results when they came 12th in the tournament.
Coach Lindsay Gaze embarked the National Team and his Melbourne Tigers on more overseas competitions to gain the experience needed to play against the best. John was a member of these touring National Teams and Tiger teams during these tours. As part of that program John played with the Australian Team that won the 1975 Oceania Championships and on the tour to the USA to play eight games against the US College PAC 8 which included the legendary UCLA coached by John Wooden. At the end of the US tour the team travelled to China for a series of games.
By now John was developing a reputation as a good ball-carrier, a leader, a good decision maker and a tough defender. Lindsay Gaze recalls, “He always liked the challenge of defending the opposition ‘star’ and had good battles with those players including South Australia’s Werner Linde during this era.”
His efforts and steady play earned John selection on the Australian Men’s Basketball Team for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. This team coached by Lindsay Gaze and with John as a prominent member on the team achieved Australia’s best result to that time when they finished in 8th place at those Olympics.
By now John was a veteran of the Australian and Tigers Club teams. He was chosen for the Boomers for the 1978 Oceania Championships and the1978 World Championships that were held in the Philippines. The team for the World Championships had a pair of eighteen year olds in Larry Sengstock and Phil Smyth as well as newcomers Mel Dalgleish, Tony Forbes, Gordon McLeod, and Danny Morseu. John’s experience was much valued from a team point of view. The team played very well, the youngsters showed their future potential and the team gained a very creditable 7th place, the best result at a World Championship to that time.
John was now 27 years of age and developing his work career while balancing his basketball commitments. He did however continue his basketball with the Tigers and Victoria. He played his last National Championship with Victoria in 1979. John continued to play for the Tigers in his “veteran” role and in 1984 when the Tigers joined the National Basketball League (NBL) and at the age of 33 he was recalled to the Tigers for one season to give his experience to a young team that included an eighteen year old Andrew Gaze.
After he retired from playing basketball John developed a distinguished career in basketball administration as well as in education. He served Victorian Basketball with distinction, and is a Life Member of Basketball Victoria.He served as President and Chairman of Basketball Australia from 1997 until 2008 during which Australia reached its highest FIBA World ranking. Australia was rated in the top three nations based on the number of medals attained by Senior and Junior teams and their performances at World Championships and Olympic Games. It was during John’s term as President of Basketball Australia that major reform occurred with the WNBL, the ABA and the NBL merging as part of “One Basketball” under the governance of Basketball Australia.
Since 1999 John has served on the Board of FIBA Oceania and as a member of the FIBA International Competitions Commission of which he was appointed as Deputy Chairman 2010-2014.In 1997 he served on the Organizing Committee for the World Championships for Under 22 Men which was held in Melbourne. He acted as Head of Delegation for the Australian Teams at the 1998 Men’s World Championships in Greece, the 2002 World Women’s Championships in China, the Men’s World Championships in Japan in 2006 and for the Opals at the Women’s 2006 World Championships in Brazil. In 2008 he was elected to the newly constituted Basketball Australia Board and served as the Chair of the BA High Performance Commission.
John developed a career in accounting, business management and vocational education and training. He has been the CEO of Gordon Institute Geelong, and is CEO of Box Hill Institute and CEO of the Centre for Adult Education, Chair and Managing Director of Box Hill Institute Singapore and Chair of the Australian Pacific Technical College. He has also served on many local and international educational and industry Boards and government committees
John Maddock was awarded the Australian Sports Medal, a Prime Ministers Medal for volunteer services with the Sydney 2000 Olympics. He lives in Melbourne.
John Maddock the administrator (J. Maddock)
John Maddock 1976 Olympian (Basketball Australia)