No 52 MICHAEL TUCKER
6 feet 6 inch (198cm) Centre/forward
1976 and 1980 Olympic Games
The Australian men’s basketball team was in China on tour and were up against the Chinese Army team, The Chinese centre was a massive man of some 7 feet 3 inches and he was very physical against the smaller Australian players. Michael Tucker the Aussie centre takes up the story. “This guy was like Hulk Hogan....he was huge.....anyway the first few times he got the ball he turned to the basket and elbowed me in the head. I warned him twice not to do that. He ignored me...so I belted him...that is I punched him in the head.....all he did was blink! Lindsay subbed me out. I was not unhappy about that as I had the flu and had the remnants of blood poisoning from a needle that a doctor had used on me in Hong-Kong.” This is not an unusual memory for Michael as his basketball career is quite a story of injuries, illnesses and stoic tough play and commitment.
Michael Tucker was born August 23rd, 1954 in Melbourne, Victoria. A local basketball referee in Michael’s street decided to put together a basketball team and invited Michael to be a member of the team. Michael recalled, “We played in the old Army Hall at Dandenong. I was about twelve or thirteen. We did not win a game for three years. Sometimes we didn’t even score in games!” Then Michael joined a local team in the Dandenong competition and was coached by a Mr Colin Coles. “The loveliest man I’ve ever met,” says Michael.
At the age of fourteen Michael was diagnosed with Marfan Syndrome an inherited genetic connective-tissue disorder which can affect the skeletal, cardiovascular, ocular, pulmonary and nervous systems. The most serious defects include those of the heart valves and aorta. Tall stature can be a feature of this disorder and there is no cure. He was advised not to continue to play sport. Michael refused and convinced his Aussie Rules coach that he could train all year and be called on to play when needed. He played 22 games of “footy” that year.
When Michael was about fifteen he was asked to play for the Dandenong Under 16 basketball team in the Melbourne competition. He did not get selected to any Victorian State Junior teams.
When he was about eighteen years of age he was invited by Dandenong senior Coach Tony Gaze to sit on the bench with the senior team to “learn the game” and he never looked back. In 1974 he travelled with the Dandenong team to the Australian Club Championships and played extraordinarily well. So much so that he was invited by Coach Lindsay Gaze to trial with the Australian Men’s Team. He was selected to the Australian Team for a tour overseas. He was twenty years of age, had played no junior State representative basketball and had only played three years of senior basketball. His selection to the Australian Team was quite an achievement.
In 1975 “Tuck” played on the Australian Team that won the Oceania 1976 Olympic Qualification Tournament when they defeated New Zealand for the right to compete at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.
Michael was selected on the Australian Men’s Basketball Team to attend the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. “I did not expect to get selected. I hadn’t done anything in basketball! I got a phone call from Lindsay Gaze. In the modern vernacular...I was gobsmacked!” recalled Michael.
The Montreal Olympics was a mixed result for Michael. In the second last training prior to their first game in the Olympic Tournament he was badly injured in a rebounding situation. He dislocated two discs in his spine and it was recommended by the Olympic medical staff (the teams at that time did not have their own doctors) that he be immediately sent home. Michael refused. He worked with Olympic Team masseur George Sanders and George got Michael to the stage where he could play games. “The main thing I remember about the Montreal Olympic Games was the agony! I was in terrible pain. But I did play and as the tournament went on I was able to play more and more,” says Michael. He had game highs of twelve points against Japan and Mexico. The Australian Team had a good tournament and achieved 8th place.
After Montreal,Michael continued to play at Dandenong until there was a mass move of the coaches and players to the Frankston Club. Michael recalls. “Somehow I didn’t know what was happening and didn’t get to go to Frankston with Tony Gaze and the rest of the guys. So I went to Chelsea on a one year deal and we went on to win the Victorian State Championships. But I wanted to get back with Tony and the guys so I moved to Frankston, except Dandenong opposed me going anywhere except for Dandenong. The Dandenong representative men’s team had collapsed yet the Association would not approve a transfer so I was not allowed to play basketball anywhere in Australia. However I was selected to play for Australia and went to the 1978 Olympic Qualification Tournament in New Zealand. So that is a trivia question for you. Who played for Australia in basketball but was not allowed to play basketball in Australia?”
Michael was selected to the Australian Basketball Team for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. His major memories of Moscow were for security reasons not being allowed to go anywhere and only seeing things when on the bus from the Village to the stadium. “The streets were clear, and there were no kids anywhere. It was completely sanitised. Though I did see queues a couple of hundred metres long outside the toilets. It was weird,” remembers Michael. As with most of the players on that team Michael was bitter about the “contrived” result between Italy and Cuba that put Australia out of the Quarter Finals. The team did however continue to play well and equalled their result in Montreal with an 8th position.
In 1981 Michael underwent knee surgery that turned for the worse. After the surgery he had massive blood clotting that went through his body and nearly killed him. He was in hospital for over two months. This episode,as well many previously, were likely a result ofhis Marfan syndromebut this time it virtually ended his playing career. He did play one more year and that was with the Nunawading Spectres but as he said, “my time was up! I had pushed my body to the limit!” He retired from playing.
But Michael’s love affair with basketball was not over. In 1984 he was advised to stop work as the Marfan disease made greater in-roads into his systems. But he loved teaching and kept at it as long as he could. In the late 1980’s his sister Lynda showed him an advertisement for the coaching position of the Australian Men’s Paraplegic Wheelchair basketball team the “Rollers”. He remembers, “Mum and dad and my sister pestered me to apply as I was not good company at that time as I terribly missed basketball and being active. Is that what they call elite sports syndrome?”
He got the coaching position with the “Rollers”, devised a six year plan and set about getting the “Rollers” to a top ten position in the world. After only a couple of training sessions the team travelled to Japan to qualify for the World Championships and then to Brugges, Belgium where they came 5th in the World Tournament.
Michael recalled that it was not just about training and winning it was as much about fundraising to get money to allow the team to prepare and to get to championships. “I remember meeting Prime Minister Bob Hawke in Canberra and asking for money and meeting with Perry Crosswhite at the Sports Commission for the same reason. Anyway we got money!”The Rollers went on to claim 8th position at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics and 6th at the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada. Michael was with the “Rollers” until 1995. Michael’s hard work kept the team in good stead as it went on to win Gold in the 1996 AtlantaParalympic Games.
Michael faced many health issues and “I spent as much his time in hospital as I did out.” His battle with Marfan disease was constant and sadly worsened with ageuntil he wasfinally confined to a wheel-chair and his home.
In 2011 Michael concluded, “The thing I miss most is the feeling of playing basketball...it used to put me in a different world...one where I could forget my problems....I really miss it!”
Michael played 31 international games for Australia.
Michael Tucker was a two time Olympian. He loved basketball with an absolute passion. His sister Lyn recalls how once Michael made up his mind on anything, he was relentless. “In his early years of playing, he would drive himself to run around the block with sand weights on his legs to build strength and stamina, and then run until he was physically ill...that for Mick was a good workout”.
It was this inner strengththat allowed Michael to battle through the pain and deal with injuries and illness. He bravely endured much to achieve what he wanted in basketball. He summed up, “You know I just loved and wanted to play basketball!”
Michael Tucker passed away January 17th 2012. He was 58 years of age.
Michael Tucker Olympian 1976 and 1980 (Courtesy of L. Palmer)
Michael Tucker scores against Senegal in the 1980 Olympic Games (Newspaper clipping-L. Palmer)