No 66 MARK DALTON
6 feet 6 inch (198cm) Forward/Centre
1984 Olympic Games
The Brisbane Bullets had just defeated the Newcastle Falcons in the National Basketball League (NBL) and in the celebrations in the change-room one of their toughest players sat in the corner with tears falling down his face. Team-mates assumed he was overcome with the win, but it was not like him to show such emotion. What they did not know was that during the game the player had broken his ankle yet continued to play in the game. In fact he did not know that he had broken his ankle either. Fast forward three years to the Illawarra Hawks and the same player had broken a bone in his ankle and was sitting in the doctor’s surgery. The doctor said, “Mark we’ve done the X-Rays of your ankle I have to ask you how the hell have you been playing basketball?” Mark replied, “What do you mean?” The reply was, “Well you have a broken ankle obviously from some many years before and it has never been treated.” Mark reflected, “No wonder I have been in agony with my ankle for the past three years.”
Mark Dalton was born November 9th 1964 in Sydney, NSW. His family all played basketball so it was no surprise that Mark started to play basketball with the Manly Association in Sydney when he was about twelve years of age.Up to that time however swimming was his major sport. He was ranked No 2 in Australia in the breast-stroke for his twelve year age group in the 100 and 200 metres. He won NSW and Queensland State titles and came second in the Australian Championships. He was also a champion surf competitor in the “Iron Man” (Malibu, Board and swimming) where he was ranked No 1 in Australia and won National Championships in his age group. Mark was also an accomplished Rugby Union player for the Warringah Juniors. He recalls that basketball took a back seat until he was about fourteen years of age. As he says, “I loved the swimming and of course the trophies and titles were good but there was something missing and that was the team aspect, and playing for and helping your mates win....and that is why basketball appealed to me. I liked sharing wins!”
He started his basketball representative career with Manly at the Under 14’s and was selected to his first NSW Under 16 team when he was selected for NSW Metro in 1979. He was selected to the NSW Under 18 Metro teams in 1980 and 1981. He went on to represent NSW Under 20 in 1982 and 1983, winning the National Championships in 1982 and being runners-up in 1983.
Such was Mark’s dominance at the junior level and his potential that he won a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra in 1982. He was to be on scholarship at the AIS for three years 1982-1984. Under Australian Assistant Coach Dr Adrian Hurley and National Junior Coach Patrick Hunt Mark was improving rapidly. The young man,known by his team-mates as “Tang”, demonstrated strength, competiveness and a team approach that marked him as a special player. He was a tremendous rebounder, screener and defender who could play against bigger and taller players and give a great account of himself. In 1982 Mark played on the Australian Junior Team at the Oceania Junior 1983 World Qualification Tournament which Australia won.
In 1983 Mark played as a member of the Australian Junior Men’s Team in the World Championships which were held in Spain. The Australians finished 10th.
In 1983 he was chosen on the Australian Men’s Team to tour to the USA under Coach Lindsay Gaze. He revelled in the tough US environment and demonstrated that he could play at the international level.
In 1984 while at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) he joined the Canberra Cannons NBL Club with the likes of Australian Team captain Phil Smyth and won the NBL title that year.
The great year he was having culminated in Mark being selected to the Australian Team for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He was nineteen years of age and joined another youngster Andrew Gaze on the team.
Mark remembers the whole experience of the Olympics being very uplifting. He and his family were very proud of the fact that his brother Brad was on the Boomers with him, and their sister Karen was on the Australian Women’s Olympic Basketball Team. It was certainly a first in Australian basketball, perhaps in Australian and even world sport to have three siblings in the same sport at the same Olympics. Mark comments, “I don’t remember much fuss about that achievement by the media or even basketball if was just mentioned. I know as a family we were very proud of it but were quite “lay-back” about it as we are a family that doesn’t encourage much fuss about things.”
When asked about his memory of that year with the Boomers Mark remembers. “It was the sheer toughness of the team and players. The training sessions were just brutal! When you set a screen you had to nail people......even though they were your team-mates. It wasn’t something the coaches’ taught.....it was just the ethic of the group and the players. Players were very tough in those days!”
The Australian Men’s Basketball Team had a great 1984 Olympic Games and Mark recalls that if the team had won the crucial game against Spain they could have been in the medal round. “I remember being asked by the coaches to get after one of the Spanish stars and I had no hesitation. I would do anything to help my mates win!” The Boomers came 7th the best ever performance to that time at an Olympics by an Australian Men’s Team.
In 1985 Mark played with the Australian Team (now known as the “Boomers”) against the PAC 10 in Australia and then in the Australia Games held in Melbourne when the Boomers won the Gold Medal. At the end of the year Mark toured to the USA with the Boomers when the team played tenhard games against very strong College teams.
The University of Nevada Las Vegas toured to Australia in 1986 as part of the Boomers preparation for the World Championships and Mark played for the Boomers every game in the series.
Mark was chosen on the Boomers team for the 1986 World Championship Team that played in Spain and suffered a hiccup by failing to make the finals and cameequal 13th. There was a lot of soul searching and media criticism of the team and the coaching staff after that result and some of it was personal and unfairly directed at Mark and that was to affect him personally.
In 1986 he moved to the Geelong Supercats in the NBL and he stayed there for two years. The Cats were 7th in 1986 and 9th in 1987 in the NBL.
In 1988 he moved to the Sydney Kings for their first year in the NBL. This year was to be a big test for Mark.
Unbeknown to the public and even team-mates Mark was diagnosed with a melanoma under his arm-pit and he underwent surgery and cancer treatment. He hid the injury and stress he was undergoing and continued to train with the Kings. Unfortunately in a pre-season game against Hobart when he was going for a dunk basket a defender jerked his arm and tore the internal stitching under his arm. Mark again hid the injury but had to be hospitalised on his return to Sydney. The injury became septic and the doctors indicated that he should not play basketball again!
The coaches, players and others at the Kings now knew what had happened in terms of his surgery but the facts were kept from the media such was Mark’s desire for privacy. Mark played with the Kings from 1988 to 1996.
In 1989 he damaged his knee and underwent a knee reconstruction. In 1993 he damaged the same knee and underwent another knee reconstruction. He also tore his ACL in his shoulder and had to sleep on his stomach with his arm stretched out at right angles for three years. He recalls, “I was in constant agony from my injuries. It took me ages to stretch and warm-up for games. The things I remember now were not so much the games but the mental challenges I was undergoing. The disappointment of 1986 with the Boomers, my cancer, the two knee reconstructions the busted shoulder and the ankle injuries were all their challenging me to stop playing basketball. But I loved the game. I was never going to give up!”
Mark was extremely popular at the Kings as he and his brother Brad formed the “Dalton Gang.” He was renowned for his toughness, passion, defence, rebounding, diving on balls on the floor and as someone who epitomised the word “inspirational”.
In 1996 Mark and the Kings parted company. “It was disappointing as I wanted to stay. I felt I had given everything I could to the Club, but it was their decision,” says Mark. He left the Kings having played 179 games for the Club, averaging 9.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game and shooting at 46%. He remains All Time Top Ten in Sydney Kings in games played, points scored, field goals made, field goals attempted, free throws made, assists, blocked shots, steals and total rebounds.
From the Kings Mark moved to the Brisbane Bullets. “I loved Brisbane and still do,” he says, “so things worked out.” Under Brisbane coach David Ingham Mark flourished and had good years until again he was released this time by the Bullets prior to the 1998 season. “I was pretty disillusioned at this time, but I knew I still had more to give. I played with Southern Districts in 1998 in the Queensland League and won the Championship, and then got a call from the Illawarra Hawks to come down to play for them. I loved Wollongong, the town and the people, though initially they (the fans) gave me a bad time.....I suppose because I had been with the Kings and we used to have civil wars with the Gong...but they came around and gave me great support.”
After the 1999/2000 NBL season Mark was released by the Hawks. “It was tough, but I now knew it was all over. I never played again at any level. I realised that my body and my soul were spent...I’d had enough!” he remembers.
Mark had played over421 games in the NBL and won a title with the Canberra Cannons in 1984. He played in the NBL for 18 seasons. He remarks, “Imagine how many games I would have played without the injuries!”
However his basketball life was not over as he stayed in basketball. “In a serious attempt to make a difference!” he says. He started a basketball business, worked for Brisbane Southern Districts Association, then for three years with Queensland basketball and from 2003-2010 was General Manager of Logan Basketball in Brisbane. In his time at Logan he was very influential in developing the Club and gaining the Club’s entry into the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL). In 2006 Mark was named as the Basketball Australia, Queensland and Logan Council, and Basketball Association Sports Administrator of the Year.
In 2011 Mark moved to a government position with the Queensland Department of Communities (Sector Development and then to Youth Justice).
Mark Dalton’s story is one of inspiration against difficult odds. His courage, determination and actions set him as one of the great warriors in Australian basketball. He is a passionate developer of the game and one who believed strongly in giving your all to your team-mates and doing what it takes to help them win.
Mark Dalton playing for Sydney in the NBL (Basketball Week)
Mark Dalton (8) playing for the Boomers against UNLV (Basketball Australia)
Mark Dalton (Basketball Australia)