Michael Ah Matt

HTML <h2><strong>No 23 MICHAEL AH MATT</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>6 feet 2 inch (188cm) Forward</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>1964 and 1968 Olympic Games</strong></h2>

HTML <p>The action was what most had seen before and expected to see again. The South Australian Men’s Basketball Team were playing at the 1968 National Championships in Sydney. SA was playing NSW. A NSW player took a shot, missed, and there was a long rebound. A familiar whistle came from one of the SA players which meant “I am here give me the ball”. The very lithe, willowy player got the ball and set off down the court weaving through opponents. He hesitated at the top of the keyhole as the defence covered him, then he did a spectacular spin dribble, was checked, dribbled behind his back and drove hard left (his favoured hand) to the basket. As the NSW big men closed in to swat his shot away the “will o’ the wisp” passed the ball behind his back for a team-mate to score an easy lay-up. The crowd roared their appreciation of one of the great magicians of the game of basketball in Australia, Michael Ah Matt.</p>

HTML <p>Michael Henry George Ah Matt was born on the 30th of November, 1942 in Townsville, Queensland.He was brought to Darwin and raised by the Damaso family.</p>

HTML <p>Educated at St Mary’s Convent School in Darwin,Michael was an extremely gifted sportsman and excelled at whatever sport took his fancy. He won the Northern Territory doubles tennis title with another basketball player Benny Lew Fatt.</p>

HTML <p>An outstanding Australian Rules footballer Michael played in the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) with the Buffaloes and was the NTFL leading goal scorer in 1959 and 1960.</p>

HTML <p>Basketball was the sport in which he became a legend. He played with a local club called Rusty Valley and later on with another club side the Hawks.He was selected to represent Northern territory in 1959 and came with that team to the Australian Championships which were held in Adelaide. The South Australian Basketball Association identified Michael as a great basketball potential and with the assistance of the South Adelaide Club brought him to Adelaide.</p>

HTML <p>At the South Adelaide Club Michael won the club Best and Fairest Player Award seven times and he established a great playing partnership with future Olympian Scott Davie. Over the years at South Adelaide he played with other great SA players Joe Clarke, Dean Whitford, Bob Hannan, Don Shipway, Ken Cole, Andy Campbell and Darryl Pearce. The latter three went on to become Olympians.</p>

HTML <p>Michael represented South Australia over an amazing twenty year period and at one stage held the record for the most SA representative games by having played for his State at the senior level 588 times.</p>

HTML <p>Michael became the first Aboriginal-Torres Strait Islander basketball player to represent Australia in the Olympic Games when he was selected on the 1964 Australian basketball team for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. (There is some thought that Michael may have been the first Aboriginal-Torres Strait Islander to represent Australia at the Olympics in any sport). This team went on to become one of the great Olympic Basketball Teams in Australian basketball history. It qualified through the very tough Olympic Qualification Tournament in Yokohama and then went on to the Finals in Tokyo and secured 9th place in the Olympic tournament.This was Australia’s best ever result to that time. Such was Michael’s exuberance and competitiveness that in a dramatic last second win over Taiwan he raced onto the court and in the celebrations received a large gash to his forehead from a team-mate’s elbow and received four stitches for his efforts.</p>

HTML <p>Michael was a tremendous “will o’ the wisp” basketball player with phenomenal dribbling and passing skills. He was also renowned for his spinning backboard shots which seemed to come out of nowhere. His opponents were never quite sure where he was passing the ball and to whom, and the same could be said for his own team-mates.</p>

HTML <p>One visiting American coach remarked, “He is the best passer of a basketball outside the US I have ever seen.”</p>

HTML <p>Michael Ah Matt (8) scoring a layup against Victoria</p>

HTML <p>(Courtesy Ah Matt family)</p>

HTML <p>Michael went on to play for Australia at the 1968 Olympic Qualification Tournament in Monterrey Mexico. Unfortunately the team did not qualify for the Finals in Mexico City.</p>

HTML <p>His son Shane played under 16 basketball for South Australia and his daughter Michelle captained the SA Under 20 Women’s Basketball Team and played on the State Senior Women’s Team. One of his grandsons Isaiah Omaghmo represented Australia on the Junior Men’s Basketball Team.</p>

HTML <p>His club and Olympic team-mate Scott Davie comments, “I consider Michael as a very close friend although it was a basketball related friendship in the most part. Mike was a fun guy who was easy to like and related easily with people and was warm and friendly to everyone and people responded to that. He and I played in the same Club team South Adelaide. We also represented SA over the same period and went to the 1964 Olympics together. On most occasions on these trips we roomed together.”</p>

HTML <p>Scott continues, “But it was on the basketball court that Michael won most of his fans. He was a unique player who was before his time with his natural ability to pass the ball and bring others into the game. With those long arms he used to rip down rebounds and tear down the court then normally handing off to someone else to score. He not only passed the ball to team mates but he did it with such precision. It was a real skill. As Captain of our club team I used to tell new players to always keep their eye on the ball particularly when Michael had it. If they made good position and were not looking then they would get hit in the head. I think Michael unlike most players preferred to pass the ball than shoot. I always tell people that half the points I scored Michael passed me the ball. You make the right position then you got the ball from Michael. He would find a player at times when others would think it impossible to make that pass. He really did make others look good.The only player that I have seen that had similar body, head and hand deceptive movements with the ability to make such precise passes was Magic Johnson. Yes Michael was that good, and before his time.”</p>

HTML <p>Named in the First Five “best ever” to play at Apollo stadium, Michael is in the SA Basketball Hall of Fame (1998) and the Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame.</p>

HTML <p>He was a founding Committee Member of the National Aboriginal Sports Foundation, and was awarded Life Membership of the South Adelaide Basketball Club. Michael was named as a “Legend” of the South Adelaide Basketball Club.</p>

HTML <p>In 1969 Michael was awarded the Northern Territory Administrators Medal and the Steve Abala Annual Award for Sporting Model and in 1991 he was awarded the National Aboriginal Sports Gold Medal Award.</p>

HTML <p>In 2010 Michael Ah Matt was inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame. </p>

HTML <p>Michael Ah Matt passed away in 1983.He was 40 years of age.</p>

HTML <p>Michael Ah Matt in his South Adelaide uniform</p>

HTML <p>(Courtesy of the Ah Matt family)</p>

HTML <p>Michael Ah Matt in his Olympic Blazer (Ah Matt Family)</p>