Bruce Flick

HTML <p>The National Fitness Camp at Broken Bay on the Hawkesbury River just north of Sydney has been the site of many sporting events in young boys and girls lives. On this particular day in 1945 the youngsters were being introduced to the game of basketball. As one player “dribbled” down the sideline he was taken out of play and over the sidelines by a well executed rugby league tackle around the legs. The offending tackler was asked to leave the court. Such was Bruce Flick’s introduction to basketball.</p>

HTML <p>Bruce Flick was born August 17th in 1933 in Newtown, Sydney.</p>

HTML <p>1946 (one year after Bruce’s rugby tackle)saw the initial movement of the NSW Education Department through the Public Schools Amateur Athletic Association (PSAAA) to introduce the game of basketball into the curriculum via the efforts of the Sports Master of North Newton Intermediate Boys High School Frank Whitebrook. Bruce became a keen student of the game (Bruce and Frank met again ten years later at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, where Frank was a member of the Management Team for Rowing and Kayaking with the Australian Olympic Team that competed at Ballarat, North West of Melbourne.)</p>

HTML <p>The very first formal basketball inter-school competition conducted by the NSW Public Schools Amateur Athletic Association was staged in 1948, all on outdoor asphalt courts. North Newtown Intermediate Boys High School (the smallest school in the competition) where Bruce was a student was undefeated Premiers of that competition. That achievement yielded an invitation from the CAS/GPS competition winners, the Scots College, to travel to Rose Bay for a play-off, on an indoor court! In Bruce’s words “The “tear-shirts” (Newtown) comfortably accounted for the “Silvertails”.</p>

HTML <p>During 1949, an energetic basketball official by the name of George Francis, a self-employed butcher from Leichhardt, recruited Bruce to play with a team from South Sydney Amateur Athletic Club in a competition being conducted on one of the four indoor basketball courts housed in the Hall of Industries at the Sydney Showground. “This was big-time,”recalls Bruce. One of the members of that team was a gentleman by the name of Dave White, who was to devote a life time of service to the game. </p>

HTML <p>Bruce adds, “The invaluable contribution to the growth of basketball in New South Wales that was provided by the Sydney City Council Playground Centres in these early years must never be allowed to be forgotten.” Bruce and future fellow 1956 Olympian Ken Finch gained so much from their early exposure to Camperdown Park Playground. </p>

HTML <p>The Camperdown Playground was almost like a second home to many of the boys many of whom came from “underprivileged” homes. Several members of the North Newtown Basketball team regrouped together with mates in 1950 to form the self managed Camperdown Colts. Ken Finch, Les Hiron, Bill Needham, Brian O’Brien and Bruce formed the nucleus of a team of novices and entered into the City of Sydney Basketball Competition that was played at the Paddington Town Hall. Undefeated throughout the rounds and semi-finals, they then learnt their first lesson in the effects that administration decisions can have. Bruce recalls, “The Grand Final was switched to the postage stamp sized court of the Leichhardt Dispensary Hall. The team that we had beaten comfortably throughout the season and in the semi-finals defeated us inthe grand final by one point using a zone defence that extended beyond the side lines of the court and touched the walls. Another valuable lesson learned.......never to be forgotten.”</p>

HTML <p>In a chance encounter early in 1951 Bruce was walking down Erskineville Road, Newtown past the old Hub No. 2 Picture Theatre and was attracted by the wonderful sound of a basketball being bounced inside the building. Curiosity demanded inspection and lo and behold the old building had been gutted and developed by the organisation of The Police Citizens Boys Club movement into a haven for the under-privileged kids of the community. The centrepiece of the development was a full-sized basketball court! “The foundation for the development of some of life’s most valuable experiences had been presented, and a direction provided,” recalls Bruce.</p>

HTML <p>One of those priceless citizens that volunteer their time and effort to such a deserving cause was out there in the middle of the court with a bunch of young kids, instilling and building interest in the wonderful activity of sport and basketball. What followed was Bruce’s first meeting with Coach Harry Burgess, and so began an adventure of achievements built on a foundation of mutual respect that faced many and variable challenges.</p>

HTML <p>The Camperdown Colts merged into the Newtown Police Boys Club and under the guidance of Harry Burgess (who became Australian Olympic Assistant Coach for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics). Harry introduced new methods of play into the game, defining and setting new objectives and team discipline and established a positive growth formula for the game of basketball in Sydney and NSW.</p>

HTML <p>In 1953, the performance record of Newtown was further enhanced by the club attracting Merv Moy (future 1956 Olympian) and Colin Menzies from the YMCA Club, further consolidating the 1st Grade competition record previously achieved by Newtown.</p>

HTML <p>In 1954 Bruce was a member of the NSW State Open Championship Team. That same year Bruce was a member of the Newtown Police Boys Under 21 Intermediate State Championship Winning Team. </p>

HTML <p>In 1955 he played with the NSW Open Men’s Team at the Australian Open Championships in Sydney where NSW was runners-up for the Open title when they lost 52-49 to Victoria in the final.At the conclusion of the championships Bruce was selected on the1956 Olympic Squad alongside club mates Ken Finch and Merv Moy.</p>

HTML <p>He went on to become a member of Australia’s first ever Olympic Basketball Team. </p>

HTML <p>The 1956 Olympics were a memorable experience for all the Australian players, Bruce included. Bruce recalls,“The exhilaration and memory of that unique human experience, and the principles that the Olympics stand for, is as vivid to-day as it was yesterday and has not dimmed for me over the years since.”</p>

HTML <p>The Australian Basketball Team had mixed results in Melbourne. This has been attributed bythe players and coaches to their limited time together and their lack of match practice together leading into the competition. Bruce at 5’10” in height was one of the smallest players on the team.Fellow Olympian Geoff Heskett describes Bruce “as by far the fastest player on the 1956 Olympic team.” Australia finished the Olympic tournament in 12th place out of 15 teams. This was disappointing for some of the players but Australia’s competition in Olympic Games was underway and the 1956 pioneers had done Australia proud.</p>

HTML <p>After the Olympics, Bruce played for the Open NSW Men’s team at the Australian Championships from 1958 to 1962. In 1957 there was much controversy when Bruce and Olympic team-mate Ken Finch withdrew from the NSW team in protest. “Rightly or wrongly, compromising of principles was not an acceptable option, hence the decision,” Bruce strongly remembers.</p>

HTML <p>But the love of the game, and time, overcame that inflexible decision by Bruce. Also the challenge of proving a point saw Bruce fill a position in the 1958 NSW Team and attend the 1958 Australian Championship in Hobart, Tasmania. Again Bruce states “Perhaps, depending on one’s point of view, the decision taken by me in 1957 may appear narrow-minded, but study of the games results in 1958 may highlight the satisfaction of a point proven and taken.” NSW made the finals of the Australian Championships in 1958, 1959 and 1960 losing on each occasion to South Australia. Bruce captained the 1961 and 1962 NSW teams. He retired from representative basketball after the 1962 Australian Championships.</p>

HTML <p>Bruce established an accountancy firm in Sydney and maintains an interest in the company to this day.</p>

HTML <p>In 2002 Bruce was a member of the Olympic Torch Relay team.</p>

HTML <p>Bruce Flick has the distinction of being a pioneer for elite basketball in NSW and a member of Australia’s first Olympic men’s basketball team. A forthright person, a tough gutsy player, and a player with a great passion for the game and its history Bruce, Ken Finch and Merv Moy paved the way for their fellow New South Welshmen to follow to Olympic competition.</p>

HTML <p>Bruce Flick was inducted into the Basketball NSW Hall of Fame in 2011.</p>