Werner Linde

HTML <h2><strong>No 30 WERNER LINDE</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>6 feet 0 inch (183cm) Guard</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>196</strong><strong>4</strong><strong>, 1968 Olympic Games</strong></h2>

HTML <p>The young Australian doctor and his wife spent their honeymoon in Ethiopia during the famine of 1971 with a medical famine relief team. This was just one of the adventures and humanitarian work the doctor would do.</p>

HTML <p>That young doctor, Werner Linde, tells about some of his time in Iraq. “Soon after catching a truck convoy from Jordan to Baghdad, I rushed out of the tea room at the Novotel, Red Cross headquarters, and knocked over a small, seemingly frail old lady. Helping her up, I noticed she had the firmest handshake.....it was mother Theresa!-most embarrassing.”</p>

HTML <p>Of his work in Iraq Werner comments. “Most of my time in Iraq, I worked with the Kurds in the northern mountain region, living in a Red Cross tent. The Kurds had fled to the Iranian border, fearing reprisals from the Iraqi regime after the Gulf War. They were now coming back to Iraq under extreme conditions. The Peshmerga were the guerrilla fighters, who also guarded me on my mountain treks and prevented me from stepping on land mines. When the Kurds received favourable news from negotiations in Baghdad, they would fire their Kalashnikovs into the air and tracer bullets went flying everywhere into the night air. During these times I had to scramble under the nearest Red Cross vehicle for protection. Then there would be the inevitable bullet injuries turning up. Life there was dangerous not only from the land mines but the ever threat that the Kurds would be at war with the Iraqi army. I remember my interpreter’s brother stepping on a tank mine and can remember him stuffing the remains in his shirt and burying the remains of his brother on the mountain side.”</p>

HTML <p>Werner Rudolph Linde was born on 13th October 1944 in Posen, Poland a town occupied by the German Army during the Second World War. His father was a Russian interpreter for the German army.</p>

HTML <p>Werner’s parents were Latvian nationals, who had fled the Latvian capital Riga before the war prior to the Russian invasion in 1940 of Latvia (part of a Pact between Germany and Russia). His father was an artist in Riga, who drew caricatures for newspapers. A favourite caricature of his was Joseph Stalin the Russian leader. Discretion was then the better part of valour as the invading Russians would not take kindly to cartoons and caricatures criticisingtheir ruler. After the War Werner, his parents and three brothers lived in Displaced Persons (DP) Camps in Germany. In 1949 they travelled by train to Naples, Italy where they boarded a ship for Australia as refugees. Werner says, “No problems for boat people in those days.”</p>

HTML <p>Werner’s family was part of a great migration to Australia by refugees from Europe who would have a profound effect on basketball in their adopted country. These migrants included Stan Dargis, the Dancis brothers, Peter Bumbers, Inga Freidenfelds, Algis Ignatavicius andthe Hody brothers to name a few.</p>

HTML <p>Werner Linde (Courtesy of W. Linde)</p>

HTML <p>The Linde family settled in Adelaide and it was there that Werner began basketball at the age of eight years when he attended junior basketball clinics on Saturday mornings at the newly built Forestville basketball stadium. These junior clinics were run by two of South Australia’s basketball doyens, Keith Miller and Fred Specht, who were intent on fostering junior basketball.</p>

HTML <p>“I must have shown some promise in those early years as Keith Miller who became my coach, mentor and my biggest influence, told me to never give this game away,” recalls Werner.</p>

HTML <p>His heroes at that tender age were Algy Ignatavicius, Alan Dawe and Alan Hare all of whom were Olympians. Werner copied their every move and shooting styles. He vividly remembers watching them train every Sunday, and once watching Algy sink 29 baskets straight from well outside the now three point line. </p>

HTML <p>Werner can also recall thinking that he would like to play in the Olympics when he saw the 1960 Australian Olympic Men’ Basketball Team depart Adelaide for Rome by ship, in their green blazers and surrounded by adoring fans and families.</p>

HTML <p>Werner’s early promise was soon realised when he was selected to the South Australian Under 16 team as a twelve year old! The next four years saw him playing for SA at the Under 16 level and then the Under 18 level for the next two years. </p>

HTML <p>The next year, 1964 at nineteen years of age he was selected to play on the SA Open Men’s team for the National Championships. SAdefeated Victoria 49-48 in the Final in Adelaide. Werner played a big part in that win and lit up the Adelaide crowd with his shooting and skills. So impressive was his performance that at the conclusion of the championships he was named in the Australian Team for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. At the age of nineteen he was off to the Olympics. Or was he?</p>

HTML <p>His parents were loath to let Werner go to the Olympics, as he was in his second year of Medical studies at University. It took a phone call from his Anatomy lecturer to convince them otherwise.</p>

HTML <p>“The Tokyo Olympics were definitely one of my basketball career highlights,” says Werner.Werner’s highest score in the Games was 14 points against Korea. The Australian Team performed well above expectations. They lost only one game in the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Yokohama and went to the Finals in Tokyo wherethey finished an unprecedented 9th position. “One of my highlights was celebrating my 20th birthday with Dawn Fraser, who had just won her third Gold swimming medal,”comments Werner.</p>

HTML <p>A 183cm guard Werner was an outstanding shooter. His shooting range was extensive...oh for a three point line in his day....and he was smooth mover, a great passer and a skilled ball handler. He was well recognised for his “soft hands” as a shooter. </p>

HTML <p>Ken Cole remembers the first time he saw Werner play. “He was just about unstoppable...he had incredible shooting touch.”</p>

HTML <p>Ken Cole and Werner in the dressing room (Courtesy W. Linde)</p>

HTML <p>After the 1964 Tokyo Olympics Werner completed his medical studies and continued to play for South Australia at the National Championships. SA made the final of the National Championship every year from 1965 to 1968 and won the title in 1965. The 1968 National Championships were played in Sydney at Alexandria stadium. Werner and the South Australian lost the Final to Victoria 80-70. At the end of the Championships Werner was selected on the Australian Team for the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.</p>

HTML <p>It is well documented that the Australian Men’s Basketball Team did not fare well in the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Monterrey, Mexico and that the team was not a happy one. Werner’s only comment on this was, “The 1968 Olympic campaign proved a disappointing endeavour in many ways, the team did not qualify and the players were relegated to being spectators at the Games.”</p>

HTML <p>After 1968 Werner continued to play in the Adelaide District competition. He won the very prestigious Woolacott Medal, for the Best and Fairest player in the district competition in 1966, 1969 and 1971. During this period he was concentrating on his medical career and basketball had to take a back seat. Yet he maintained his great skills on the court and when he could he played for SA at the National Championships and played on the SA team that won the National Championships in Adelaide in 1970. He also did some elite coaching when he coached SA at the 1971 National Championships.</p>

HTML <p>Werner spent some time as a national selector during the nineteen seventies but his medical commitments limited the amount of time he could give to that.</p>

HTML <p>By now his medical commitments were his priority. Yet he maintained playing District basketball and at the age of 36 had a season with West Adelaide in their first season in the National Basketball League (NBL) such was the respect and following he had in SA basketball.</p>

HTML <p>After his retirement from basketball his medical career developed in Adelaide while it also took him to England, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. During his travels he squeezed in a season of basketball with Crystal palace in the English League.</p>

HTML <p>After the Gulf War in 1991 Werner worked with the Kurds, for International Red Cross in northern Iraq. This was a very difficult and dangerous assignment as the mountains of Kurdistan were a very dangerous place to work and land mines were a fact of life for the Australian doctor and the Kurds.</p>

HTML <p>For his efforts, compassion and service Werner Lind was awarded an OAM for humanitarian work in 1993. He was also awarded the Northern Iraq Medal in 1994.</p>

HTML <p>Though past retirement age Werner Lind still practices medicine interwoven with his passion for painting and playing golf and tennis.</p>

HTML <p>Werner Linde has had a remarkable career on and off the basketball court. He is a great example of the outstanding contribution migrants from Europe after World War Two made to basketball in Australia and to Australian society. </p>

HTML <p>Werner Linde (7) shoots against Athletes in Action (Barry Hannaford/W. Linde)</p>