Robbie Cadee

HTML <h2><strong>No 48 ROBBIE CADEE</strong></h2>

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

HTML <h2><strong>1976 Olympic Games</strong></h2>

HTML <p>The seventeen year old youngster was cornered by Coach Barry Barnes who told him “I want to talk to you.” That seventeen year old,RobbieCadee takes up the story. “I thoughtwhat haveI done? Barnseywas a very tough coach and frankly he scared the hell out of us...great guy off the court...but he was a white-line fever when it came to playing basketball. He asked me what I wanted to achieve in basketball. He went on to tell me that I had the skills but would never make it to the top in basketball because I didn’t work hard enough....didn’t want it badly enough. He said to me that if I worked hard at the game then one day I could play for Australia, but not if I kept going like I was now. It was a defining moment in my basketball career.My father had passed away when I was nine and Barry was a “father figure” to me as well as my coach. He picked me up and took me to training and took me under his wing. I owe him a lot. So when Barry got into me about having a go and trying to be the best I could be, I listened.”</p>

HTML <p>Robert “Robbie” John Cadee was born August 27th, 1950 in East Melbourne, Victoria. He began playing basketball at St John’s East Melbourne Primary School when he was about eleven years of age. Teacher Peter Fitzpatrick put together a team that included Robbie and future Australian representative player Teddy Graham. Fitzpatrick knew Coach Barry Barnes and soon Cadee and Graham were playing for coaches Barry Barnes, Owen Hughan and Frankie Jones at the Heidelberg Club. Aussie Rules was still on the agenda for Robbie but he came to realise that, “Even wringing wet I was too skinny for footy so decided that basketball was more for me.”</p>

HTML <p>His first Victorian State representative selection was with the Under 14 State team in 1963. He did not make the Under 16 State team. “I was like a lot of other guys at that age...we were more interested in having a good time,” he recalls. He was however to become more serious about the game and was selected to the State Under 18 teams in 1966 and 1967 when Victoria won the Australian Championships.</p>

HTML <p>“At seventeen years of age Coach Barry Barnes, sat me on the bench for experience with his Reno senior team that played in the South Eastern Conference (SEC) and that gave me a taste for senior basketball,” says Robbie. </p>

HTML <p>He followed Barnes to the Heidelberg-Bulleen Club that played in the Victorian State Championships. From there he went to the CYMS Club under Coach Billy Owens. He was selected to the Victorian State Men’s Team (1975-1979) and won the National Championships title three times. </p>

HTML <p>One year Robbie won the Alan Hughes Medal for the Best and Fairest Player for Victoria at the National Championships.</p>

HTML <p>In 1974 Robbie was selected to the Australian squad for the first time. The Boomers played a series of games in Australia against visiting College teams from the USA. He was selected on the AustralianTeam in 1975 when the team toured Europe in preparation for the 1976 Olympic Games. That same year Robbie was a member of the Australian Team that won the Oceania 1976 Olympic Qualification Tournament.</p>

HTML <p>In 1976 Robbie was selected to the Australian Team for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. The team contained eleven Victorians and one South Australian so Robbie was at home playing alongside Victorians Perry Crosswhite, Russell Simon, Ray Tomlinson, Michael Tucker and the like.</p>

HTML <p>“It was a great feeling to be selected to the Olympic Team. My brother called me to tell me he just heard the team on the radio...that’s how I found out....so when I arrived at training all the guys knew at the same time I did,” recalls Robbie.</p>

HTML <p>“Montreal was a fantastic experience. I had not really travelled that much, particularly to Canada...I had great trouble with trying to speak French but a few of my team-mates like Tuck (Michael Tucker), Rocky (Perry Crosswhite) and Tony Barnett helped me out. Being part of the Olympics was fantastic. The whole experience just blew me away,” says Robbie. The Australian Team went on to gain 8th place, Australia’s best result to that time. </p>

HTML <p>As a “lefty” with snake like moves to the basket, excellent dribbling skills, dogged defence and team-orientation Robbie was an excellent player to have on the Olympic team. He played on the Australian Team from 1975 to 1979.</p>

HTML <p>The CYMS Club under Coach Billy Owens became South Melbourne and Robbie played with that Club until St Kilda coach Brian Kerle enticed Robbie and Steve Breheney to move to St Kilda. </p>

HTML <p>“Mate you are the enemy! Why would we go there?” Cadee told Kerle. Nevertheless he went to St Kilda in 1978 and they won the Victorian State Championships. That same year Robbie coached the CYMS women’s team to the Victorian and National Club titles.</p>

HTML <p>In 1979 the National Basketball League (NBL) commenced and St Kilda with Robbie playing a major role won the inaugural NBL championship as well as the Victorian State Championships. </p>

HTML <p>In a move that stunned most Robbie left St Kilda in 1980 to join the Bankstown Club in Sydney as a player in their NBL team but also as the Club’s Director of Coaching. “In those days we did not get much money to play basketball....most got nothing...so when “Elpho” (Bob Elphinston) asked me to go to Bankstown as Coaching Director it meant that I could get some money and also play in the NBL with the Bruins,” says Robbie.</p>

HTML <p> Robbie was a member of the Australian squad for the 1980 Moscow Olympics but missed out on final selection.</p>

HTML <p>In 1981 he was player/coach of the Bankstown Bruins and coached the club’s women’s team in 1982 to the WNBL Grand- Final and to the Australian Club Championship title. He finished his playing career in 1984 after six years (1979-1984) in the NBL.</p>

HTML <p>From that time he concentrated on his coaching career and was named the 1983 NBL Coach of the Year and went on to be named the WNBL Coach of the Year in 1988. In 1985 he was named as the coach of the Australian Women’s Team and coached them to 9th place at the 1986 World Championships and to 4th place at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. At Seoul the Women’s Basketball Team was the first Australian women’s team to reach the semi-finals of the Olympic Games. </p>

HTML <p>Robbie continued to coach the Bankstown Women’s team, coached Australia at the 1990 World Championships in Malaysia where they finished in 6th place, and then at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Qualification Tournament where the team was very unlucky not to qualify for the Finals in Barcelona. In all, he coached the Australian women’s team in 156 games (103 wins and 53 losses). In 1994 Robbie was an Assistant Coach to the Australian Men’s team (Boomers) for the World Championships in Canada where the Boomers came 5th.</p>

HTML <p>He was named the NSW Coach of the Year in 1981, 1982, 1986, and 1988.</p>

HTML <p>Robbie became the CEO of the NBL Club West Sydney Razorbacks and oversaw the clubs entry into the NBL and to two NBL Grand Finals before the Club folded. He then moved to Basketball NSW as Director of Coaching.</p>

HTML <p>Over his long career as a player and as a coach Robbie Cadee has distinguished himself as a major contributor to the game of basketball in Australia. </p>

HTML <p>Robbie Cadee was inducted into the Basketball NSW Hall of Fame as a Coach in 2011.</p>

HTML <p>Robbie Cadee playing for Bankstown in the NBL (Newspaper clipping-R. Cadee)</p>

HTML <p>Robbie Cadee playing for Nunawading in the VBA (Newspaper clipping-R. Cadee)</p>

HTML <p>Robbie Cadee the coach (Basketball Australia)</p>