Andrew Campbell

HTML <h2><strong>No 49 ANDREW CAMPBELL</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>7 feet 2 inch (218cm) Centre</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>1976 and 1984 Olympic Games</strong></h2>

HTML <p>The young boy and his mother were in the doctor’s consulting room. The youngster had undergone a tremendous growth spurt in the last eighteen months and there was concern about his health and future. The doctor was not bearer of good news. He explained to the boy and his mother that the lad had Marfan Syndrome a genetic disorder of the connective tissue. He went on and explained that in severe forms it may cause defects of the heart valves and can also have adverse effects on the lungs, eyes and the spinal cord. “This will mean that Andrew will not be able to play contact sport as any contact to the head may detach his retinas and he will go blind,” the doctor said most seriously.The lad looked at the doctor and replied, “Well doctor I’ve always wanted a golden Labrador...so if it happens...it happens!”</p>

HTML <p>This answer and positive humour approach was to typify Andy Campbell’s approach to a life that was one of considerable challenge in his health and playing the sport he was to love.</p>

HTML <p>Andrew “Andy” Campbell was born July 21, 1956 in Melbourne, Victoria.</p>

HTML <p>His early sporting achievements centred on Aussie Rules, high jump and sprinting. Andy was always extremely tall for his age and reached six feet in height at the age of fourteen, which coincided with the family moving to Adelaide. In the next 12-18 months he grew eight inches in height and found sport a real challenge. With such growth spurts life was made more difficult as he suffered from severe growing pains and a general lack of coordination.</p>

HTML <p>When he was fifteen years of age a neighbour, Ted Worrall, approached him about playing basketball. “It turned out to be my perfect sport,” says Andy.He started playing men’s C grade on Friday nights at Marion stadium in Adelaide. “The later the game the more inebriated the opposition, but I survived and was noticed by one of the district Clubs – Glenelg,” he recalls.</p>

HTML <p>Andy started playing in the under 18’s and the same year (1973) he was selected to the South Australian Under 18 state team. His team lost the Australian Championship final in Melbourne that year by a few points (74-70 to Victoria). In the crowd at the final was Olympian, and at that time St Kilda playing coach, Ken Cole who was to have a profound effect on Andy’s basketball career.</p>

HTML <p>Ken Cole arrived in Adelaide to player-coach South Adelaide in 1973. By this stage Andy was seventeen years old and 6 feet 10 inches tall. He was to grow to 7feet 2 inches (118 cm).He had joined the South Adelaide district team that same year. </p>

HTML <p>“We had an excellent team, ex Olympians Ken Cole, Scott Davies, Michael Ah Matt and State representatives Don Shipway, Lyn Parnell, Barry Spry, Colin Pickett and Brian Lester. It was a great group of guys for a young player to learn from. Ken, in particular, instilled in me a confidence and belief that I could one day become an Olympian,” says Andy.</p>

HTML <p>In January 1975 Andy was a late inclusion to the Australian Men’s Team competing in a once only event; the New Zealand Games. The event took place in Christchurch and the results of thegames against NZ were to decide which country would represent Oceania at the 1976 Olympic Games. The selected centre position players for Australia on that team were Paul Frankeand Gerry Doyle. By the time the Boomers had completedtheir training sessions prior to competition Andy had assumed the starting centre position for the team. </p>

HTML <p>“During one of our training sessions I had one of my more memorable moments on the basketball court. I dunked the basketball and when I landed I was holding the ring and a third of the wooden backboard. I walked to the baseline, placed the ring and backboard on the floor and suggested to Lindsay (Gaze) we move to the other end of the court,” recalls Andy.</p>

HTML <p>Australia defeated NZ in two games which gave them the right to represent Oceania at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. </p>

HTML <p>Later in 1975 Andy was chosen on the Australian Team to tour the PAC 8 Colleges on the West Coast of the USA and for two weeks in China The China leg of the trip involved five games in two weeks; luxury after the rigor of the US. In one game the Boomers played against the Red Army team who had a player 7ft tall and 130 kilos in weight. When he walked to the centre of the court to take the tip off Perry Crosswhite was heard to say, “I know why he is in the army. He walks ahead of their tanks and explodes any land mines”.</p>

HTML <p>Andy was selected on the Australian 1976 Montreal Olympic Games Basketball Team and had his twentieth birthday during the Games. He was now 7feet one inchtall and the starting centre on the team.</p>

HTML <p>“The Olympics was such a memorable event. The Opening Ceremony still gives me goose bumps when I think about it. We marched about a mile from the Village to the main stadium with the route lined with masses of onlookers. As we approached the stadium and entered the tunnel the noise was astounding. When we entered the stadium and onto the track there was literally a wall of noise from the cheering crowds. It was also the first time in my life that the tallest were marching in the front row,” says Andy.</p>

HTML <p>The Aussies had some good wins but their campaign took a turn for the worse when Tony Barnett, the starting forward and one of the teams leading scorers, badly sprained his ankle. </p>

HTML <p>“Of course it is well documented that Eddie Palubinskas top scored at those Olympics. He was a marked man in every game and still I admire how tough Eddie was in some fairly torrid encounters,” says Andy.</p>

HTML <p>Post the 1976 Olympic Games Andy attended a Junior College in Florida, USA for one season. This was organised by Louisiana State University (LSU) coach Dale Brown. Andy won a scholarship to LSU and played three years on the Varsity team. The team was extremely talented and made the NCAA Final Four in 1981. Andy had become one of the few Australian players ever to reach that far in the NCAA tournament.</p>

HTML <p>Life was still very much about his height even in a country like the US where tall people are not uncommon.</p>

HTML <p>“I remember one night going to a McDonald’s restaurant with some of the team. It was crowded and the queues were long. Eventually I arrived at the counter. This southern galat the counter told me in her best drawl that she thought I was standing on a box. I replied that I thought she was standing in a hole! Unfazed the girl asked me how tall was I anyway? I replied that I was sixfeet fourteen inches tall. To which the girl said, damn I thought you’d be at least seven feet!” </p>

HTML <p>He returned to Australia for the start of the 1983 NBL season and played with West Adelaide under Coach Ken Cole, with LSU teammate Al Green, and a crowd favourite Leroy Loggins. West Adelaide made it to the Grand Final of the NBL that year but lost to the Canberra Cannons by four points. Andy was using his height to good effect. Though 7 feet 2 inches tall he was only 94 kilograms in weight, but he had by now developed a hunger to block shots, intimidate people around the basket, use a soft turn-around shot and a “baby” hook shot all too good effect. He was also a good passer and “pivot” and set some very bony screens that could hurt defenders. He was an outstanding team player.</p>

HTML <p>That same year (1983) Andy made the Australian team again after being unavailable for the 1980 Moscow Olympics while he was at College in the USA. His focus for the next year was to gain selection for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In an effort to achieve this he changed Clubs and played the 1984 NBL season with the Canberra Cannons. Andy recalls.“Phil Smyth, who I had known since Adelaide days, was a major factor in my decision to go to Canberra The fact that we went on to win the NBL championships vindicated my decision to leave Adelaide. Phil, Mark Dalton and I from the Cannons were selected on the 1984 Olympic Team”.</p>

HTML <p>The Australian Team performed very well in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics where they came 7th, their best result to that time at an Olympics.</p>

HTML <p>After the 1984 Olympics Andy played two more seasons with the Cannons, retired in 1986and assumed the Assistant Coach position under Coach Jerry Lee in 1988. That same year the Cannons won the NBL Championship</p>

HTML <p>He remained involved with the Cannons until 1991. At that time health issues forced him to retire as Assistant Coach.</p>

HTML <p>Andy had trained as a physical therapist at LSU and he moved into that occupation and was a familiar sight around Canberra hospitals helping others to recover from injuries and illness. </p>

HTML <p>He retired from work in 2011. His battles with Marfan Syndrome have taken up much of his life. His health has always been an issue, but his dogged spirit or sense of humour never was.Andy Campbell is a great Australian basketball player who has performed at the highest level for his country and never let his health problems stop him from pursuing his dreams...or keeping a sense of humour. </p>

HTML <p>Andy Campbell shoots over Ray Borner(5) in the NBL (A. Campbell and the Canberra Times)</p>

HTML <p>Andy Campbell shoots over a Newcastle defender in the NBL (Courtesy A. Campbell and the Canberra Times)</p>