Danny Morseu

HTML <h2><strong>No 59 DANNY MORSEU</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>6 feet 4 inch (193cm) Guard</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>1980, 1984 Olympic Games</strong></h2>

HTML <p>The house on Thursday Island at Tamwoy town in the Torres Strait Islands was a rusted corrugated iron place with no bedrooms and when it rained during the monsoon season the roof leaked and buckets were used to catch the water. The kitchen was adjacent to the house and had a dirt floor and an old wood stove. The youngster living in the house never use to like Saturday because he would have to go up the hill to chop firewood and carry buckets of water from the well half a mile from where helived. Sunday was rest day and he would go to church with family. </p>

HTML <p>The youngster Danny Morseu continues the story. “Growing up on Thursday Island in the Torres Straits was the best environment a child could ever experience. There were no televisions on Thursday Island and what we did during our leisure was outdoor orientated activities such as fishing, swimming, canoeing, bike riding, basketball, volleyball, cricket, Rugby league, camping and going for boat rides or playing marbles. During the monsoon season the weather would be so beautiful and calm that if you were standing of the edge of the wharf looking down into the water you would be able to see the fish swimming at the bottom of the ocean.”</p>

HTML <p>Danny Morseu was born September 7th, 1958 on the Thursday Islands, in the Torres Strait Islands in Queensland. He spent his childhood in Tamwoy Town, a reservation on Thursday Island. He started playing basketball at school and despite being cut from his primary school team he developed into a tall talented teenage athlete. He was selected to represent Thursday Island in the Queensland High School Basketball Championships in Brisbane. It was a great experience for Danny. “Just travelling to the Queensland capital and experiencing the skyscrapers and going up in a lift to our rooms for the first time was a whole new experience,” says Danny.</p>

HTML <p>Danny also recalls when Michael Ah Matt who was the first Aboriginal player to represent Australia in basketball at Olympic Games (1964 Tokyo and 1968 Mexico) came and ran a training session on the Island. “His sister Betty Bin Judah was married and living on Thursday Island. I remember the day as if it was yesterday. He said if you are good at sport it can take you around the world at no cost at all. He elaborated on his experience travelling the world. It was a great motivation for me,” recalls Danny.</p>

HTML <p>Danny’s journey to basketball fame began when he left Thursday Island in Queensland at the age of fifteen years. He comments, “I was like most fifteen year old who left home for the first time, I lacked direction and was uncertain about my destiny. The reason I left home was my mother (Rita Morseu Doolah) and grandfather (Suane George Morseu) encouraged me to move south for better opportunities. My family had a big influence in my life. They encouraged me to go to school and always emphasised education is your freedom.”</p>

HTML <p>Danny moved to Cairns where he played basketball for Kiwis Basketball Club and rugby league for Kangaroos Rugby League Club.</p>

HTML <p>In 1976 he was selected to the Queensland Under 20 Basketball Team for the National Championshipsin Perth and was named as a reserve for the Australian Under 20 Men’s Basketball Team.</p>

HTML <p>It was in Cairns in 1977 that St Kilda coach Brian Kerle discovered Danny and he offered Danny the opportunity to go to Melbourne to play basketball. As Danny says “It was like a father son relationship. Brian emphasised hard work and discipline as the keys ingredients to success.......and you train the way you play.” At St Kilda Danny trained twice a day six days a week and played on Wednesdays.That same year Danny was selected in the Victorian Under 20 team to play at the National Championships in Nowra and was selected in the Australian Under 20 Team.</p>

HTML <p>Such was Danny’s dramatic improvement, immense potential and performances at the Under 20 level and in the powerful Victorian Basketball Association (VBA)he was selected to play for Australia in the 1978 World Men’s Basketball Championships in the Philippines. It was an unbelievable rise to prominence. After the Australian Team played Athletes in Action in Australia they travelled to the Philippines for the World Championships and played in front of crowds of 20,000 people. It was a great experience for the young Danny. That Australian Team also contained youngsters Larry Sengstock and Phil Smyth both who were eligible to play on the Australian Junior Team.</p>

HTML <p>In 1979 and 1980 Danny was a member of the St. Kilda teams that won the first two National Basketball League (NBL) titles.He was named in the NBL All Star team in 1980 and 1981. In 1980 he was named in the Victorian All Star team and was named MVP. St Kilda also won the Victorian State Championships from 1978 to 1980.</p>

HTML <p>Lindsay Gaze the national coach at that time described Danny as, “The closest player we have in Australia to being an NBA player.”</p>

HTML <p>Danny was selected in the Australian Men’s Basketball Team for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. First the team had to handle the boycott of the Moscow Olympics by some western countries such as the USA over the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Eventually the Australian Government allowed each team and athlete to decide whether to boycott or not. The Australian Basketball Team chose to play in Moscow. Of the Moscow Olympics Danny remembers, “I did not see a lot of young people or families around the Olympics. It was very strange.” </p>

HTML <p>Danny recalls, “I was a starter in our first game against Cuba and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, I had goose bumps all over. The referee blew the whistle and it was history....I was the first Torres Strait Islander born in the Torres Strait to compete in the Olympic Games.”</p>

HTML <p>At the Moscow Olympics the Australian Team was in one of the most bizarre situations in Olympic basketball history. After Australia beat Italy by seven points and lost to Cuba by seven, Cuba and Italy contrived a result of a seven point win for Italy over Cuba which put the Australians out of the Quarter Finals on percentages. “One of the most disappointing aspects of my basketball career was to sit there and watch Italy beat Cuba by seven points. We were devastated,” recalls Danny. The Australian Team went on to secure 8th place in the tournament.</p>

HTML <p>In 1981 Danny played on the St Kilda team that finished in first place on the NBL ladder but chose instead to travel to Brazil to play in the World Club Championships. The team played well and one of their highlights was defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel. “It was one of the highlights in my basketball career and one of the sweetest victories I have ever had in basketball,” says Danny. St Kilda finished 6th at the World Club Championships.</p>

HTML <p>Danny had a serious knee injury in 1982 and was not available to play for Australia in the 1982 World Men’s Basketball Championships.</p>

HTML <p>Danny played for Australia in the 1983 Commonwealth Basketball Championships in New Zealand where they finished third and won the Oceania 1984 Olympic Qualification Tournament at the same time. </p>

HTML <p>Later that year Danny was a member of the Australian Teamthat undertook a twelve match tour of Canada and the USA. He also played for Australia against the NIT All Stars in Australia.</p>

HTML <p>By 1984 Danny had fully recovered from his knee injury and was selected to the Australian Team for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Danny comments, “I remember marching into the Colosseum for the Opening Ceremony. It was a great feeling of self achievement in that once again I’d be playing against the best players in the world. It was a very special moment in my life.” He adds, “My position during the Olympics was more of a role player.....that is coming off the bench and supporting the team. It was a difficult role to play especially when you are used to being in the starting five.” The Australian Team went on to secure 7th place the best result to that time by an Australian Men’s Team.</p>

HTML <p>Danny retired from international basketball and did not to play for Australia again after the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.</p>

HTML <p>In 1984 Danny played with Geelong in the NBL and led them to the semi-finals of the NBL and averaged a career high 20.7 points per game. He played at Geelong in 1984 and 1985 before moving to Brisbane where he played with the Bullets from 1987 to 1989. In 1987 the Bullets won the NBL title and gave Danny his third NBL title. In all Danny played 217 NBL games, averaging 13.4 points per game.</p>

HTML <p>He retired from the NBL after the 1989 season with the Brisbane Bullets but continued to play locally with the Brisbane Brewers, Southern District Spartans and the Toowoomba Mountaineers with whom he won the State League Championship in the 1990/91 season.</p>

HTML <p>He continued as Captain/Coach of the Southern District Spartans (1992-93) and won the State Championship in 1992. He was named the Queensland Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1993. Danny retired from playing in 1993. He continued to coach in the CBA and coached the Southern District Spartans to win the Queensland CBA Championships in 1995. He retired from coaching at the end of the 1996 season.</p>

HTML <p>Off the court Danny completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1984 majoring in Recreation. He was employed in a number of State and Federal government positions mainly involved with supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island sport. In 1986 he was awarded a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medal in recognition of his contributions to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands sport. In 1988 he was a driving force behind conducting the first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Basketball Championships in Brisbane for Senior Men’s and Women’s teams and organising and the first ever tours to Canada and the USA for these teams.</p>

HTML <p>He held the position of Director of Sports in Queensland for the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs.</p>

HTML <p>Danny established the Kuiyam Pride program in Cairns, Queensland in 2002. In this program Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teams played in the Queensland competitions. The teams comprised of players from areas such as the Torres Strait, Darwin, Cape York, Cairns, Townsville, Mackay and the Mt Isa region. The program discovered Nathan Jawai who went on to become the first Australian Indigenous player to play in the United States NBA. Danny mentored Nathan and Patrick Mills who also went on to play in the American NBA and for Australia at the Olympic Games.</p>

HTML <p>Danny continues to work in sport and in particular in programs supporting Aboriginal Torres Strait Island sport.</p>

HTML <p>Danny Morseu was and still is a trailblazer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island sport. He has been a great role model for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities. His drive, commitment, initiative, passion and hard work have paved the way for many to follow. His prodigious talent on and off the basketball court has earned the greatest of admiration of all those who have been part of his life and the game he loves.</p>

HTML <p>Danny Morseu was inducted into the NBL Hall of Fame in 2002.</p>

HTML <p>Danny Morseu the mentor (Courtesy of D. Morseu)</p>

HTML <p>. </p>

HTML <p>Danny Morseu (National Basketball League)</p>

HTML <p>Danny Morseu dunking the ball (Courtesy of Basketball Australia and The Australian Basketballer Magazine)</p>