Ray Borner

HTML <h2><strong>NO 63 RAY BORNER</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>6 feet 10 inches (210</strong><strong>cm) Forward/Centre</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games</strong></h2>

HTML <p>The two brothers were going hard at it in the backyard. It was basketball of a sort with the focus on a netball ring from an old swing set nailed to some old boards on a tin shed roof. The game was one-on-one basketball, with no prisoners taken. One of the brothers was six years older than the other so the younger one was physically outmatched, but that made no difference to either boy. “No blood, no foul”was the order of the day and besides, this was sibling rivalry and neither would back-down. The ground under the ring was uneven, but thankfully soft as bodies landed heavily. The younger brother recalls, “ I was learning things that would keep me in good stead at future Australian Team trainings...no backward steps, no fouls, no prisoners...winner take all. I was continually beaten... but always came back for more. I never did beat my brother on that home-made ring, but the lessons learnt drove me to bigger and better things.”</p>

HTML <p>Raymond “Ray” Helmut Borner was born May 27th, 1962 in Ballarat, Victoria. His basketball, other than the backyard blitz, started when he attended Ballarat Youth Centre with his older brother Robert when Ray was twelve and half years old. From there he started playing junior games with his school team, Ballarat Technical School Rovers. </p>

HTML <p>The school team went through a few seasons without winning a game, but the kids had fun playing and always tried to beat the other school teams in the competition. Ray was big for his age and during those very early days he also played B Grade Men with the Ballarat Youth Centre.</p>

HTML <p>Ray was then selected in the Victoria Country U16 team for the National Championships. He recalls. “We had a great time in Adelaide at the National Championships, it was my first airplane trip, my first stay in a motel and the team didn’t do very well but I thirsted for more basketball.”</p>

HTML <p>The sport of basketball had started to give him personal satisfaction with weekends away for tournaments and interstate trips with State teams and he knew that if he wanted to become better at the sport he needed to put in the extra time. This was in the form of riding his bike to the opposite side of town after school and doing individual training and then riding home. </p>

HTML <p>One day the General Manager of the Ballarat Association came to Ray and asked where he wanted to go with basketball. Ray replied that he wanted to play in Melbourne and that was about the extent of his dreams. The General Manager was Brendon Hackwill, a 1960 basketball Olympian and former AFL player. Ray says, “Brendon knew what he was talking about and told me that I had the potential to be an Olympian if I wanted it. That discussion changed my whole perspective on basketball and what I wanted out of it. I am forever grateful to Brendon for his advice and motivation.”</p>

HTML <p>Enter Ken Holland from the Coburg Giants. After watching Ray play in the same tournament as his son Mark in the under 16s Australian Championships in Adelaide, Ken asked Ray to play with Coburg in the under18 State League. The problem Ray had was how to get to Melbourne on a Friday night by 6.30 to play the game? The solution he came up with wasn&#39;t one that anyone would endorse nowadays. School finished at 3.50 on a Friday so Ray would leave at 2.00 “wagging” the last period and hitchhike down to Melbourne. Getting back was another matter, but somehow it worked out but it was tough so in 1979 he moved to Melbourne to pursue the dream that had been implanted in his head a few years before. </p>

HTML <p>Rayplayed 2nd division with the Coburg Giants as well as with their junior team under the guidance of three-time Olympian Ray Tomlinson. By 1980 he had worked his way into the Coburg Giants Men’s team for the start of their National Basketball League (NBL) campaign. That same year he played eleven games for the Australian Junior Team.</p>

HTML <p>Ray was by now a big raw boned centre near 110cms tall and 106 kg in weight, athletic, tough and well groomed in the art of playing big and tough. He was to develop and grow some more.</p>

HTML <p>During that year he started getting calls from US colleges and decided to take up an offer from Louisiana State University and went there in 1981. </p>

HTML <p>US College basketball was a great experience but as it wasn&#39;t fulfilling his goal to play for Australia so he came back home in time for the 1982 Easter try-out Australian Teamcamp in Melbourne. Ray recalls, “These camps were all about survival and there was no doubt that the old adage ‘no blood no foul’ was in play and even though there was blood, there were few fouls called because up for grabs were spots for the 1982 World Championships in Columbia.”Ray survived the Camp and was selected for the World Championships. This started his journey of the next sixteen years on the Australian Men’s Basketball Team.</p>

HTML <p>At the 1982 World Championships in Columbia Ray played better and better with every game and with some injuries to the veterans on the Australian Team he was given more chances by Coach Lindsay Gaze. Australia achieved its equal best ever result at a World Championship when it came fifth. “Ray impressed me a lot at those championships. He was young, but just loved the battle, and I well remember him just slugging it out with the big Canadian centres andgetting all over them,” remembers Australia’s Assistant Coach Dr Adrian Hurley. Ray was now a strong candidate to remain a national team player. The 1984 Olympics were around the corner and everyone on that 1982 World Championships team and in the NBL wanted to make the 1984 Olympic team and Ray knew he couldn’t relax </p>

HTML <p>In 1983 he played for the Australian Team in New Zealand in the Commonwealth Championships and Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament (winning Bronze in the Commonwealth Tournament) and qualifying for the 1984 Olympics. He also went on the Australian Team twelve match tour to the USA and played against the NIT All Stars in Australia before being selected to the 1984 Australian Men’s Olympic Basketball Team.</p>

HTML <p>Ray describes his feelings in Los Angeles at the Olympics.“The feelings that I experienced at the Opening Ceremony and then at the first game in the Forum are something that I haven&#39;t been able to express or have heard expressed to give it the justice it needs.”</p>

HTML <p>The LA Games seemed to Ray to be bigger and better than anything he’d experienced before. Inside the Athletes Village was no different with the sponsors of the Games giving away their products. “In the Village there were different eating areas and I went to one and ordered a steak only to be told that they were only for the USA team, so I put on my best Southern American accent and still couldn&#39;t get served.”</p>

HTML <p>Ray played strongly in the LA Olympics and the team finished a highly credible 7th place, the best result to that time.</p>

HTML <p>In 1985 Ray played in Australia for the Boomers in the inaugural Australia Games where the team won Gold and against the Pac 10, as well as in the Oceania 1986 World Championships Qualification Tournament which they also won. Ray was then a member of the Australian Team that played ten matches in the USA to finish the year.</p>

HTML <p>The next year Ray was on the National Team that played the University of Las Vegas in Australia before travelling to Spain for the 1986 World Championships where they finished a disappointing 13th out of 26 teams.</p>

HTML <p>Ray played for the National Team (now called the “Boomers”) in 1987 against the strong Big East team and in a wonderful series of six games against the mighty USSR. This latter series ignited Australian basketball and gave the Boomers (and Ray) immense profile as well as experience. The Boomers, with Ray as a team member, won the Oceania 1988 Olympic Qualification Tournament before heading to Europe for eight games. </p>

HTML <p>In 1988 after playing Czechoslovakia, Nebraska University and another magnificent six game series against the USSR, Ray and the Boomers were ready for the Seoul Olympic Games.</p>

HTML <p>At the 1988 Seoul Olympics Ray was the starting centre on the Boomers. His ferocious rebounding, uncompromising screens and hard-work ethic was very important for the team. He was also leading the way for the teenagers Bradtke, Vlahov and Longley who were new additions to the team. The Boomers played great basketball and for the first time they made the medal round. They were denied a medal but they had shocked the basketball world and the Australian public by finishing in fourth place.</p>

HTML <p>After Seoul Ray played for the Boomers in 1989 against the Kareem Abdul Jabbar All Stars but was injured and did not travel on the Boomers tour to the USA and Argentina in late 1989. </p>

HTML <p>In 1990 the Boomers’ preparation was sparse as they had no international games in Australia and had to settle for the Goodwill Games in Seattle on the way to Argentina for the 1990 World Championships.</p>

HTML <p>At the1990 World Championships in Argentina was Ray delighted to weara t-shirt informing the Italian National Team that they were headed for Salta and not the finals in Buenos Aries, where the Boomers were heading after winning through their Section. Again Ray played very well and was now joined by future NBA super star Luc Longley and the emerging giant Mark Bradtke “in the paint”.</p>

HTML <p>During all of his performances for the Boomers Ray was forging an outstanding career in the National Basketball League (NBL). In 1985 with the Coburg Giants he was named the NBL’s MVP.It was the first time a non-American player had won the award. That same year he was selected to the All NBL Team. In 1989 a very special moment came for Ray when the Giants won the NBL crown. Ray played 518 games during his NBL career with Coburg, Wollongong, North Melbourne, Geelong and Canberra. He played in a remarkable 22 NBL seasons and scored 7,040 points and grabbed 3,927 rebounds. He won NBL titles with North Melbourne and the Wollongong Hawks.</p>

HTML <p>By 1990 Ray was a strapping 120kg and loved throwing his weight around, setting lethal screens on unsuspecting guards in motion, elbowing his way for rebounds and fighting for position “on the block” against the big guys. He had a reliable jump-shot, nice “baby hook” and was a tough defender and a great team man. He loved to play!</p>

HTML <p>Ray played for the Boomers in Australia in 1991 against Fortitudo Bologna, and in the Oceania 1992 Olympic Qualification Tournament which they won and then on a ten match tour of Europe. In 1992 the Boomers played games against China and the South West All Stars and local All Star teams. Ray was then selected to the Australian Men’s Team for the 1992 Olympic Games. In less than desirable preparation for the Boomers NBL commitments kept the team in Australia up to the week before the Games.</p>

HTML <p>“This was the Olympics of the first USA Dream Team and boy did they put on a show, I don&#39;t think that there will ever be a team of such legends on the floor again,” Ray reminisces. “Unfortunately the Boomers didn’t get to play them but the show was great.”</p>

HTML <p>Ray and the Boomers played well at times in Barcelona but their lack of time together and match practice showed. The Boomers finished a highly credible 6th, the second best performance by the Boomers to that time.</p>

HTML <p>NBL basketball in Australia was continuing through its “Golden Era” and Ray was an important part of that.He was named to the NBL All Star team in five consecutive years from 1991 to 1995.</p>

HTML <p>Ray was now a three time Olympian...a great achievement. Was he going to be selected for a fourth Olympics in 1996?If so he would join a very select band of basketball players and Olympians from all sports as a four time Olympian. First he had to get to Canada for the World Championships in 1994. </p>

HTML <p>Ray played for the Boomersagainst Russia in Australia in 1993, in the Oceania 1994 World Championship Qualification Tournament(which they won) and toured with the Boomers on their nine match tour of the USA. In 1994 the Boomers played games against domestic All Star teams and touring USA Marathon Oil and George Washington University teams.</p>

HTML <p>Ray was selected to the 1994 Boomers team that played in the World Championships in Greece and finished 9th.</p>

HTML <p>He still had his focus on that fourth Olympics. In 1995 he played for the Boomers in Australia against the “Magic” Johnson All Stars, the University of Missouri, Korea, and in the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament (another win) before captaining the team to Portugal, Spain and Holland for seven matches.</p>

HTML <p>In 1996 Ray played on the Boomers teams that played the NBA Legends, Lithuania and Italy in Australia before he was selected for his fourth Olympics which were to be in Atlanta.</p>

HTML <p>The 1996 Atlanta Olympics were very special for Ray.“My fourth Olympic Games was personally satisfying as it was the first time I was able to take my family to watch the games. The highlight for my boys was to be able to go into the dressing rooms after games and get as much Power-Aid as they could carry and dress up in their Aussie Basketball uniforms and cheer as loud as they could. This was especially so when we played the US.”</p>

HTML <p>Ray retired from international basketball after the Atlanta Olympics.</p>

HTML <p>Ray Borner, a four time Olympian will go down in basketball history as one of Australia’s best ever big men. He was courageous, willing, tough, and never took a backward step in representing his country or Club.</p>

HTML <p>Ray sums up. “When I first made the Australian Team we were ranked seventh in the World and when I completed my duties we were ranked fourth. I hope that the contributions and sacrifices...I shouldn&#39;t call it a sacrifice as it&#39;s a privilege to represent your country....I made helped us get to that position.”</p>

HTML <p>After he retired Ray felt he needed to give something back to the game that had been so good to him. He returned home to Ballarat and coached the Ballarat Miners in the SEABL and took the team to the finals over a number of years. He also enjoyed a stint on the Board of the “Big V”.In 2001 he was named the ABA Coach of the Year.</p>

HTML <p>Ray Borner was a “giant” in the Boomers history. His feats, durability, passion, skills, commitment, achievements, and team ethic stands him out as one of the best “big men” in Australian basketball history.</p>

HTML <p>In 2006 Ray Borner was inducted into the NBL Hall of Fame and in 2009 was awarded an OAM for services to basketball.</p>

HTML <p>Ray Borner dunking for the Giants (NBL)</p>

HTML <p>Larry Sengstock (7) and Ray Borner (15) rebounding (Basketball Australia)</p>

HTML <p>Ray Borner playing for Australia (The Basketballer Magazine)</p>

HTML <p>Ray Borner the Player/Coach (R. Borner)</p>