Wayne Carroll

HTML <h2><strong>No</strong><strong> 64 WAYNE CARROLL</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>6 feet 5 inch (195cm) Guard</strong></h2>

HTML <h2><strong>1984 and 1988 Olympic Games</strong></h2>

HTML <p>The Australian Olympic Team was playing in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games against the very strong national team of Spain. It was the Quarter Finals of the Olympics and a win for Australia would put the Boomers through to their first ever Olympic semi-final. Boomer off-guard Wayne Carroll was playing the game of his life. Not only was he defending some of Spain’s better players but he was also being one of the Boomers major scorers. Late in the game in one of many significant plays by a number of the Australians, Wayne drilled a basket under immense pressure to maintain Australia’s lead. The Boomers went on to win the game and Wayne Carroll was a major factor in their win.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne Carroll was born in Melbourne, Victoria on January the 3rd, 1959.</p>

HTML <p>His first love was Australian Rules football (AFL) and he was signed to North Melbourne Football Club on a scholarship in 1974 when he was fifteen years old.</p>

HTML <p>He started his basketball career in 1976 as an Under 18 player at the Coburg Basketball Club. That team won the National Under 18 Club Championships and Wayne was named on the Victorian Under 20 State team that played in the National Championships in Perth.</p>

HTML <p>In 1977 Coach Ray Tomlinson invited Wayne to join the Coburg Giants senior Club team. This team featured future Australian players Les Riddle, Stephen Gray, Paul Franke, and Peter Blight as well as a current Australian representative player Ken Burbridge.</p>

HTML <p>Coburg won the 1977 Australian and Victorian titles. That same year Wayne played for the Victorian Under 20 team under Coach Barry Barnes that won the National Championships.</p>

HTML <p>In 1978 he again played for Victoria at the Under 20’s and was selected on the Australian Junior Team that toured England and Germany under the coaching of Ian Laurie. He also played for the Victorian Men’s Team in the Australian Championships in Newcastle where Victoria lost to South Australia in the Final.</p>

HTML <p>1979 was to be a huge year in Wayne’s basketball career. Coburg won the last Australian Club Championships when they defeated the inaugural National Basketball League (NBL) champions St Kilda. Wayne was then selected to play for the VictorianTeam in the Australian Men’s Championships in Perth. The Victorians defeated SA in the final.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne debuted for Australia in basketball at the senior level in 1979. </p>

HTML <p>He was on the Australian Team that played a series against the Yugoslavian Club team Cibona, which included Yugoslavian national player Alexander Petrovic and his fifteen year old brother Drazen a future NBA player. The Australian Team was coached by Lindsay Gaze who was to go onto have a great influence on Wayne’s career. Wayne also played for the Australian Team against the touring US Colorado State University.</p>

HTML <p>Later that year Wayne was a member of the Australian Team that toured the USA playing against College teams. “This was my first experience of NCAA basketball in the USA. The highlight for me was playing against future NBA star Rick Mahorn at Hampton Institute,” recalls Wayne.</p>

HTML <p>The Coburg Giants entered the NBL in 1980 and this was to start Wayne’s outstanding NBL career.</p>

HTML <p>The 1980 Moscow Olympics were looming and Wayne was hopeful of selection on the Australian Team.Wayne was a member of the Australian teams that played against the touring Jugoplastika, Oklahoma University, and Puget Sound teams.</p>

HTML <p>However Wayne missed selection on the 1980 Moscow Olympic team.....an experience he describes as one of the most difficult in his career.</p>

HTML <p>In 1981 Wayne was a member of the Australian Team that won the Oceania 1982 World Championship Qualification Tournament. Hethen played for Australia against touring teams Partisan,Wartburg College, Biola and West Virginia Universities.At the end of that year he played with the Australian Team on a very arduous sixteen match tour to the USA and China. The trip took some five weeks. For Wayne and all the team it was a fascinating and tough trip that gave the team and players the toughness they would need in the future if they were to succeed.</p>

HTML <p>In 1982 Wayne played for Australia against touring teams from Zadar, and Iona University.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne was selected on the 1982 Australian Team that competed in the World Championships in Columbia. This team made a giant leap forward for Australia in world rankings when after great wins over Canada and Brazil the team secured fifth place. This was also a watershed for Wayne as he played major minutes sharing the off-guard role with his friend and club-mate Les Riddle. </p>

HTML <p>Wayne comments, “The experience in guarding players such as Doc Rivers, Mitch Wiggens (USA),DrazenDalipagic, Mirza Delibasic (Yugoslavia), Juan Antonio Epifanio, Wayne Brabender (Spain), and Marcel Souza (Brazil), and other stars from all over the world taught me a lot about what I needed to learn, but also showed me that I could compete against the best”.</p>

HTML <p>The World Championships were also an eye opener for all the Australian Team as they knew little about Colombia let alone about crime cartels, drug trafficking, murder of public officials and the tremendous need of armed security everywhere the team went. It was an exhilarating as well as a dangerous experience.</p>

HTML <p>In 1980 Wayne had begun his NBL career with Coburg. He was to play with Coburg from 1980 to 1986. Coburg then became part of the North Melbourne Giants who Wayne played for from 1987 to 1990.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne played 283 NBL games and led the Giants to their first NBL Championship in 1989. He scored 3,764 points, gave 878 assist and grabbed 1,155 rebounds in his NBL career. Wayne played his whole NBL career with Coburg-North Melbourne.</p>

HTML <p>After the 1982 World Championships Wayne played for the Australian Team (now known as the “Boomers”) in 1983 against the NIT in Australia, and helped the Boomers win the Oceania 1984 Olympic Qualification Tournament and to win the Bronze Medal in the inaugural Commonwealth Championships in New Zealand.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne’s major personal focus was to gain selection on the 1984 Olympic Team. The 1983 Australian Team tour to the USA where they played twelve games was a pivotal test for him and for his selection.</p>

HTML <p>In 1984 at the age of 25 he was selected to the Australian Team to compete at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Wayne featured for the Boomers in their very important win over the fifth ranked team in the world Brazil and the wins over West Germany where Wayne was given the task of guarding US College star, and future NBA star, DetlefSchempf.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne scored 18 points in the Quarter Final against eventual Silver Medallists Spain.</p>

HTML <p>“The opportunity to watch Michael Jordon was awe inspiring. I guarded DrazenPetrovic (Yugoslavia),Antonello Riva (Italy), and San Epifanio (Spain), and the challenge of competing with these superstars is, along with the Opening Ceremony,my greatest memory of the Games,” says Wayne.</p>

HTML <p>The Australian Team finished the Olympic Tournament in 7th place, their best result to that time in Olympic competition.</p>

HTML <p>The next year (1985) Wayne played with the Boomersin the inaugural Australia Games where the Boomers won the Gold Medal, and in the Oceania 1986 World Championship Qualification Tournament which the Boomers also won. At the end of that year Wayne toured to the USA with the Boomers for a ten match tour against College teams.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne was selected to the Australian Team to play in the 1986 World Championships in Spain. The team was upset in the preliminary rounds and finished a disappointing equal 13th out of 24 teams. It was a sobering experience for all the team.</p>

HTML <p>In 1987 the preparation for the Boomers, with Wayne as a member of the team, began with the strong Big East All Stars followed by the series against the USSR that set Australian basketball alight. The six match USSR series filled the big basketball stadiums across Australia. The Boomers were playing against the best in the world and that opportunity, plus the media coverage, elevated the team and players such as Wayne to a level of exposure they had never experienced in Australia. Wayne played well in the series and he and everyone on the team were inspired for what lay ahead.</p>

HTML <p>At the end of 1987 Wayne and the Boomers toured to Europe for nine games. In 1988 Wayne started the year with games for the Boomers in Australia against Czechoslovakia and Nebraska University before once again facing the might of the USSR. This six match USSR series was just as popular as the series in Australia the year before. The big difference this time was that the series was in the weeks leading into the Seoul Olympics and both teams were on a razor edge to get the most out of the series. The USSR was a Gold Medal contender and the preparation was excellent for the Boomers and for Wayne who was destined to play a major role on the Boomers team at the Olympic Games.</p>

HTML <p>At the Seoul Olympic Games Wayne played a pivotal role in Australia’s best ever Olympic performance to that time (4th) when he started every game in the off-guard position, alongside point guard Phil Smyth and small forward Andrew Gaze.</p>

HTML <p>He hit some vital baskets (16 points) and played excellent defence in the Quarter Final win against Spain that propelled Australia into its first ever Olympic semi-finals.”With seven of the players from 1984 on the team and the new exciting youngsters we had the mix to play well in 1988 and this was a big factor in our awesome win over Spain in the Quarter Finals,’ recalls Wayne. The Boomers finished 4th to the great amazement of the basketball world and the fans back home. That feat has been equalled since by other Australian Men’s teams,but not passed.</p>

HTML <p>“Wayne was a great leader and performer for us at his two Olympics. He thrived on the pressure and the big occasion. Renowned as a tough defender and consistent jump-shooter Wayne epitomised the best qualities of team players,” said the 1988 Olympic Coach Dr Adrian Hurley.</p>

HTML <p>After Seoul, Wayne played for two more years in the NBL.“Before injuries suggested I needed to stop,” says Wayne.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne retired from basketball in 1990 and has continued his relationship with the development of basketball in Victoria and Australia. He has been on the Board of Directors for the Knox Basketball Club and for Victoria. In 2009 he was appointed General Manager High Performance for Basketball Australia and in 2012 returned to Knox as CEO to manage the new Victorian State Basketball Centreas well as the existing Knox Basketball Stadium.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne Carroll was inducted into the NBL Hall of Fame in 1999.</p>

HTML <p>Wayne Carroll in Giants uniform (The Australian Basketballer Magazine/Aldo Marcolin)</p>

HTML <p>Wayne Carroll playing for Australia in 1982 (The Australian Basketballer Magazine/Phillip Clayton)</p>

HTML <p>Carroll played 287</p>

HTML <p> games </p>

HTML <p>Wayne Carroll shoots against the USSR (Australian Basketballer Magazine)</p>