STRANDED
From left to right Chris Traurnicht(UCT) , Darren Holcombe(UNP) , Paul De Wet(NIAGRA UNIVERSITY) and Quinton Dennyson(WITS) are all smiles as they await news on their accomodation for the night , as the SA National team arrived to find that they were too late to cross the Mozambique border thanks to the "outstanding " organisation skills of BSA with regards the hiring of baggage trailers and unlicenced vehicles for their trip to play in a tournament in Mozambique in 2000.
ALL ARICA GAMES 1999
South Africa vs Egypt at the 1999 All Africa games in JHB. Notice the different colour shorts the SA team is wearing. NOCSA without consultation with basketball people proceeded to make 2 sets of kit for the All Africa games - the vests were not too bad but the short running shorts that accompanied the vests looked like something Larry Bird would wear in the late 70's. The team then made a decision to wear their casual shorts as part of the kit instead. South Africa lost this game to Egypt by 23 points. However on a brighter note SA went on to beat the African power Senegal in their next game for the first time.
PICTURE TELLS A STORY
There are two stories in this photograph taken during a game between the Marlins Invitation Team and Magic Johnson's All Star Team. The first one is the defender being beaten off the dribble is Larry Spriggs, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the late 80's early 90's , was shot dead in a night club in Turkey a few years back - always a shame to lose a top ball player before his time. The second story is the crowd - a packed house at the University of Westville - who said South Africa would not take a liking to basketball as a spectator sport. Which leads me to ask why the administrators of the sport have not been able to secure sponsors over the last few years ? Maybe incompetence? Maybe fear of corruption?
DREAM FACILITIES
People always say that South Africa has fantastic sporting facilities , well maybe in Rugby , Cricket and Soccer ,but there definetly is nothing in South Africa that comes close to this Basketball Arena in Beijing China , where the 2001 SASSU team is busy with a pre-game shootaround before their opening game of the tournament against Turkey. South Africa went on to lose that game by 18 points .Not a bad result considering Turkey has one of the highest earning Pro leagues in Europe and they are consistant competitors in the Eurobasket Championships , while the South African players can be at best classified as part timers ,with no national or pro leagues back home.
TRIBUTE TO NATHAN BENN
1997 SA National Team. This picture was taken before a game against Mozambique at Wembley Arena JHB in which Nathan Benn from University of Pietermaritzburg(Bottom Row 3rd from left) was tragically killed.
Early in the 2nd half Nathan stood to take a charge against one of the Mozambiquans travelling at full speed.The Mozambique player jumped into Nathan his knee striking him on the jaw and knocking him unconscious , Nathan then fell back striking the back of his head on the floor causing a haemotoma to form on the brain.With no first aid or ambulance on hand Nathan was loaded into the back of a venture lying on door. Nathan later died in Hospital.
For those of you who did not know Nathan Benn , he was a combo guard who was as slow as molasses but had the sweetest jumper I have ever seen - sorry Brendan O'Reardon - if you got him open from 18 feet it was like shooting a lay up.
Nathan Benn 1975 - 1997 .Rest in Peace.
RETIREMENT GOES WRONG
Craig Gilchrist sends a message to BSA after his first retirement from International basketball in 2002. He must have known what was to come ,as he was asked by coach Zuba Zupcevic to retire so that he could become his assistant coach , which Gilchrist thought was his first step towards his International coaching career. Only to find out a few months later that BSA had fired Zuba leaving Gilchrist out in the cold.
