ALAN HARE

6 feet 1 inch (186cm) Guard

1960 Olympic Games

The youngster was sitting down at home when his father Lloyd, a former West Adelaide League (AFL) footballer “had a quiet word” with him. The essence of the discussion was that after watching his son play a game of football for Adelaide High School that afternoon that perhaps “footy” was not his son’s game. The conclusion was that the son would never make a footballer and perhaps he should pursue something else. This he did and today believes it was very good advice by his father and a very good decision for him to take up basketball as his chosen sport. Alan Hare was born February 2nd 1936 in Adelaide, South Australia. He started playing basketball in 1949 at age thirteen with the Panthers Basketball Club in North Adelaide. He would go on to play over 300 Adelaide District games with North Adelaide. During his career with North his teams won eight District Championships. He played for fourteen seasons with North Adelaide up until he was 28 years of age. In 1957 Alan was awarded the Woollacott Medal as South Australia’s Fairest and Most Brilliant Player in the Adelaide District Competition. Alan played mainly as shooting guard. He was a very good defender and long range shooter who rebounded very well for his size. He was coached by legendary SA coach Merv “Skippy” Harris and by the SA State Coach Keith Miller. Keith was to go on and coach the 1964 Olympic team. In 1952 Alan was selected on the South Australian State Team at the age of sixteen and then went on to represent SA in the Australian Men’s Championships until 1964. During this time SA and Alan were very successful, winning the Australian Championships in 1953, 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1960. Alan did not stand for State selection in 1961 but was selected for the team in 1962 and then again in 1963 when SA again won the National Championships. After the Australian Championships in 1959 Alan was selected to represent Australia in the 1960 Olympic Games. The Australian Olympic Team trained in Adelaide for three months prior to the Olympics. This meant that the interstate players were billeted with the SA players, trained at night and played in the Adelaide District competition. The team then undertook a long and arduous trip to Italy via Darwin and the Philippines. The 1960 Olympic Team was the first Australian Men’s Basketball Team to travel overseas to play in a FIBA tournament. Australia had to qualify for the Olympic Basketball Finals in Rome by playing in the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Bologna, Italy. Alan and the players found things very difficult as the ball was different, the umpiring was substantially different and the opposition were generally much more experienced. In all their games the Australians got into foul trouble and they had great difficulty adjusting defensively. Alan, along with Alan Dawe and Terry Charlton were considered defensive specialist in the guard position and they never lacked resolve or energy in fulfilling their roles.

Unfortunately the team did not win enough matches in the Qualification Tournament to make the Finals in Rome. However even though the team was housed outside the Olympic Village they were able to part of every other aspect of the Games including the Village. All team members have great memories of watching Olympic events (such as Herb Elliot winning the 1500 metres track event) and socializing in the Village. Alan recalls, “The overall time in Rome was the most exciting time of my playing career and opened my eyes to the sport we all love so much. The quality of the European and American players stood out.....Village life was a howl!”