MERV MOY

6 feet 0 inch (183cm) Guard

1956 Olympic Games

Mervyn Charles “Merv” Moy was born 19th April 1930 in Sydney, NSW. He joined the YMCA in 1948 at eighteen years of age and played his first game of basketball in C grade in the City of Sydney competition. He says, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that another eight years down the track I’d be playing basketball at the Olympic Games.” He soon made A Grade and continued playing for the “Y” for the next five years. In that time he was selected to the Sydney YMCA representative side that played regular matches in Sydney, in the NSW country areas and all around Australia (particularly in the capital cities) against other YMCA teams. In 1951 Merv was selected to his first NSW representative team and played in the Australian Men’s Championships that were played in Perth. (Dr John Raschke the “father of the NBL” was also in that team). NSW was beaten in the Final in a close match against Victoria. In a tremendous achievement Merv was named in the All Australian Five at the completion of the Championships. He would continue to represent NSW at successive Australian Championships (except for 1953 when the Championships were not held) until 1958. In his last year he was also Captain of the NSW team. In 1953 he left the YMCA to join Newton Police Boys Club where he played with future 1956 Olympians Ken Fitch and Bruce Flick under soon to be 1956 Olympic Assistant Coach Harry Burgess. Many of the highlight games he played in that period were against Mormon teams based in Sydney or touring from the USA. In 1955 at the conclusion of the Australian Championships Merv, along with other NSW players Bruce Flick and Ken Finch, was named to the Olympic Squad of 16 players and then to the team to compete in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He would be 26 years of age at the 1956 Olympic Games.