Rockhampton’s Bronwyn Marshall - player, coach administrator - inducted into Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame

Bronwyn Marshall’s multifaceted career in basketball has been recognised. One of her former coaches talks about what made her such a great player.

Former Rockhampton basketball star Bronwyn Marshall, who went on to become a successful coach and administrator, was recently inducted into the Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame.

Rockhampton basketball stalwart Barrie Brady knew pretty early on that Bronwyn Marshall was something special.

He was right.

Brady would coach Marshall not long after she first set foot on the court as a teenager with Panthers Basketball Club back in the ’70s.

She would go on to become one of the country’s best, excelling not only as a player but also as a coach and administrator.

Her multifaceted career has now been recognised with her induction into the Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame.

“I thought she was pretty special,” Brady recalled of Marshall’s early playing days.

“She was tall, strong and athletic.

“She wanted to learn and get better all the time.

“The other thing I liked about her was that she was a left-hander. I’m a great believer that a good left-hander is very effective; opposition teams don’t transition well from defending right-handers to left-handers.”

Marshall got started in the game on the urging of a friend and proved a natural, starring in the position of centre.

Bronwyn Marshall represented Australia at the 1984 Olympic Games.

She headed over to then Hegvold Stadium after finishing school at Rockhampton State High one afternoon with advice to seek out Peter Hoffman, who would be her first coach.

She made an immediate impression.

Marshall was named Rockhampton Basketball Women’s MVP at age 15 and was soon scaling the representative ladder which ultimately took her to the Olympics.

After numerous state honours, she earned national selection, playing with the Australian Opals in the FIBA World Championships in 1983 and 1986.

She was then part of the national team which made its first appearance at an Olympic Games, in Los Angeles in 1984.

Marshall went on to play seven seasons with the Brisbane Blazers in the WNBL, and in 1989/90 was one of the first Australian females to play professionally in an overseas league, in Switzerland.

Bronwyn Marshall was a excellent player, coach and administrator in basketball.

And when her playing days were over, Marshall made the transition to coaching, taking the reins at the Blazers and the Brisbane Capitals and working as assistant coach with the Centre of Excellence/AIS.

She then moved into administration where among other positions she was the chairman of Basketball Queensland, a Basketball Australia board member and deputy co-chair of the organising committee for the women’s FIBA World Cup in Sydney this year.

Brady said it was wonderful for Marshall to be among the 2022 Hall of Fame inductees.

“It’s very much deserved,” he said.

“She never thought she was too good for anyone, even though she achieved so much and got to such a high level in the game.”