Queensland basketball’s top 30 state league players: Top 5

Drum roll please! After a week of counting down, the top five Queensland state league basketball players is finally here. So who features in the final list and who takes out top spot? SEE WHO MADE THE LIST.

THERE’S more than 15 championships and eight MVP awards between them.

The top five players in our list of Queensland’s best state league basketball stars since 1990 is something to behold.

It has been an amazing stroll down memory lane as we have counted down 30 names in recent weeks and we have come across some legendary names along the way.

But the resumes on our final list speak for themselves.

WHO ARE QLD’S BEST EVER STATE LEAGUE BASKETBALL STARS?

QLD’S TOP STATE LEAGUE PLAYERS: PART 1

QLD’S TOP STATE LEAGUE PLAYERS: PART 2

QLD’S TOP STATE LEAGUE PLAYERS: PART 3

Not only were they champions during their careers but they are names you can’t skip over when going through the history of the Queensland state league.

Our panel of experts including current Townsville Heat NBL1 North coach Rod Anderson, former player and general manager of Suncoast’s National Championship side in 1997 Bill Hooper as well as Basketball Queensland general manager of game development Warwick Cann have selected the final five players on the list.

HERE ARE THE PLAYERS:

Glenn Stump playing for the Townsville Suns in the NBL in 1995.

5. GLENN STUMP

A pure scorer known for his long socks and his pure jump shot, Glenn Stump starts off our top five with a resume most state league players would dream of. Having played more than 200 games in the competition, Stump won three league Most Valuable Player awards, all with the Townsville Heat (1989, 1991 and 1992), where he would also go on to get his citizenship and play for Townsville in the NBL. Joining the league in 1988, Stump helped Townsville win their second ever championship, beating the Toowoomba Mountaineers in 1989. A fierce competitor, who was talented at both ends of the floor, the product from Stevenson Point in Washington could also get to the rim and attack the paint to go along with his perimeter shooting and had a career-high of 60 points. Stump also had a game where he scored 10 points in the final 15 seconds of a game. With three MVP awards, a championship, a long career and a transition to the NBL, Stump is a worthy recipient of fifth place on the all-time list.

Clarence "Pop" Dickerson of Toowoomba Mountaineers.

4. CLARENCE “POP” DICKERSON

The name “Pop” Dickerson is synonymous with basketball in Queensland and for a reason. After being drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1986, Dickerson took the opportunity to play in Australia with his beloved Toowoomba Mountaineers and it was there he would become a legend of the sport in the state and a Toowoomba icon. Although ‘Pop’ dominated upon his arrival in the late 1980s, his true impact would be felt at the start of the next decade as the man behind the most successful era in Toowoomba basketball. He would go on to be one of the main men in the Mountaineers’ back-to-back championships in 1990 and 1991, the club’s only titles to this day. Dickerson would go on to play 12 seasons in the league and average 30 points per game across his career. Not only did he win two championships but he was also the scoring leader in 1986 and 1989 and scored 50 points more than 10 times in his career. To this day, Pop still inspires the next generation of basketball stars from the Garden City, hosting his famous Supercamp each year.

Cameron Tragardh was a star in both the QBL and NBL. Picture: Stewart McLean

3. CAMERON “TRIGGER” TRAGARDH

The best big man in the history of the Queensland state league, there’s no doubting that the man known as ‘Trigger’ takes that title. Cameron Tragardh was a star talent ever since he started playing in the Queensland league as a youngster with an uncanny ability to score the basketball from either big man positions. You name it, he could do it – post moves, jump shots, getting to the foul line – Tragardh was impossible to contain during his state league career and during two seasons with the Northside Wizards in 2008/09 averaged 38 points per game than 42.3 points per game, taking home the league MVP in both years. In 2009, Trigger scored more than 50 points in six out of eight games and in 2008 had a triple-double where he recorded numbers of 67 points, 26 rebounds and 11 assists. Trigger would win his first championship in 2003 with the South West Metro Pirates, the club’s only title to date, and would repeat that success with his junior club, the Southern Districts Spartans in 2006 and again with the Cairns Marlins in 2016. Add on to that resume, a career in the NBL which spanned more than a decade with the Brisbane Bullets, Townsville Crocodiles, Wollongong Hawks, Melbourne Tigers and Cairns Taipans, Tragardh has been a star on the court at both levels. He would also help the Taipans make the 2015 NBL grand final as the competition’s best sixth man. Following his career in the NBL, Tragardh would return to the league he had dominated for so long, first winning a title with Cairns in 2016 before winning QBL Coach of the Year as player/coach with Mackay, who won the minor premiership in 2017. He would player/coach Mackay again in 2018 and would sign to play again with Rockhampton for the inaugural NBL1 North season this year before the COVID-19 shutdown.

Billy Ross playing for the Cairns Marlins legends in 2010.

2. BILLY ROSS

Arguably the most talented play in our list of 30 players, Billy Ross was an absolute gun! One of the best US imports to ever step onto a basketball court in Queensland, Ross did it for three clubs during his career in Queensland, having won championships and starred with the Cairns Marlins, Suncoast Clippers and the Kuiyam Pride. In fact, Ross helped make history on the Sunshine Coast, leading the team to the ABA National Championship, along with two other players who featured in this list in Ben Castle and Ryan Stolberg. The victory was even more special considering Ross had joined the Clippers after playing for Cairns the previous season and especially after Suncoast had lost to the Marlins in the state final just weeks earlier. He was also the MVP of that national championship grand final. Ross was one of the most dominant players and scorers in Queensland state league history and could take over a game at any point. Returned to North Queensland to win the MVP for the Pride in 2001.

Cairns basketball legend Aaron Grabau. Picture: Josh Woning.

1. AARON GRABAU

And the top spot goes to a man who has an incredible resume including five state league championships, three ABA National Championships, two ABA National Championship MVP awards, 405 NBL games and has his jersey retired with the same NBL club. Aaron Grabau’s resume is something to behold. Grabau is an icon of basketball in Cairns, having played more than 12 seasons in the NBL with the Taipans, including in their inaugural game in 1999 but his impact was felt even more in the state league, where he was one of the most dominant players during his time. A player who could do everything, score if he needed to, a lockdown defender and the ultimate leader, Grabau was part of the Marlins 1998 state and national championship side in 1998 but then played a more significant role in the club’s next four state championships in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2009 as Cairns were easily the most successful team of the decade. However, Grabau was also able to help take that success to the national level where Cairns beat the NW Tasmania Thunder to win the championship in 2004 and in 2007 where the club took out its third national title over the Dandenong Rangers. And who was MVP in both of those wins? Grabau was. Those victories helped Cairns become tied for the most successful team in the ABA National Championship history with Ballarat and Geelong. Grabau would retire from the NBL at the end of the 2011/12 season, finishing his career as the most-capped player in Taipans history, scoring the second most points in Taipans history with 2874 and being the all-time club leader in rebounds and steals.