Legendary Toowoomba trio inducted to BQ Hall of Fame
Toowoomba Basketball has dominated Queensland Basketball’s night of nights with three legends from the Garden City receiving a rare ‘award’. Read all about the star trio here.
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Basketball Queensland may need to consider building a Toowoomba wing in their Hall of Fame.
Toowoomba and the Darling Downs commanded the spotlight at BQ’s night of nights with three of the five newest Hall of Fame inductees hailing from the region.
“Basketball in Toowoomba and the Darling Downs has a rich and proud history,” Toowoomba basketball identity John Gouldson said.
“We’ve produced many players and officials who are passion, dedicated and talented.
“It’s fantastic to see more of them receiving the recognition they deserve.”
Jennifer Screen, John Dorge and Harry Spencer OAM were the Garden City stars honoured at the BQ awards night.
Spencer and Toowoomba basketball go hand-in-hand after a playing and coaching career that spanned more than half a century.
Neville Harold Roy ‘Harry’ Spencer moved to the Garden City in 1972, tipping off an association with Toowoomba basketball that remained strong to this day.
Spencer has coached multiple teams to local, regional, state and national championships and was recognised as Queensland basketball’s most prolific senior women’s basketball coach.
In 1984 he was selected by the Oceania Basketball Confederation to work as a coach and mentor in Papua New Guinea as part of the Olympic Solidarity Course in Basketball Coaching.
“What I admire most about Harry is passion and dedication to the sport and coaching,” Gouldson said.
“He’s had some pretty bad health scares over the years but he’s never given up on doing what he loves.
“Arguably his greatest strength though is his ability to coach anyone.
“It does not matter what level of the game he is involved at, over the years he has shown a great ability to adapt and put his knowledge and skills to use to help any player or team he is working with.”
Despite taking up basketball ‘later’ in life, Dorge enjoyed early success.
As junior player in Dalby he garnered NBL attention and joined the Brisbane Bullets in 1985.
Dorge and the Bullets featured in three straight NBL finals from 1985 – winning two (1985 and 1987).
In 1990 he joined the Geelong Supercats and in the opening game of the 1991 season he made a NBL record 14 blocks.
Dorge finished his NBL career with four premierships and represented Australia at the FIBA World Championships and the Olympics.
Screen earned South Queensland and Queensland representative jerseys after starring for Toowoomba in a number of Queensland Classics age divisions.
She then received an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship and featured in their Women’s National Basketball League squad in 1999 and 2000.
In her final year with the AIS she was recruited by the Adelaide Lightning (2001-2005) before playing professionally for Parma in Italy.
Screen also played Commonwealth and Olympic Games medal winning sides for the Australian Opals.
“Jenni (Screen) and John (Dorge) were both exceptional players,” Gouldson said.
“They’re also wonderful people and it’s great to see they are both still involved in basketball in some capacity – sharing their knowledge and passion for the game.”
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