FIBA President congratulates Al Ramsay
Bob Elphinston travelled to Coffs Harbour to congratulate Al Ramsay on his appointment to the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Bob's visit marked an historic first for the tiny FIBA Oceania office, with Bob being the first FIBA President to attend the office in Coffs Harbour.
Bob’s trip was primarily a congratulatory visit to former FIBA Oceania Secretary General and President Al Ramsay, who has become the first Australian to be inducted into the FIBA (World) Hall of Fame. Ramsay will receive this world-recognised award in 2010 at the Men’s World Championships in Turkey.
This honour is in recognition of Ramsay’s 40 year involvement with basketball in the Oceania region, firstly through his volunteer work as Secretary of Basketball NSW and Basketball Australia and then as Secretary General of FIBA Oceania.
A Coffs resident for over 30 years, Al Ramsay was the driving force behind FIBA World’s acceptance of Oceania as the 5th world zone, which came about at the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968. Ramsay saw that an Oceania zone would provide a direct qualification for his beloved Australian national teams to the FIBA World Championships and Olympic Games, while at the same time, provide opportunities to develop basketball in the Pacific Island nations of the zone.
From 1968 Ramsay set about unearthing funding from numerous sources, organized tournaments, championships and FIBA qualification events, as well as developed coaching, refereeing and administration courses throughout the zone, a position he maintained until 1997.
FIBA President, Bob Elphinston, was in fact one of a select group of Australian basketball experts that Ramsay recruited and sent to numerous Pacific Island countries to assist with their development. Since those early days, Elphinston has reached the pinnacle of sports administration, culminating in being appointed General Manager of the Sydney Olympic Games. Bob’s role at Sydney involved the management of staff, facilities and competition for the entire Olympics Game program. Since then Bob has been a consultant to the Beijing and London Olympic Games Committees, as well as numerous bid cities and is also a member of the IOC’s Evaluation Commission for Beijing and London.
While in Coffs Harbour, Elphinston will spend time in the FIBA Oceania office, discussing current and future plans for the organisation.
