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THE FORMATIVE YEARS
East Perth's history goes back to the formation of a Western Australian Basketball Association in 1946 - 47
As a founding member of that Association, we have a proud history - not only of on - court achievements, but in initiative and innovative, decisive planning that has helped establish guidelines for current basketball developments
Originally known as the YCW - Highgate Basketball Club in 1946 - 47, and then as the Highgate Basketball Club from 1948, our teams were highly successful from the outset, and contested many finals
Premiership success eluded the Club for the first ten years, but in the years afterwards, a total of 35 Premierships were won at various levels of Western Australian basketball
The Club's teams were also highly sought after by country centres to provide exhibition games against aspiring local players. The Highgate club's motto was "Ask and we will come !", illustrating the Club's progressive and innovative outlook towards the development of basketball in Western Autralia
LET'S NOT FORGET THE WOMEN
In 1956, along with YMCA ( Perth ), Highgate was a founding member of the Women's Division of the Western Australian Basketball Association
In the women's competition the Eagles won four consecutive Premierships ( 1977 - 1980 inclusive ), a feat that has not been repeated in District or SBL basketball to date. Meanwhile, the Men's team has won three Premierships ( 1980, 1983 and 1988 ), whilst contesting the play - off rounds most seasons
Web Master's note : What is not generally recognised is that the women's team contested six consecutive Grand Finals from 1976 - 1981 and fell short of winning their fifth consecutive Grand Final by only 4 points
Highgate teams contested more Grand Finals than any other Club and provided a wealth of talent for State representative teams in the formative years, and in one season, six players from the Club were chosen in the Western Australian Women's team
INNOVATIONS
Highgate Coaches led the way with innovative coaching methods, many of which are still in widespread use throughout local basketball today, and in 1959, the Club pioneered the use of statistics in WA basketball through a system devised by the late Ron Matulich, demonstrating an early awareness of international trends within the game, and the value of this now universally - utilised and highly useful tool
Our first statistician was James ( Jim ) Gillam, who recorded statistics for the entire 1959 season
In 1963 Jim and Laura Gillam ran Western Australia's first basketball - specific shop and in 1964 the Club conducted the very first Junior Coaching Camp at Point Peron - this was the forerunner to the now regular, on - going Junior Camps conducted by most Clubs and Associations throughout the state
In 1970 the Highgate Men's team attended the Australian Club Championships in the Eastern States, thus becoming the first Western Australian Club to participate in what was to eventually become the National Basketball League ( NBL ) as we now know it
THE BIRTH OF EAST PERTH
The Highgate Basketball club was given the task of combining all of the Basketball Clubs in the East Perth Football Club's broad catchment area to form a 'District' Club in 1972. This organisation was initially known as the North Eastern Suburbs Basketball Association, or NESBA, but changed the name in 1975 to East Perth District Basketball Association to more accurately reflect the Club's origins and the area represented
The Club pioneered the concept of 'foreign' players in the local 'District' competition in the early 1970's with the successful big and small man import combination that is now the vogue in most top - level basketball competitions in the country. The difference in this case however, was that neither of these foreign players were American : our 'big' man was a 6' 11" Italian and our 'small' import was a 5' 11" Englishman
Web Masters note : the Eagles' multi - national make up continues today, and is making headlines in the local newspapers as per the article in the 'West Australian' newspaper, Monday 25th May, 1998
The early to mid 1980's saw the Eagles extend their International recruiting to the womens' arena, with the arrival of two American imports
STATE AND INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATION
Over the years the Club has provided many State players, Coaches, Referees and Manager / Manageresses
On the International scene, Laura Gillam was our first international representative, attending the World Series in Prague, Czechoslovakia as Assistant Team Manager in 1966, whilst on the playing front we had Lyn Giles in the late 1970's
Prior to Australian Women's teams actually undertaking tours to compete in international tournaments, Jaqui Cooley and Lorraine Moreton were selected in Australian 'paper' teams
Later, Eric Watterson was selected in the national Under 20 team whilst on an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship
Our latest graduate to the International arena, Adrian Majstrovich, who has been at the Australian Institute of Sport since 1997, recently played a pivotal role in Australia's success in the Mens Under 20 World Championships held in Germany
IMPACT ON WA BASKETBALL
As an indication of the immense impact Highgate / East Perth people have had on Western Australian basketball, six of the first 15 Life Members of the Western Australian Basketball Federation, were from our Club
Life Members to date are : Jim Gillam, Laura Gillam, Ron Matulich, George Adams, Alec Calander, Bob Kidner, Brian Spurge
Basketball WA also presents the Gillam Trophy, which was donated by the Gillam Family in 1974, in recognition of the Champion Association in the WABL competition
As points are awarded for the number of teams entered in the competition and are deducted for forfeits or team withdrawals during the season, the Champion Association is often the organisation that does the most for the game of basketball during the season
Full details are outlined in an early edition of the SBL / WABL 'Results Service' publication which is forwarded to Associations at the end of each completed round of fixtures
THE MODERN ERA
The Highgate / East Perth influence is still felt throughout Western Australian basketball circles, with many of our ex - members still being actively involved with many of the local Associations, WABL and SBL teams to this day
Many players in the early Perth Wildcats teams (then known as the 'Westate' Wildcats) were from East Perth, the most notable being Eric Watterson
The Eagles are a founder member of Basketball WA's State Basketball League (SBL), which is recognised as one of the Premier leagues in Australian Basketball
Please click HERE
to be transported to the
East Perth District Basketball Association Junior Competition Web Site
