The phrase “an ornament to the game” could have been coined with Tamworth’s Patrick Hunt in mind, who will soon be the only coach recognised in the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame.
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For over four decades, Hunt has nurtured the best Australian players, coaches and officials and guided them towards unparalleled success on the domestic and international stages including Olympic Games, World Championships and World University Games.
Hunt began his basketball journey with the Thunderbolts, playing and coaching with the junior and senior programs.
Within a few years, Hunt was leading NSW state representative teams to national championships before lending his talents as Head Coach to the Canberra Cannons NBL club in 1981.
When Hall of Fame member Dr. Adrian Hurley was appointed the inaugural director of the Australian Institute of Sport’s basketball program in that same year, his first decision was to recruit Hunt to the AIS as his assistant.
There, Hunt led the AIS men’s program from 1983-1992.
Representing Australia, he coached over 350 international games and took teams to two World Junior Men’s Championships as Assistant Coach and two World Junior Championships as Head Coach while also leading Australia at two World University Games as Head Coach.
Integral in the development of the ‘Australian way’ of both playing and coaching basketball, modern champions including Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor, Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova would not be where they are today without Hunt’s unstinting efforts at the AIS.
While continuing to devote his time to the AIS, Hunt became an assistant coach to the Australian Boomers in 1989.
He participated in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 where Australia finished sixth and was then a member of the scouting panel for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games where the Boomers equalled their best ever result with a fourth-placed finish.
Hunt continued to be based out of the AIS as the Manager of National Player and Coach Development for Basketball Australia and Head Coach of the National Intensive Training Centre Program from 1993-2008.
Engaged by FIBA to scout and identify international trends and styles of play, Hunt worked at the 2006 and 2010 World Championships and 2016 Rio Olympic Games and on behalf of FIBA Oceania.
Hunt is recognised as one of the finest educators the game of basketball has known and in 2009, he was appointed to the new position at the AIS of Applied Technical Advancement Coach.
Hunt continues to strive to develop the game of basketball on a national and International scale as the current President of the FIBA World Association of Basketball Coaches and the Chair of the FIBA Technical Commission.
In addition to his Australian Basketball Hall of Fame induction, Hunt was appointed as a Member of The Order of Australia, AM, for significant and outstanding service to Basketball, particularly as a coach, in the 1995 Australia Day Honours.
He was also awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and more recently, was conferred with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.