Danny Morseu

A Torres Strait Islander, Danny Morseu was born on 7 September 1958 on Thursday Island.He started playing basketball at school and, despite being cut from his primary school team, he developed into a tall, talented teenage athlete. After completing school he moved to Cairns where he played basketball and rugby league.

In 1976, Danny played in the Queensland Under-20 team and in 1977, he was ‘discovered’ by St Kilda coach, Brian Kerle, and he moved to Melbourne to play with St Kilda. Such was Danny’s dramatic improvement from his move to Victoria and into its Under-20 team that he was selected in 1978 as a member of the Australian Men’s (Senior) team for the World Championship in the Philippines. That team contained also the young Larry Sengstock.

In 1979, Danny was a member of the St Kilda team to win the very first (Australian) NBL title, and which went on to win again in 1980. He played 217 NBL games in total, winning another NBL championship with the Brisbane Bullets in 1987. He was named in the NBL-All Star in 1980 and 1981 and, around that time, the then national men’s coach, Lindsay Gaze, described Danny as: “The closest player we have in Australia to being a (US) NBA player”.

In all, Danny represented Australia 47 times including:

• One World Championship in 1978 (a knee injury prevented his selection in 1982);
• Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984;
• Commonwealth Championship in 1983

Danny recalls from his appearance at his first Olympics in Moscow in 1980: “I was a starter in our first game against Cuba and the hair on the back of my neck stood up; I had goose bumps all over. The referee blew the whistle and it was history….I was the first Torres Strait Islander born in the Torres Strait to compete in the Olympic Games.”

Danny retired from international competition in 1984 and from the NBL in 1989, but continued to play locally in Brisbane. He was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and inducted into what is now the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001.

Danny went on to run a number of State and Federal programs involved with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sport. He continues this work today and now lives in Canberra.He is an uncle of Patty Mills and has mentored both him and Nathan Jawai in achieving their very successful international careers.

Danny Morseu: an outstanding Australian; his prodigious talent on and off the basketball court has earned the admiration of all those who have been part of his life and the game he loves. A most worthy member of the Class of 2016 of the Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame.