Mark Bragg

Mark Bragg was born in Townsville on 14 March 1956 and at a very young age he joined the junior basketball squad that was coached the legendary Charlie Doyle at Hermit Park State School.

As a Townsville representative junior player, Mark represented North Queensland at many inter-zone under age State Championships and he was selected to represent Queensland at the U16 (1970-1971) and U18 (1972-1973) Australian Championships.

In 1973 at the age of 17, Mark moved to Melbourne and joined the Melbourne Tigers. During the five years that he was in Melbourne, Mark gained a teaching degree and coached many junior basketball teams.

In 1978, Mark was invited home to Townsville to play for a Queensland All-Star team against the touring Czechoslovakia team who had played the Australian team in a test series. He was also invited to join the Australian Tattersalls Camp in Adelaide which, with two other camps, selected the Australian team.

Mark was appointed Queensland Basketball Director of Coaching in 1983 and he continued in that position until 1985. His was the creative mind behind the formation in 1985 of the Queensland Classics to expose more junior players to a higher standard of play and was instrumental in the establishment in 1986 of the Queensland State Basketball League for men and women.

In 1983-94 Mark played for the Brisbane Bullets in the NBL, playing 44 games and scoring 399 points. Mark played in the 1984 grand final where the Bullets lost 82-84 to the Canberra Cannons.

He moved back to Townsville and was the inaugural Townsville Suns coach in the Queensland Basketball League. He held this position from 1986 until 1992 as he prepared Townsville for entry into the NBL.

In the late 1980s Mark began campaigning to bring a National Basketball League franchise to the city in a project designed so young Townsville players could grow up, learn the game, and, if they were good enough, represent Townsville at a national level. The franchise adopted the name of Townsville's State League team, the Townsville Suns. The Suns' debuted in February 1993 with Mark as head coach, a position he held until 1998 for a total of 164 games.

Mark Bragg’s enormous contribution to basketball in Queensland continues today with the junior state championships and the Queensland Basketball League. Mark is a most worthy member of the Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2021.