Heritage Round... 1999 Champions.

Back at the start of 1999 VBL season, the Ringwood Hawks men’s team were not considered to be a serious finals contender. They had a new rookie Coach, Ken Harrington, who retired as a player and took the reigns from Club Legend John Walsh and a couple of veteran players. The rest of the roster was mostly youngsters.

 

To help keep the Hawks competitive, Harrington scoured the USA College scene and eventually found a 6’3 scoring machine who was hidden at Northern State University in South Dakota. Ryan Miller was signed and joined the Hawks in Late February for some pre-season preparations. Miller joined a roster that featured a quickly developing Damien Smith, veteran leadership from Steve Harris and Phil Walsh, and some incredibly exciting youngsters like Simon Lilley, Ben Quick, Jason Eversteyn and Mark Eversteyn.

 

The season started with the Hawks struggling to put streaks of wins together, they looked good at times but against the top teams in the League, the Hawks looked to be one star short. Enter 6’8 Forward Mark Rich. It was a chilly Saturday morning when Ryan Miller informed Harrington that one of his College team mates was on an Aussie Basketball tour watching his brothers Montana State team play. It took a few days but eventually the Hawks were able to contact Rich and soon he was on a bus from Sydney to Melbourne. The Hawks now looked like a team that had to be taken seriously.

 

The Hawks finished the season strong and headed to the play-offs but the journey would be a tough one. Week two of the playoffs had the Hawks heading to Shepparton to face a Gators team that finished on top. The Gators were led to import Ryan Pepper (Father of Elijah Pepper) and started the game on fire. The Gators led by 22 at the half and their 1500 strong crowd was going nuts. Miller and Rich caught fire in the second half, Rich in particular was incredible nailing 3 after 3 and the Hawks pulled out an unlikely road win. The Gators coach was fired after the game.

 

The win sent the Hawks back on the road to a Bobby Cunningham led Warrnambool Seahawks. Another massive local crowd made the Hawks life difficult but the game would be a classic. It went to double overtime with Miller, Rich and Smith all on fire but the hero was Steve Harris who hit a big 3 on the buzzer to save the day. The 3 ball was Harris only field goal of the game.

 

The VBL Grand Final was a best of 3 series and the Hawks would face the Blackburn Vikings who had put together a team of former SEABL players and great perimeter shooters. Game one at Blackburn though was a Hawks domination with Smith in dominating form and the Eversteyn brothers stepping up. Game two was back at the Rings and the Vikings took a different approach. They increased their physicality and the Hawks did not react well. Smith was tossed out of the game and pretty quickly we had a game 3 to decide it.

 

The Hawks were better prepared for game 3 and it was a typical Grand Final battle with plenty of physicality. Miller (33 points) and Rich (23 points and 14 rebounds) kept the scoreboard ticking over but Jason Eversteyn was great with 7 blocks as was Harris with an impressive 10 assists. The Hawks won 89 to 77 and secured the Clubs first ever senior State Championship.

 

THE TEAM

Ben Quick, Damien Smith, Jason Eversteyn, Stephen Harris, Mark Eversteyn, Phil Walsh, Steve Dawson, Simon Lilley, Nathan O’Doherty Campbell, Ryan Miller, Mark Rich, Bruce Blair. Head Coach Ken Harrington Assistant Coaches Duncan McFarlane and Brett Weegberg and Team Manager Barry Lilley.

 

League MVP Ryan Miller Finals MVP Mark Rich

 

Coming Up Friday… 2015 Hawks Women’s Championship