Payson Roundup

After talking with new head coach Jared Swanson, who formerly played professional basketball in Australia, I was curious if there were any native born players from Down Under who played collegiately or professionally in the United States.

The first to come to mind was Michele Timms who starred for the Phoenix Mercury before retiring in 2001.

Timms also played for the Australian team that won a bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics.

I’m told that in her native country she is considered to be Australia’s greatest-ever female player.

The next Aussie I thought of was 7-foot Andrew Bogut who played at the University of Utah where he was an All-American and Player of the Year.

Bogut was drafted first overall in 2005 by the Milwaukee Bucks and after his first season was named to the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team.

Stories are Bogut was cut from the Victoria junior team as a 15-year-old. That drove him to improve his game and attend the Australian Institute of Sport.

While Timms and Bogut are probably the two most famous Aussie basketball players, who in Arizona can forget Luc Longley?

He played at New Mexico, was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves and later traded to the Chicago Bulls where he was a member of three consecutive championship teams. The Bulls later traded Longley to the Phoenix Suns where he had two very forgettable seasons.

Basketball buffs with really good memories will recall Aussie Andrew Gaze led Seton Hall to the 1989 NCAA finals where the school lost to Michigan in overtime. Gaze never played much in the NBA, but thrived in his home country’s National Basketball League.

There are also several other Australians who have excelled in the sport including Shane Heal, Chris Anstey, Luke Schenscher and Ricky Grace.

Although Australians haven’t enjoyed the success in pro basketball that Europeans have, their presence on NBA rosters proves that the NBA has truly become an international sport.

Many of them are among the league’s best — Ginobili, Parker, Dirk, Yao and Phoenix’s Steve Nash.

Elks golf tourney 

Payson Elks Lodge social welfare chairman Becky Waer, also the librarian in Pine, estimates Arizona’s BPOE clubs gave out more than $120,000 worth of clothing to children in need last year.

The money to purchase the much-needed clothing was earned at various benefits including the Clothe-A Child benefit golf tournament held annually at Payson Golf Course.

This year, the tournament will be played Aug. 1.

“This is such a worthy cause, we want everyone to get involved,” Waer said. “The children need our help.”

Check-in is 7 a.m. and an hour later the fray gets off with a shotgun start. The format is four-man teams of best-ball play, but golfers who do not have a team will be assigned one.

The fee is $80 per golfer, $65 for members of PGC, which includes 18 holes of play with a cart, lunch, raffle prizes and awards for closest-to-the-pin and longest drive.

The evening of the tournament, a dinner, cocktail hour, silent auction, music and dancing will be held at Payson Elks Lodge #2154.

An Aug. 2 morning breakfast will also be served from 7 to 10 a.m. at the lodge. For those who don’t golf, there will also be plenty of activities going on at the lodge including bingo from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Reservations must be made by the deadline on July 18.

“Reserve early don’t wait,” Waer urges.

Entry forms are available at the Elks Lodge, located at 1206 N. Beeline Highway. For more information, call Waer at (928) 476-3678 or the lodge at (928) 474-2572.

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