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Former Hobart Devils and Wellington Saints legend Kenny McFadden dies aged 61

New Zealand basketball great Kenny McFadden, who has died, aged 61.

McFadden, who had battled polycystic kidney disease for the past five to six years, blazed a trail for American imports in New Zealand basketball and also spent a season with the Hobart Devils in 1992.

McFadden led his beloved Wellington Saints to repeated NBL glory in the mid to late 1980s before playing a short stint in the NBL under then player-coach Cal Bruton. The Devils struggled to earn wins in those days and after only three games, where he averaged 20 points, 3 rebounds and 7.3 assists, he was replaced with replaced by former league MVP Joe Hurst.

McFadden later went on to help develop a young talent named Steven Adams as a junior in Wellington, who would go on to become New Zealand’s best basketball player ever, an established NBA star, who currently plays for the Memphis Grizzlies.

McFadden arrived in New Zealand in 1982 from his hometown of East Lansing, Michigan, via Washington State University. He led the Saints to championships in 1984, ’85, ’87 and ’88.

He finished his NBL playing career with four titles with the Saints having played 252 NBL games and scored more than 5,000 points, finishing with a career average of 20 per game.

His No 5 jersey was retired in his honour – and now hangs from their clubroom rafters in recognition of his incredible career.

In addition to championship success, McFadden was also a two-time scoring champion, a three-time assist champion and last year was named the second-greatest NBL player of all time.

Following his retirement in 1996, McFadden became heavily involved with junior player development, founding his own hoops academy in Wellington as well as coaching the Junior Tall Blacks to the under-19 world championships in 2009.

In 2010 and 2011, he served as an assistant coach for the Saints under coach current Tall Blacks coach Pero Cameron, returning to the role in 2019 under coach Paul Henare.

It was through these coach opportunities that he met Adams, and he went on to play a key role in the Kiwi’s miraculous rise to the top of the basketball world with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies.

McFadden first took Adams under his wing as a 14-year-old who had been shifted by an elder sibling to the capital from Rotorua in order to get his life back on track. The rest is history, with Adams now known as New Zealand’s greatest basketball player ever.

McFadden was rushed to hospital in 2017 with acute respiratory failure and while he managed to pull through following a night of “extreme medical intervention”, he was subsequently diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder.

 

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Jordan Mills, former player and general manager of the Wellington Saints, had known McFadden “since I can remember” when his father, Nick Mills brought him to Wellington from Washington State University in 1982.

“He was the first-ever Saints import and the greatest ever Saints import,” Mills said.

McFadden immediately boosted the then Exchequer Saints team, propelling them to four national titles, Mills said.

“He took a struggling franchise and, in his first season, they won the second division and got promoted to the national league, they lost in the final in 83 and in 84 they won their first national title,” Mills said.

The team would go on to win the national titles in 1985, 1987 and 1988 with McFadden’s assistance either on the court or in a coaching capacity while injured.

“He was the heartbeat of all those championships,” Mills said.

Mills said he found it hard to put into words McFadden’s impact on the team and the game in New Zealand.

“He was an icon of our club and our sport but also an icon of the community. He could just connect to anyone, regardless of race, religion or gender he was able to get through to them.’’

In his work as a coach and mentor McFadden furthered the careers of Adams and Dion Prewster but Jordan Mills said his work with young players was also hugely important.

“There’s tens of thousands of kids whose hearts he’s touched and he’s helped send hundreds of kids to America on scholarships.”

Mills said he’d taken his nephew to McFadden’s Hoop Club six months ago and the experience had fired the young boy’s excitement for the game.

“He’s been back every week since. [McFadden] had an ability like I’ve never seen. He could enthuse any age of player about basketball.’’

 

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