BIO: Glenn Ellis was born in Perth (WA) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Stirling basketball program.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Glenn Ellis made his NBL debut with the Perth Wildcats at 19 years of age. He scored four points in his first game.

Ellis debut, which was also the first game for the Perth Wildcats in the NBL resulted in a loss to the Geelong Cats 74-105, in front of 900 fans at Perry Lakes Basketball Stadium.

Entering the league in 1982 as the Westate Wildcats, the team became the first, and so far only, Western Australian team to compete in the NBL. The Wildcats’ first head coach was Henry Daigle, and the majority of the inaugural squad consisted of players from the East Perth Eagles, Stirling Senators and Perth Redbacks.

Mike Ellis, Glenn’s brother, was appointed team captain and Tim Evans (20.7 points, 5 rebounds and 3.5 assists) was awarded the first club MVP award, as he and Billy Keys (16.6 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists) led the team in scoring. Glenn also added 7.5 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game as the Wildcats finished in tenth place (10–16).

1983
In 1983, Gordon Ellis took over as Wildcats’ head coach and replaced import Billy Keys with Kelvin Small. Tim Evans (21.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists) led the team in scoring for the second straight year but saw his season cut short due to injury and was replaced by Bob Witts. Captain Mike Ellis averaged 15.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game and won the club’s MVP award while Glenn averaged 6.6 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game in the Wildcats’ second year in the NBL. The Westate Wildcats went on to finish thirteenth (6–16) during the regular season.

1984
In 1984, the Westate Wildcats were renamed to the Perth Wildcats, but success did not follow the name change with new head coach Lynn Massey guiding the team to a bottom of the ladder finish with only three wins. Captain Mike Ellis averaged 19.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 3.4 steals per game and won the club MVP for the second time. Ellis averaged 9.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists for the season.

1985
Jay Brehmer, who became the Wildcats’ fourth coach in four seasons, joined the team for the 1985 season and brought in a number of new faces. US imports Dan Clausen (via Adelaide) and Roland Brooks joined the team as well as local talent Adam Brennan and Sandy Caldwell, who would both play key roles as rookies. Perth began the season by winning their first three games in a row, taking a number of team’s by surprise in the process. Once the team began playing opponents on the road, however, the quickly fell back to earth and saw on 4 wins, 4 losses only a month later.

The team was led by Dan Clausen who racked up big numbers in every statistical category. He led the team in points (25.7 ppg), rebounds (15.7 rpg) and blocks (2.4 bpg) while ranking second in assists (3.4 apg), steals (1.4 spg), making him a clear choice for the club MVP award. Roland Brooks (23.2 points and 10.0 rebounds) and Mike Ellis (17.7 points and 6.0 assists) supported Clausen admirably but Perth’s inability to win outside of Western Australia (compiling a 4-9 record on away games) they finished the season in eighth place, falling well short of making the NBL playoffs. Ellis averaged 3.6 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists Over the course of the season, as Perth finished with a 13–13 record, which at the time, was the best record in franchise history.

1986

the Wildcats had retained almost their entire roster and looked to improve on last season where they had set a record for total wins (13). The only changes being Glen Dunsmore and Robbie Dempster being replaced with local guard guard Trevor Torrance and 29-year-old Alan Black from Nunawading.

Perth started the season with five wins and five losses before losing import Roland Brooks (18.7 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.3 steals) to a season-ending injury.

During the 1986 season, local businessman Bob Williams was invited to attend a game by the state government. Williams agreed and, after one game, liked what he saw and signed on as the club’s major sponsor. His company ‘Interstuct’ appeared across the front of the team’s uniform. At the end of the 1986 season, Bob Williams was called to a meeting by the WA state government. Williams was told that the WABF was bankrupt and that there was to be no Government assistance. Unless Bob Williams bought the licence from the state government, the Wildcats would cease to exist in the NBL. Williams left the meeting not only as the major sponsor but as the Wildcats, and the NBL’s first private owner and president of the WABF.

Losing Brooks, the team’s second leading scorer and rebounder, proved too much to recover from, resulting in Perth struggling to be competitive against the rest of the league and finishing in twelfth place (8–18).

The team was led by Dan Clausen (21.3 points, 14 rebounds, and 2.1 assists), captain Mike Ellis (16.2 points and 6.6 assists), newcomer Alan Black (12.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists) with Mike Ellis, also contributed 2.9 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists.

1987
The Wildcats underwent many changes this season, new owner Bob Williams was focused on turning the Wildcats’ who, at that point, had never had a winning season, into contenders. His first move was to recruit Cal Bruton as player/coach to bring a level of professionalism to the team. This saw Bruton mandate players to wear suits with the team’s’ logo in public as a example. Williams also provided him with a budget and the expectations to ‘build me a team’, which Bruton set to work on immediately.

Additionally, the team moved from the small confines of Perry Lakes Stadium to what was known in those days as the Perth Superdrome (now HBF Stadium) that season—presenting the task of having to fill a 5,000 seat stadium instead of a 800-seat stadium. To make sure that happened, they recruited James Crawford, who was coming off three straight All-NBL First Team seasons playing with the Geelong Supercats and Canberra Cannons and was sure to fill the building.

Let’s just say once the ‘Alabama Slamma’ arrived in WA, finding a extra 4,200 rapid basketball fans in Perth was ‘easy work’. Crawford filled the stands and the stat sheet that season, averaging 33.4 points (shooting 61% from the field), 11.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.9 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game, a season which sits second in all time in player efficiency rating. This season included Crawford’s 57 points against the Tigers, which remains the highest score ever by a Perth Wildcats player.

Bruton also paired Crawford with former Sydney Supersonics import Kendal Pinder, and together, the two would become the league’s best frontcourt tandem. In addition to Crawford’s brilliance, Pinder (23.5 points, 13.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.4 steals) led the team in rebounds and Bruton, while juggling the player/coach role, averaged 16.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.6 steals led the team in assists. Mike Ellis, who remained as team captain, averaged 9.4 points, 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals and Glenn Ellis, finished the season with averages of 1.9 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists.

In Crawford’s first year with the Wildcats, he earned his fourth (and last) All-NBL First Team selection, as the team finished fourth with a 19–7 record. This saw Perth make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Crawford, who also led the league in field goal percentage, was named to the All-NBL First Team before the team sliced through the Canberra Cannons in the elimination finals and first placed Adelaide 36ers in the semifinals. Perth, after never having made the playoffs, suddenly found themselves in the Grand Final series against the Brisbane Bullets.

the Wildcats were repeatedly referred to as the ‘Cinderella’ story as they entered the season, having finished in third-last position in 1986, only to go on to make the Grand Final. The ‘run, stun and have some fun’ style of play that had been implemented that season had worked wonders until the Grand Final series. The series was a promoter’s dream: East Coast versus West; solid fundamentals versus ‘run and gun’ – future Hall of Fame members on both sides on the floor; and two coaches who couldn’t stand each other (Brian Kerle versus Cal Bruton). The Bullets defeated the Wildcat’s by just one point in front of a sell-out Perth crowd in game one of the three-match series before claiming the Championship in Brisbane in game two a few days later.

Glenn Ellis played six seasons the Perth Wildcats. He averaged 5.7 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 116 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (798 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.