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.

Formed in 1982 as the Westate Wildcats, the team became the first, and so far only, Western Australian squad to compete in the NBL. The team played out of Perry Lakes Basketball Stadium under their first head coach Henry Daigle. Daigle recruited the majority of the inaugural squad from the East Perth Eagles, Stirling Senators and Perth Redbacks.

The team made their debut in front of 900 fans, losing to the Geelong Cats (74-105). Mike Ellis (15.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game) was appointed team captain while imports Billy Keys (16.6 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists) and Tim Evans (20.7 points, 5 rebounds and 3.5 assists), who took home the club’s first MVP award at the end of the year, led the team in scoring.

Perth’s first year in the league saw the team struggle against the more established teams in the league, ending their first season in tenth place (10–16).

In his first season in the NBL, Ellis averaged 7.5 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game.

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 Wildcats first ten games, until he saw his season cut short due to injury and was replaced by Bob Witts (17.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists). Captain Mike Ellis (15.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists) 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 immediately. With new head coach Lynn Massey now guiding the squad, Perth finished on the bottom of the ladder (16th) with only three wins. Captain Mike Ellis (19.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 3.4 steals per game) was voted as the club’s MVP for the second time and import Craig Fitzsimmons (19.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game), who had been playing in the state league since his former NBL team the Forestville Eagles exited the league and Jeff Fagan (16.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists, and 1.3 steals) led the team offensively.

Glenn Ellis averaged 9.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists across XX games 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 opponenents on the road, however, they quickly fell back to earth and sat on 4 wins and 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, while Perth finished with a 13–13 record, which at the time, was the best result in franchise history.

1986
The Wildcats had retained almost their entire roster and looked to improve on their 13-win season, which had set a club record. The only changes being Glen Dunsmore and Robbie Dempster being replaced with local guard guard Trevor Torrance and 29-year-old Alan Black (via 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) and Glenn Ellis also contributing 2.9 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists.

1987
Many changes occurred in 1987. Most significantly, 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). The Superdrome was capable of housing 5,000 people, compared to the 800-seat Perry Lakes Stadium. New owner Bob Williams moved quickly in turning the Wildcats’ basketcase to contenders, a team who, at that point, had never had a winning season. His first move was to recruit Cal Bruton as player/coach and provide him with a budget to ‘build me a team’, which Bruton set to work on immediately.

Bruton recruited star imports James Crawford (Canberra) and Kendal Pinder (Sydney), who would become one of the league’s best frontcourt duos. Bruton also bought a professionalism to the team demanded by their new owner. For example, the players wore suits with the teams’ logo in public.

The new talent paid off immediately as the Wildcats’ recorded their best season to date.

While Bruton (16.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.6 steals) juggled the role of player/coach, he also led the team in assists. Alongside him, the ‘rim rocking’ Crawford (33.4 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.9 steals and 2.3 blocks) would lead the team in scoring, steals and blocks while leading the league in field goal percentage (61%). Let’s just say once the ‘Alabama Slamma’ arrived in Perth, getting an 4,200 basketball fans into the stadium was ‘easy work’. This season included Crawford’s 57 points against the Tigers, which remains the highest score ever by a Perth Wildcats player. Pinder (23.5 points, 13.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.4 steals) would lead the team in rebounds, and captain Mike Ellis (9.4 points, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals) defended the best guard on every opposition team. Ellis also contributed 1.9 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists as Perth finished the regular season in fourth place (19-7), reaching the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Crawford, who would be selected to the All-NBL First Team (his fourth selection), led Perth past Canberra in the elimination finals, Adelaide 36ers in the semifinals and despite having never made the playoffs, the Wildcats found themselves in the Grand Final series against Brisbane.

With the series featuring future Hall of Fame members on both squads and two coaches who couldn’t stand each other (Brian Kerle versus Cal Bruton), the Grand Final was can’t miss action.

Game one saw Perth’s ‘run, stun and have some fun’ style of play, which Bruton had implemented, outclassed by Brisbane’s solid fundamentals. In front of a sell-out home crowd, the Bullets defeated the Wildcat’s by just one point. Two days later, the series moved to Brisbane, where the Bullets continued their winning ways, taking home the championship in two games.

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 (823 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.