BIO: Ken Richardson was born in Zanesville, Ohio (USA).

A player with great vision, from growing up in Ohio, he also had the skills to be a expert tracker. He could always tell where people had walked in the bush, a skill which made him invaluable in Vietnam as a soldier leading men into battle when he and his team weren’t being dropped into the surrounds of the Ho Chi Minh Trail to report back on enemy advances.

Richardson was the last and best of the great 70s imports, handing the baton on after helping to establish the NBL as the competition it still is today in its 35th year.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Ken Richardson made his NBL debut with the West Adelaide Bearcats at 28 years of age. He scored 32 points in his first game.

Richardson would play his entire NBL career as a player/coach for West Adelaide. During the league’s first season, Richardson averaged 26.2 points for the West Adelaide Bearcats to lead the team in scoring (second behind Brisbane’s Cal Bruton) and earned the league’s first Most Valuable Player award.

The Bearcats finished with a record of 12-6 and in fourth place, however, the first champions of the national league would be decided in a Grand Final match played between only the first and second team’s ranked team’s. This saw St Kilda (1st) defeating Canberra (2nd), 94 to 93.

1980
In 1980, Richardson averaged 23.5 points as the Bearcats finished with a record of 17-5 and in second place during the regular season.

1981
After losing to St Kilda and the team’s superstar import Rocky Smith in Grand Final by a significant margin, Richardson noted he needed to find a player to counter him. This resulted in New York guard Al Green making his way to Australia to play for the Bearcats.

West Adelaide started the season with a surprise loss to Forestville Eagles (74-94), which would be the only loss the Bearcats suffered at home this season.

Green (26.0 points per game) was forced to quickly become the primary focus of West Adelaide’s offence when player/coach Richardson (14.8 points per game) suffered a season-ending injury after just four games. Rick Hodges (13.4 ppg) and Peter Ali (13.1 ppg) were relied upon to fill the gap left by Richardson, who remained with the team in the role of head coach.

Although nearly unbeatable at home, West Adelaide struggled to win on the road (3-8) and finished the year in third place with 13 wins and 9 losses.

Ray Wood (13.2 points) went on to win this season’s Best Defensive Player award, while Green earned a spot on the All-NBL First team.

In 1981, the playoff format saw a single elimination semi-final propel the winners into a one game decider for the championship. Despite the tournament being held in Adelaide’s Apollo Stadium, the Bearcats’ season would end with a loss to the Nunawading Spectres in the semi-final (71-74).

1982
Bolstering the squad prior to the 1982 NBL season, player-coach Ken Richardson recruited Leroy Loggins from the Brisbane Bullets and added him to the team’s already impressive roster. This season the Bearcats would start Loggins (25 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists), fellow import Al Green (26.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.4 assists), Australian Boomers veterans Peter Ali (8.1 points and 3.5 rebounds) and Ray Wood (8.2 points and 2.1 assists) and young centre Brad Dalton (8.5 points and 6.8 rebounds) with Richardson (14.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists while shooting 58.8% from the field) coming off the bench.

Behind a MVP season from Green, the Bearcats finished the season with a 21-5 record, blitzing the competition, averaging 97.1 ppg as a squad and allowing opponents only 83.7 ppg (a winning differential of 13.4 ppg).

Behind stars Ken Richardson and Leroy Loggins, West Adelaide would dispose of Coburg (94-74) in the semi-final, setting up a NBL NBL Grand Final against the Geelong Supercats, led by player-coach Cal Bruton.

The grand final would be played at the neutral venue of Broadmeadow Basketball Stadium (Newcastle), which West Adelaide entered as the clear favourites. Of the Bearcats’ fives losses that year, two had been by one point and another by two points, and in addition to this, West Adelaide had thrashed Geelong by 29 points at Apollo Stadium during the last round of the season.

West Adelaide would resist a courageous second-half challenge by Geelong to win the Grand Final 80-74. Although no NBL Grand Final MVP was named in 1982, Loggins was named player of the match, being the game’s top scorer with 32 points.

West’s 1982 NBL title is the only one to include three league MVPs, Richardson the inaugural winner of the outstanding individual player award in 1979, Green (1982) and Loggins (1984 and 1986-87).

Ken Richardson played four seasons the West Adelaide Bearcats. He averaged 20.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in 71 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (829 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.