Joey Wright
July 23, 2020
Reg Biddings
- Nationality: USA
- Date of Birth:
- Place of Birth: New York, New York (USA)
- Position: FRD
- Height (CM): 200
- Weight (KG): #N/A
- Junior Assoc:
- College: SUNY Oneonta (1976–1977) / SUNY Orange (1977–1978) / USAO (1979–1981)
- NBL DEBUT: 14/02/81
- AGE AT DEBUT: 0
- LAST NBL GAME: 25/06/83
- NBL History: Forestville 1981 | Adelaide City 1982 | St Kilda 1983
- Championships: 0
- None
BIO: Biddings grew up in the Catskill Mountains in New York and attended Liberty High School in Liberty, New York where he scored 1,134 points playing for the school’s basketball team.
Attending the University of Oklahoma, Biddings was named Eastern Athletic Conference “Rookie of the Year” and later that year was part of a two-month tour of Australia and Tahiti in 1980 with a travelling team called the Oklahoma All Stars.
Biddings dropped out of university in 1981 citing racial problems on campus and decided to return to Australia, visiting friends he had stayed with during his time in Adelaide. Once there Biddings, who rocked a gold tooth during his playing days, was then spotted “shooting around at the local stadium” and offered a contract to play with the Forestville Eagles for the 1981 NBL season.
Biddings was one of the original stars of the NBL, turning heads throughout Adelaide in the early 1980’s, driving around in a Rolls Royce which had the personalised license plate “Sir Reg” and wearing more gold chains, rings and bracelets than most women of the time.
FAMILY: Biddings’ daughter, Carla Dziwoki, played netball in the ANZ Championship.
NBL EXPERIENCE
Reg Biddings made his NBL debut with the Forestville Eagles on 14/2/1981. He scored 24 points in his first game.
In Biddings debut NBL season, he averaged 28 points per game as the Eagles finished with a 6-16 record. This included his 63-point outing, which is still the highest scoring game in a 40 minute NBL game. That night, the fun-loving Biddings racked up 45 points for Forestville in the first half of a 98-90 win over Bankstown before finishing the night on 63.
ADELAIDE CITY EAGLES
1982
After the demise of the Forestville Eagles at the end of the 1981 NBL season had left the West Adelaide Bearcats as Adelaide’s only representative in the NBL, the Basketball Association of South Australia formed a composite team representing all the state league team’s (not the Bearcats). This team was known as the Adelaide City Eagles when they joined the NBL in 1982.
Mike Osborne was appointed coach and Chris Stirling (6.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists) named team captain. Along with rival club West Adelaide, the Eagles played out of the 3,000 seat Apollo Stadium, notching up a 15-11 record but failed to make the playoffs. Import Reg Biddings (30.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists) led the league in both scoring and free throw shooting (88.3%).
ST KILDA PUMAS
1983
The 1983 season saw Biddings (13.8 points, 3 rebounds, and 0.9 assists) led the league in free throw shooting for a second consecutive year (86%) and helped the Saints finish in eighth place (12-10) during the regular season.
Reg Biddings played three seasons across three NBL teams. This included the Forestville Eagles, Adelaide City Eagles and St Kilda Pumas. He averaged 23.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 72 NBL games.
NBL TOTAL STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 0 | St Kilda | 12-10 (8) | 24 | 0 | 330 | 72 | 22 | 35 | 37 | 28 | 11 | 47 | 65 | 125 | 256 | 49% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 80 | 92 | 87% | 55% | 49% | 34 |
| 1982 | 0 | Adelaide City | 15-11 (7) | 26 | 0 | 782 | 193 | 45 | 66 | 127 | 0 | 0 | 76 | 90 | 300 | 635 | 47% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 182 | 206 | 88% | 53% | 47% | 46 |
| 1981 | 0 | Forestville | 6-16 (12) | 22 | 0 | 615 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 81 | 238 | 476 | 50% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 139 | 184 | 76% | 55% | 50% | 63 | Totals | 72 | 0 | 1727 | 265 | 67 | 101 | 164 | 28 | 11 | 123 | 236 | 663 | 1367 | 48.5% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 401 | 482 | 83.2% | 55% | 49% | 63 |
NBL PER GAME STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 0 | St Kilda | 12-10 (8) | 24 | 0.0 | 13.8 | 3.0 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 5.2 | 10.7 | 49% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 3.3 | 3.8 | 87% | 55.1% | 49% | 34 |
| 1982 | 0 | Adelaide City | 15-11 (7) | 26 | 0.0 | 30.1 | 7.4 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 11.5 | 24.4 | 47% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 7.0 | 7.9 | 88% | 53.4% | 47% | 46 |
| 1981 | 0 | Forestville | 6-16 (12) | 22 | 0.0 | 28.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.7 | 10.8 | 21.6 | 50% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 6.3 | 8.4 | 76% | 54.6% | 50% | 63 | Total | 72 | 0.0 | 24.0 | 3.7 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 2.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 9.2 | 19.0 | 48.5% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% | 83.2% | 55% | 49% | 63 |
CAREER HIGHS
| POINTS | REBOUNDS | ASSISTS | STEALS | BLOCKS | TURNOVERS | TRIPLE DOUBLES | 63 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
|---|
STATE LEAGUE EXPERIENCE
- Forestville 1981 | Broadmeadows 1984-85
Reggie won the Woollacott Medal in 1981 as South Australias fairest and most brilliant player.
Biddings averaged 43 points per game for the Broadmeadows Broncos in 1984 which was a new state league record.
In 1985 he set a single game record of 62-points game against Manly (only to see Bulleen Boomers Ray Shirley break it a few weeks later with a 69-point haul).
COLLEGE
Biddings played college basketball for SUNY Oneonta during the 1976–77 season, suiting up for the Red Dragons on the roster that reached the 1977 NCAA Division III national championship game under head coach Don Flewelling.
During that 1976–77 postseason run, Oneonta advanced through the NCAA Division III East Region by beating Stony Brook 71–65, edging Albany State 47–46, and then winning at Boston State 72–61 to reach the national semifinals.
At the NCAA Division III finals site, Oneonta defeated Hamline 61–56 to move into the title game, where the Red Dragons finished as national runners-up after a 79–66 loss to Wittenberg.
After Oneonta, Biddings attended SUNY Orange for the 1977–78 season, where he earned NJCAA recognition as a Second Team All-American while playing at Orange County Community College.
Biddings later played for the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) across the 1979–1981 period, and he was on the Drovers’ 1979–80 team that carried a 21–10 record at one point in the season while competing in Sooner Athletic Conference play under head coach Gene Davis.
In USAO’s 1979–80 campaign, Biddings produced multiple documented scoring performances against Cameron University, including 23 points in their first meeting on November 24, 33 points five days later in the second encounter, and 21 points in a January 21 game, and he later scored 27 points against Cameron by going 10-for-16 from the field and 7-for-7 at the free-throw line.
He also posted a 22-point outing in conference action against Phillips, shooting 8-for-9 from the field and 6-for-8 from the line while adding 9 rebounds, and in another reported game he finished as USAO’s high scorer with 21 points as the Drovers tried to close late after trailing most of the night.
AWARDS
- 1x NBL Leading Scorer
LIFE AFTER BASKETBALL
Biddings moved to Mackay, Queensland, after his playing career and became known throughout the region for his CarBq - a car converted into a portable barbeque that was used to help raise funds for his charitable causes. He owned clothing shops, marketing firms and nightclubs. Biddings unsuccessfully applied to introduce a new team, the Gold Coast Honeys, into the Women's National Basketball League in 2008.Biddings died of colon cancer on July 18, 2017, aged 59. He lived in Moranbah, Queensland, with his wife at the time of his death. Biddings' farewell service was held at the Carrara Stadium basketball courts.
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