Peter Ali: From 'kicking and crying' to Hall of Fame

• South Australian Hall of Fame basketball player Peter Ali is a two-time NBL champion
• Ali was part of the creation of the Adelaide 36ers as we know them today
• Ali played for the Australian Boomers at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia

Forty years ago, Peter Ali and the late Barry Richardson had an idea — it change the face of Australian basketball then as it still does today.

“I was talking with a guy called Barry Richardson, who was the chief executive of Basketball South Australia at time,” Ali told basketball.com.au.

“I was working for Basketball SA (myself), and we were just generally brainstorming, and we sort of formulated the idea: 'why don’t we get the two teams to see if they could merge?'”

The two teams they were talking about were the West Adelaide Bearcats the Adelaide City Eagles, just newly minted as the Adelaide 36ers.

“And they sort of came together from that,” Ali said.

The West Adelaide Bearcats had won the NBL championship in 1982, captained by the 193cm Ali, while the 36ers missed the NBL playoffs in 1983, finishing 6th at 11–11 record, and against in ’84 with a 16-8 record.

The Bearcats in their four years in the league finished champions, second, third and fourth.

“The unfortunate part was that as the NBL got more successful, and players started to become more transient, it meant that being able to pay for players and the like became more difficult and like clubs today are still experiencing salary cap, being able to fit within the budget,” Ali added.

“West Adelaide was not immune from that as was the Adelaide City Eagles.

“West Adelaide and the other NBL team in Adelaide (the Eagles / 36ers) were getting about 500 people per game.

“West Adelaide was the equivalent of what Port Power is to Adelaide — or Port Adelaide — you either love them or you hate them.

“And the other mob were a mixture of the other seven or eight district clubs.

“The issue was the main nucleus of the team was from West Adelaide. So, you just look at the structure of the way in which it came through, I think West Adelaide was the thing the Adelaide City Eagles was missing and Adelaide City had what West Adelaide was missing.”

What was missing: Al Green; Ray Wood; Peter Ali; and head coach Ken Cole joining forces with rising stars Darryl Pearce and Mike McKay with a couple of imports, one by the name of Mark Davis.

“At West Adelaide, we always had that win-at-all-cost attitude — and we can win — no matter how much time is left on the clock," Ali declared.

“There’s never been a game where I’ve gone in thinking ‘we won’t win this’.

“Ever.

“Ever.

“It’s just a thing that I always believed, while there was ever a breath left in the clock, you can win.”

And so, in 1985 the Adelaide 36ers as we know them today were born.

“It was crazy because we had Ray (Wood) as well,” Ali added.

“And that was the best part — like, you had probably the two premier guards in the league at that time — Al Green and Ray Wood.

“That was really the smarts of how things were going.

“We started off with a guy, which was a West Adelaide guy, called Brian Devincenzi.

“Brian was magnificent dunker but didn’t have much more to his game at that point in time and (Mark) Davis came into the thing (five games into the season) and they matched up against each other … it was just obvious who was the better player, and who would give you more.

“They also brought in a recruit, a guy called Bill Jones, who was 6’9” or 6’10” — really good.

“Billy was great for boards and that mid-range jumper and back-to-the-basket stuff, just a nice person.”

The 1985 36ers were tough but lost to Ali’s former championship teammate Leroy Loggins and the Brisbane Bullets in the Grand Final in a 121-95 blow out.

“After our first year in ’85 we just didn’t quite make it, so they brought in (import) Dwayne Nelson the following year and in ’86 is when we won it.

“It was great. I think after we lost the grand final in ‘85, us all being in the bus after we lost the final, and we all committed at that stage to win next year’s championship.

“There was nothing that we would do that would get in the way of doing that.”

1986 NBL Champion Adelaide 36ers

The 36ers in 1986 were a juggernaut, finishing the season 24-2.

11,000 fans packed the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for Game 1 of the Grand Final on October 11, 1985, in what could easily be called the Mark Davis Game. Davis had 38 points, 23 rebounds and five assists winning 122-119 in overtime.

Apollo Stadium in Adelaide had a maximum capacity of 3000 and 3000 showed up for Game 2 on October 17, 1985, ready for a celebration. But Davis hurt his elbow early and … Brisbane Bullets guard Cal Bruton.

Bruton had 38 as the Bullets crushed the 36ers 104-83, ending Adelaide’s 20-game home winning streak at exactly the right time for them and at the worse time for the 36ers.

In Game 3 two days later, Ali went at Loggins – after years of physical practices against the silky small forward at West Adelaide – got the better of him. Loggins fouled out in frustration as the 36ers pulled away to win their first championship 113-91.

Davis had 22 points and 25 rebounds to win the series MVP.

It was a long way from when Ali first picked up a basketball to becoming a two-time NBL champion.

Where it all began

“I started when I was about five, I probably went there on my fifth birthday to the Westbourne Park Uniting Church and that was my first introduction to basketball, just loved it,” Ali said.

“Although the first day wasn't really all that good, I went kicking and crying because it was my birthday that day, so I wasn't really happy being there.

“But after that it went pretty well.

“I was lucky to sort of walk into the Forestville Basketball Stadium and later, West Adelaide were recruiting, so I was a West Adelaide Bearcat for the rest of my playing career.”

Peter Ali, the Olympian

The 18-year-old Ali was on his way in 1974.

“I tried out for what would have been 1976 Olympic team and missed out but learnt some valuable lessons from there and from there I just worked harder and smarter.

“I was fortunate enough to make the 1980 Olympic team.

“I learned from (the 1976 Olympic team try-outs) I needed to be stronger, faster and have a will to absolutely win at all costs and just not take shortcuts.

“My mindset wasn't right for that particular time.

“I just remember one of the first my first training session (for the Boomers) I was lining up against John Maddock, a great ball player for Melbourne Tigers and I'm guarding him a little bit too close and he let me know about it.

“It was one of those things that when you're an 18-year-old it makes you go re-evaluate what's going on.

Now that was a valuable lesson. I ended up with three stitches in my eyebrow.

“The following Olympics, my mind was set, absolutely committed to making that team.”

1980 Australian Men’s Olympic Games basketball team

Danny Morseau, Gordon McLeod, Ian Davies, Larry Sengstock, Les Riddle, Mel Dalgleish, Michael Tucker, Perry Crosswhite, Peter Ali, Peter Walsh, Phil Smyth, and Stephen Breheny. Head Coach: Lindsay Gaze.

The birth of the NBL

Before the Moscow Olympics in 1980, there was the first year of the NBL.

“It was great it was, just a fantastic competition to play and that's John Raschke,” Ali said.

“He had a vision about trying to bring together Australian basketball as an improve the standard of basketball and a lot of that is just coming down to playing consistent high-quality competition and to be playing the best in Australia on a weekly basis. It was fantastic.

“The other thing that happened is that training wise, we went from a couple of days a week to virtually almost five days a week of training and then the rest were playing games.”

As a junior basketballer, Ali admitted his career aspirations weren’t as lofty as his coaches and playing for Australia at the Olympic Games were slightly above his own – to play for South Australia.

“I recall the seed was sown, way back when I was playing under-14s.

“It was that the coach, the guy that had a great effect on my life as he did others, was a guy called Alan Hughes and Alan Dawe, Pete’s (Dawe) father also had a huge influence on my career.

But Hughesie would ask: ‘What do you want to get out of basketball? Where do you want to be?’

“I originally thought just state team and he said ‘Why aren’t you setting your sights higher? Why aren’t you looking for an Olympic team?’

“And with that he assisted me in getting focused

“Every time after that when you had to do an assignment for school that you had to write about what you want to do in your life — I’d always put in there: being an Olympic basketballer.

“So that theory of writing down your goals is true for me.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have really good coaching and mentoring throughout my junior career.

“A lot of it obviously through West Adelaide, and then later the 36ers.

“But every coach that I’ve had — I’ve always taken something from them.

“And I’ve been fortunate enough to have two really good coaches — Alan Hughes and Alan Dawe — that were instrumental and then followed it up with (Ken) Richardson and Cole — who were fantastic.”

Al Green scores 71

Ali was on the floor when Al Green scored 71 against Frankston in 1984 in a scoring spree never seen before in the NBL. Green in a month during the ’84 season averaged 51!

“That was an interesting game against Frankston,” Ali said.

“I remember we lost that game and so we weren’t happy about that.

“But I was I was pleased for how he was able to score those points, he was one of those.

“The opportunity was there for him to be able to do that and get him 71 and, you know, I said we lost the game so he's shitty about that but then you’re pleased as a teammate that he was able to achieve that milestone.”

The 1982 West Adelaide Bearcats Offense

And how was Al able to pour in 71 and average 51 for an entire month. Ali said it was the Bearcats offense geared towards its scorers.

The set also led to Ali taking the first shot in the 1982 Grand Final as Ali described it.

“It was a high post that went down into a low double low post and people came off that screen,” Ali explained.

“Then the guy cutting would either go off the high or off the low of the screen and (Brad) Dalton would normally flash into the middle and what they're working on, the theory, is someone would have to switch and someone would be free and that's normally what happened.

“The game’s played differently now so for us it was quite easy to run back then.

“I’m not sure that style of game would work in today's game way in which they defend.

“There's a little bit more space between defensive players and offensive players in certain parts and the three-point line, obviously.

“There was no three-point line (when we played).

“It was still a high scoring game in the 70- 80s (points) so, for no three-point line, that’s actually pretty good.

“And what I will say is, and this is the thing that I think is different about the game, we had higher percentage shooting I believe, than what they do now and that’s because of the range.

“With the three-point shooting (today) — 33 or 35 clip from the three-point line, that's fantastic. But it still means that you're missing 60-odd percent as opposed to making 50-60% of your shots, which means you're missing about 40.

“There was far more ball movement (in the 80s). If you look back when Geelong and us and all those teams —there was far more ball movement. Now with a 24-second shot clock, it’s near on impossible to get that. And that’s where I think the 30-second shot clock should be brought back.

“I think the 24-second shot clock has been the demise of basketball, to be quite honest.

“It’s all very good for the fans but I think that when you get a better shot selection with that extra pass.

“24 seconds will still be there in a little bit longer but that’s what you were trying to do (when we played) — you don’t have to take the first one.

“It’s at least another swing of the ball. Let’s look for the second or third and then the next thing is that normally what happens (quick shots) is you end up playing bloody defense more often.

“So, you’re better off playing offense, I would have thought.”

Ali believes the 24-second shot clock has created more isolation on offense.

“Nowadays, someone hangs onto the ball for a long period of time, just tries to bang-bang, switch, cross over, do between the legs and that sort of stuff,” he said.

“With the (30 second shot clock) there’s the opportunity for a little bit more control, a little bit more opportunity to score at a high percentage.

And quite frankly, I think that we have lost sight of the mid-range jump shot — I know, I know, the percentage, I get it but I gotta say, the mid-range jumper, is there to be used.

“We just never do it.”

Mark Davis: The Chairman of the Boards

“He was very competitive, he always seemed to know where the ball was coming off the ring and always seemed to be in the right spot to grab the rebound,” Ali said.

“He banged like hell going into it — if you got the ball on the low post, your chest really knew about it.

“He was just a strong individual, strong-minded as well and they’re all the attributes you require for one of your bigs to be in there.

“I really enjoyed matching up against him at training. Dwayne (Nelson) was a great person to guard as well because he was a different style of player — but really competitive.

“Dwayne and I were filling the same spot, so we sort of tag-teamed on defensive assignments.

“It was quite interesting — us both guarding each other — so we were very competitive against each other as to who was gonna be starting.

“So, that was good.”

Peter Ali reflects on his Hall of Fame career

“The part that I enjoyed was being part of a team environment and I looked forward to going to training sessions and being involved with the guys,” he revealed.

“I enjoyed being a part of working with someone that you know is going to give their all in a particular game. That’s the part I enjoyed about basketball.

“The times I didn’t enjoy it were when the team probably didn’t live up to that expectation and they were very few and far between.

“I don’t mean to sound so philosophical, but I enjoyed my time as a junior at West Adelaide.

“I enjoyed my time as a senior because we won a lot of championships, State championships and summer championships together, quite a lot.

“The era of being with Werner Linde, Roger King, Alan Hughes, Glen Marsden — Werner and Glen — two Olympians as well.

“Glen was a premier guard at that time. So, you know, I’m in awe.

“Being with a group of guys that understood what it meant — you know — hurt when you lost and celebrated when you won and not paying lip service to putting their time on the floor.”

The only way was up for Ali at the end of his junior career, scoring 50 points in the under-18 Grand Final.

Ali retired in 1992 as a two-time NBL champion and Olympian. He played 259 games in the NBL and more than 500 in the South Australian State League.

He was inducted into the Basketball South Australia Hall of Fame in 2022. Not bad for a kid dragged kicking and screaming to basketball for the first time on his fifth birthday.