Danny Morseu (born 1 January 1958) is an Australian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who played on the

Australian national basketball team The Australian men's national basketball team, known as the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite t ...

in the 1980 Summer Olympics and

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

International career

Morseu played for the Australian team at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, where Australia finished eighth, and at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where Australia finished seventh, their best Olympic result to that date. The Australian team has since finished fourth on two occasions; Seoul in 1988 and Sydney in 2000 He also played twelve world cup matches for Australia.

Club career

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often groupe ...

, Morseu was born in 1958 on

Thursday Island Thursday Island, colloquially known as TI, or in the Kawrareg dialect, Waiben or Waibene, is an island of the Torres Strait Islands, an archipelago of at least 274 small islands in the Torres Strait. TI is located approximately north of Cape ...

in Far North Queensland. He spent his childhood in Tamwoy, a

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

on Thursday Island, where he grew up without running water or electricity. He started playing basketball at school and despite being cut from his primary school team, he developed into a tall talented teenage athlete. After completing school he moved to Cairns where he played basketball and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

for local teams. Morseu attracted the attention of National Basketball League coach

Brian Kerle Brian Edward Kerle (born 29 August 1945) is an Australian former basketball player and coach. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1972 Summer Olympics. As a coach, he led the St. Kilda Pumas and the Brisbane Bullets to two championships ...

after playing a match against Kerle's club, the Melbourne-based St Kilda Saints – on tour of North Queensland. Kerle convinced Morseu to move to Melbourne in 1978, where he played in St Kilda's championship winning teams of 1979 and 1980. He played 217 NBL games in total, winning another NBL championship with the

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL f ...

in 1987. In December 2017, Morseu was appointed head coach of the Toowoomba Mountaineers QBL men's side, the team he won a championship with in 1991.

Later biography

In 1984, he completed a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

majoring in recreation from Footscray Institute of Technology. He was employed in a range of activities for state and federal governments in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and Queensland, including working in indigenous health. He has acted as a mentor for other indigenous basketball players such as

Nathan Jawai Nathan Leon Jawai (born 10 October 1986) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Darwin Salties of the NBL1 North. Standing at 209 cm, he plays at the power forward and centre positions. Early life Born at the Royal Hospi ...

and

Patty Mills Patrick Sammy Mills (born 11 August 1988) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Mills was born and raised in Canberra, and is of Torres Strait Islander and Aborigin ...

Awards

Inducted into the

NBL Hall of Fame The Australian Basketball Hall of Fame was instituted by the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1998 as the ''NBL Hall of Fame'' as part of their 20th season celebrations. The NBL initiated the Hall of Fame to recognise the outstanding players ...

in 2002, Morseu was the first indigenous basketballer so honoured. He was inducted into the ''Victoria University Sport Hall of Fame'' in 2007.

Personal

Morseu is the uncle of Australian Boomers players

and

.Indigenous basketballer Nathan Jawai shoots for top
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References

External links

NBL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morseu, Danny 1958 births Living people Australian men's basketball coaches Australian men's basketball players 1978 FIBA World Championship players Basketball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Brisbane Bullets players Forwards (basketball) Geelong Supercats players Indigenous Australian Olympians Indigenous Australian basketball players Olympic basketball players of Australia Sportsmen from Queensland Torres Strait Islanders Victoria University, Melbourne alumni