Damian Thomas Keogh (born 1 February 1962,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

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 ...

) is an Australian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who played his career in Australia's National Basketball League for the Nunawading Spectres,

Bankstown Bruins Bankstown Bruins is a NBL1 East club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club fields a team in the Men's NBL1 East. The club is a division of Bankstown Basketball Association (BBA), the major administrative basketball organisation in the reg ...

West Sydney Westars Bankstown Bruins is a NBL1 East club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club fields a team in the Men's NBL1 East. The club is a division of Bankstown Basketball Association (BBA), the major administrative basketball organisation in the reg ...

and

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...

from 1980–1995. He also represented the Australian team at the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

. Keogh became the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

Val Morgan The Val Morgan Group, formerly known as Val Morgan Cinema Advertisers, is an Australian advertising company first established in 1894. The company primarily specialises in cinema advertising, having worked with major Australian cinema chains inclu ...

in 2011, and from 2013 to 2017 was chairman of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

-based

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

team the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugby leag ...

. On 10 October 2013, Keogh was named in the Sydney Kings' 25th Anniversary Team.

Early life

Damian was born in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

Damian Keogh, Chasing The NBL title

Basketball career

Keogh, a 6'4" (194 cm)

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronge ...

, is regarded as one of Australia's greatest basketballers. His career spanned 16 years and included representing Australia at three Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992). Playing 207 games for Australia between 1981 and 1994, Keogh also competed at three world championships (1982, 1990, 1994). Keogh played 406 games in the NBL and although he was unable to win a championship, he did appear in the

NBL Grand Final The NBL Grand Final is the championship series of the National Basketball League (NBL). The entrants are determined by the victors of the two Semi Finals series, who engage in a best-of-five game series to determine the league champion. The winn ...

for Nunawading in 1981 and in the NBL playoffs on eight other occasions. Following his retirement, he made a transition into the corporate world.

Post-basketball life

Following his retirement from basketball, Keogh became involved in the Sydney Olympic Games bid team and then as a marketing consultant to SOCOG. He was recruited by the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

as the Head of Olympic Marketing in 1997, taking responsibility for the national marketing and promotion associated with the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games and the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In 2000, he was promoted to General Manager of Sports Marketing for the Seven Network, overseeing the marketing of the network’s entire sports portfolio. Keogh joined the Multi-Channel Network in 2003 as the Sales & Marketing Director, and in 2011 he was appointed as the CEO of Val Morgan Cinema Network, Australia and New Zealand’s leading national supplier of cinema screen advertising. In 2014, Keogh replaced Delfin Fernandez as CEO of The Hoyts Group, which along with owning Val Morgan, operates 43 cinemas across Australia and New Zealand. He also sits on the boards of Basketball NSW and

Basketball Australia Basketball Australia is the governing and controlling body of basketball in Australia, responsible for the development and promotion of the sport at all levels. Basketball Australia sanctions Australia's two professional leagues, the Nation ...

. His work has been acknowledged with inclusion 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 ...

and the NSW Sports Hall of Champions.

Personal life

Keogh married former

Australian Opals The Australian women's national basketball team is nicknamed the Opals, after the brightly coloured gemstone common to the country. From 1994 onwards, the Opals have been consistently competitive and successful having won nine medals at off ...

player Maree White in 1986. The couple have four children. In 2017, he pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, received an 18-month good behaviour bond, and resigned from the board of the Cronulla Sharks.

Honour roll

NBL career stats

References

External links

*https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/dramatic-moment-former-nrl-club-boss-was-arrested-for-cocaine-possession/news-story/d64a32a6f5804ab5e9e152ae253a2c9c {{DEFAULTSORT:Keogh, Damian 1962 births Living people Australian men's basketball players 1982 FIBA World Championship players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Australian chief executives Australian rugby league administrators Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players of Australia Basketball players from Melbourne Sydney Kings players University of Melbourne alumni Small forwards Shooting guards 1994 FIBA World Championship players