Michael Henry George Ah Matt (30 November 1942 – 14 February 1983) was an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

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. He played for 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 ...

at the

1964 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this hon ...

. Ah Matt was born on 30 November 1942 in

Townsville, Queensland Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

, and grew up in

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the smalle ...

. He represented the Northern Territory at the 1959 Australian Championships. After the Championships he moved to

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

to play with the South Adelaide Panthers. He played a then record 588 games over twenty seasons with the Panthers. In 1964, he was a member of the Australian team at the

. In 1968, he was a member of the Australian team that participated in the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, though that team failed to qualify for the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. Former Australian Olympian

Darryl Pearce Darryl "The Iceman" Pearce (born 15 October 1960) is an Australian former professional basketball player. He played in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL) for the Adelaide 36ers from 1982 to 1991 before playing four seasons (1992–19 ...

said of Ah Matt, "He had an amazing sense of where he was on the court and he could see players where no-one could understand how he could actually pass the ball the way he did." Ah Matt died of a heart attack on 14 February 1983.

Achievements and recognition

* 1964: With

Adrian Blair Adrian Blair (born 21 December 1943) is an Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colo ...

and Frank Roberts, the first

s to represent Australia at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

in 1964 * !994: Inductee,

Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame The Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1994 to recognise Indigenous Australians (Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) that have achieved at the highest level of their chosen sport. It wa ...

* 2010: Inductee,

Australian Basketball 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 ...

References

External links

Olympic statisticsBasketball Australia Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ah Matt, Michael 1942 births 1983 deaths Australian men's basketball players Basketball players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Basketball players from South Australia Indigenous Australian Olympians Indigenous Australian basketball players Olympic basketball players of Australia People from Townsville