Tony Rampton (born 30 May 1976) is a New Zealand 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.

Early life and college

Rampton was born in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

, New Zealand, and attended

New Plymouth Boys' High School New Plymouth Boys' High School is a single-sex boys' state secondary school in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. The school currently caters for approximately 1300 students, including 210 boarders, on its site. The school often collaborate ...

. Rampton left New Zealand as a rising 17-year-old talent to play two years of high school basketball in the United States. He attended

Waseca High School Waseca Junior and Senior High School (WJSH) is located in Waseca, Minnesota, United States. The school mascot is the bluejay and the school colors are blue and gold. It houses approximately 1000 students in grades 7 through 12. They offer a rigor ...

Waseca, Minnesota Waseca () is a city in Waseca County, Minnesota, Waseca County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,410 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is the county seat. Transportation U.S. Route 14 in Minnesota, U.S. Highway 14 a ...

, before spending four years at

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

between 1995 and 1999, where he averaged 2.2 points and 2.1 rebounds in 80 games.

Professional career

Rampton played his first year in the New Zealand NBL with the Taranaki Oilers in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and won rookie of the year. He joined the

Nelson Giants The Nelson Giants are a New Zealand basketball team based in Nelson. The Giants compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Trafalgar Centre. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Mike Pero Nelson ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and went on to help them reach the grand final, where they lost to the Auckland Rebels. He was named Kiwi MVP, the league's most outstanding forward, was crowned rebounding champion with 14.6 a game and was included in the league's All-Star Five. Rampton started the 2000–01 season in Finland before finishing with the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

of the Australian NBL. After injury saw him only play half a season with the Taipans in 2001–02, he continued on with Cairns between 2002 and 2005. Between 2005 and 2007, he played for the

Wollongong Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) is an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games ...

. He then played two seasons for the West Sydney Razorbacks / Sydney Spirit. His final season in the Australian NBL came in the 2009–10 season with the Taipans. In the New Zealand NBL, Rampton returned to Taranaki in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. He played for Taranaki again in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

but did not return in 2007. He played for Taranaki again in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. In

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, he played for the

. He retired due to a chronic ankle injury that had plagued him since 2000. In March 2021, Rampton was named among the greatest 40 New Zealand NBL players of all time, ranking at No. 36 in the NBL's '40in40' selection for the best players in the 40-year history of the league.

National team career

Rampton first represented New Zealand in 1997 at the World Championship for Men '22 and Under'. He debuted for the

Tall Blacks The New Zealand men's national basketball team is the senior men's national basketball team of New Zealand. The team is nicknamed the Tall Blacks. The ''Tall Blacks'' name is one of many New Zealand national team nicknames related to the All ...

in 1999. In 2000, he played for the Tall Blacks at the

Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug language, Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport ...

. He went on to play for the Tall Blacks at the

2003 FIBA Oceania Championship The FIBA Oceania Championship for Men 2003 was the qualifying tournament of FIBA Oceania for the 2004 Summer Olympics. The tournament, a best-of-three series between and , was held in Bendigo, Geelong and Melbourne. Australia won all three games t ...

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

2005 FIBA Oceania Championship The FIBA Oceania Championship for Men 2005 was the qualifying tournament of FIBA Oceania for the 2006 FIBA World Championship. The tournament, a best-of-three series between and , was held in Auckland and Dunedin. Australia won all three games. B ...

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by ...

, and

2007 FIBA Oceania Championship The FIBA Oceania Championship for Men 2007 was the qualifying tournament of FIBA Oceania for the men's basketball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics at Beijing. The tournament, a best-of-three series between Australia and New Zealand, wa ...

Coaching career

Between 2011 and 2013, Rampton served as an assistant coach with the

. In 2014 and 2015, he coached the Nelson Sparks in the national women's basketball championship.

Personal life

Rampton is the son Taranaki basketball legend Brian Rampton. Tony's brother, Damon, also played in the New Zealand NBL and the pair played alongside each other with Taranaki. Rampton's wife Nicki (née Thompson) also played basketball in New Zealand. She was coached by Tony at the Nelson Sparks. As of March 2021, Rampton was living in China with his wife and two children, and teaching at an international English-speaking school in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

References

External links

Australian NBL player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rampton, Tony 1976 births Living people Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Cairns Taipans players Centers (basketball) Commonwealth Games medallists in basketball Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball players Nelson Giants players New Zealand men's basketball players Olympic basketball players for New Zealand People educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School Sportspeople from New Plymouth Taranaki Mountainairs players West Sydney Razorbacks players Wollongong Hawks players 2006 FIBA World Championship players Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games New Zealand expatriate basketball people in England New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Australia New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Finland New Zealand expatriate basketball people in the United States New Zealand expatriates in China