For more than 50 years Noel Rowsell has lived and breathed basketball and for the past 12 years he’s reported on and taken photos of Penrith Basketball Association games for the Blue Mountains Gazette and Penrith City Gazette.
He’s watched the best young basketballers like Angus Brandt, Adam Lulka and Ella Tofaeono develop and make names for themselves and seen big names like the hugely popular Sydney Kings 1990s star import Dwayne McClain make his mark on the court.
From February Rowsell has decided to step back from the sport to enjoy retirement, playing golf and dabbling in nature and wildlife photography.
Now 64, the Werrington man says he will miss the sport which has occupied so much of his life, but it’s time for a change.
“It’s been a fun ride,” Rowsell said.
Over the years he’s covered junior, senior and masters competitions, SEABL (South East Australian Basketball League) games, Championship League and Youth League for the Penrith Basketball Association.
He remembers when he first met a teenage Angus Brandt who’s gone on to play for the Sydney Kings, BC Neptunas in the Lithuanian Basketball League, and now the Perth Wildcats.
“It was the under 18s Sydney junior championship grand final for Springwood division 3 and I saw this skinny, gangly kid the Springwood team hung on and would win or lose depending on this kid,” Rowsell recalls.
“He’s bulked up and now he’s huge.”
Rowsell was “always looking for that shot”, and back in the day of film photography he’d shoot a selective 36 photos a game – no easy feat in a high-speed game.
“Having played it you have an idea what players will do. You can see the intent in the player. It helped having the knowledge,” he said.
But he couldn’t always foresee a player’s next move and was taken out a few times when shooting photos from the sidelines.
Former Sydney Kings player Tim Morrissey travelling full pelt knocked Rowsell 5m back into the stands and covering the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney he was almost run over by wheelchair basketballer David Gould, who miraculously weaved his way between Rowsell and another photographer, smashing into the clock.
Growing up in Doonside, Rowsell’s love affair with basketball started when he was introduced to the sport through his Canadian physical education teacher in high school.
He went on to play for several western Sydney rep teams in his 20s and early 30s – on the court up to six nights a week – until a knee injury in 1990 stopped the 189cm tall guard in his tracks.
