Ramsay joins illustrious athletes and administrators in the Hall including founding father of basketball Mr. James Naismith, Russian legend Sergei Belov.
Ramsay is the first Australian to receive the prestigious honour, recognising his significant contribution to Australian and world basketball.
Ramsay will be inducted for his all-round contribution to basketball alongside former NBA star Oscar Robertson, and nine fellow inductees including players, coaches and referees.
The official enshrinement ceremony of the 2009 Class of the FIBA Hall of Fame will take place on September 20 in Katowice, Poland, however Ramsay will be unable to attend and will be honoured at the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men in Turkey.
“For Al to be recognised on a global stage in this manner is a prestigious acknowledgement of his enormous contribution to Australian and world basketball,” Basketball Australia Chief Executive Larry Sengstock said.
“It’s only fitting that FIBA has recognised him in such a prestigious manner and it’s a proud day for Australian basketball.”
“It is also further recognition of the importance of the community, coaches, referees and officials and the invaluable contribution that they make to our sport.”
Mr Ramsay has already been acknowledged in Australia for his contribution to the sport; an inaugural inductee into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame in 2004, Ramsay’s Hall of Fame status was elevated to ‘Legend’ in 2006, the first elevation of its kind.
“Alistair was instrumental in establishing the Oceania Zone which we continue to compete in today, while the annual Trans-Tasman men’s competition between the Boomers and the Tall Blacks is named in his honour.”
Awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1998 and the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in December 2000 for his contribution to sport in Australia, Mr Ramsay is an Honorary Member of FIBA.
Ramsay is the greatest voluntary worker in the history of Australian basketball. Apart from playing, coaching and refereeing basketball, and also being involved with the individual association administration much earlier, he has held a number of voluntary positions over a period of approximately 50 years; 1955-1964 Secretary, New South Wales Basketball Association; 1963-1977 Secretary, Australian Basketball; 1967-1997 Founder and Secretary General, Oceania Basketball Confederation; 1997-2002 President Oceania Basketball Confederation. From 1968-2002 he has been a member of various committees within the International Basketball Federation as well as a member of the Central Board and its Deputy General Secretary. He was also secretary of the Commonwealth Basketball Federation.
Today Mr Ramsay continues to be honoured for his tireless efforts in establishing the FIBA Oceania Zone in 1968, along with Secretary General of FIBA, William Jones, while the winner of the Men’s Pacific Island Tournaments is awarded the Al Ramsay Trophy.
2009 FIBA Hall of Fame
· 2009 INDUCTEES:
Mr. Artenik ARABADJIAN Referee Bulgaria
Ms. Jacky CHAZALON Player France
Mr. Pedro FERRÁNDIZ Coach Spain
Mr. Ricardo GONZÁLEZ Player Argentina
Mr. Al RAMSAY Contributor Australia
Mr. Oscar ROBERTSON Player USA
· 2009 POSTHUMOUS INDUCTEES:
Mr. Luis MARTÍN Contributor Argentina
Mr. Pete NEWELL Coach USA
Mr. Ubiratan PEREIRA Player Brazil
Mr. Marcel PFEUTI Referee Switzerland
Ms. Kay YOW Coach USA
2007 FIBA Hall of Fame inductees
Mr. Sergei BELOV Player Russia
Mr. Drazen DALIPAGIC Player Serbia
Mr. Ivo DANEU Player Slovenia
Mr. Oscar FURLONG Player Argentina
Mr. Nikos GALIS Player Greece
Ms. Hortencia MARCARI Player Brazil
Mr. Pierluigi MARZORATI Player Italy
Ms. Ann MEYERS Player USA
Mr. Amaury PASOS Player Brazil
Mr. Emiliano RODRIGUEZ Player Spain
Mr. Bill RUSSELL Player USA
Ms. Uljana SEMJONOVA Player Latvia
Mr. Leon BOUFFARD Player Switzerland
Mr. Alexander BELOV Player Russia
Mr. Kresimir COSIC Player Croatia
Mr. Teofilo Cruz Player Puerto Rico
Mr. Mirza DELIBASIC Player Bosnia
Mr. Radivoj KORAC Player Serbia
Mr. Fernando MARTIN Player Spain
Mr. Drazen PETROVIC Player Croatia
Ms. Liliana RONCHETTI Player Italy
Ms. Vanya VOYNOVA Player Bulgaria
Ms. Lidia ALEXEEVA Coach Russia
Mr. Dean SMITH Coach USA
Mr. Togo Renan SOARES Coach Brazil
Mr. Ranko ZERAVICA Coach Serbia
Mr. Antonio DIAZ-MIGUEL Coach Spain
Mr. Alexander GOMELSKY Coach Russia
Mr. Henry ‘Hank’ IBA Coach USA
Mr. Vladimir Kondrashin Coach Russia
Mr. Aleksandar MIKOLIC Coach Serbia
Mr. Giancarlo PRIMO Coach Italy
Mr. Ervin KASSAI Technical Official Hungary
Mr. Mario HOPENHAYM Technical Official Uruguay
Mr. Allen RAE Technical Official Canada
Mr. Obrad BELOSEVIC Technical Official Serbia
Mr. Vladimir KOSTIN Technical Official Russia
Mr. Peirtro REVERBERI Technical Official Italy
Mr. Renato RIGHETTO Technical Official Brazil
Mr. Borislav STANKOVIC Contributor Serbia
Mr. R. William JONES Contributor Great Britain
Mr. James NAISMITH Contributor Canada and USA
Mr. Eduardo AIRALDI RIVAROLA Contributor Peru
Mr. Abdel Azim ASHRY Contributor Egypt
Mr. Turgut ATAKOL Contributor Turkey
Mr. Robert BUSNEL Contributor France
Mr. Dionisio CALVO Contributor Philippines
Mr. Antonio dos Reis CARNEIRO Contributor Brazil
Mr. Jose Claudio DOS REIS Contributor Brazil
Mr. Duk Joo YOON Contributor Korea
Mr. Willard N. GREIM Contributor USA
Mr. Ferenc HEPP Contributor Hungary
Mr. Marian KOZLOWSKI Contributor Polish
Mr. Anselmo LOPEZ Contributor Spain
Mr. August PITZL Contributor Austria
Mr. Nebojsa POPOVIC Contributor Serbia
Mr. Raimundo SAPORTA Contributor Spain
Mr. Decio SCURI Contributor Italy
Mr. Nikolai SEMASHKO Contributor Russia
Mr. Radomir SHAPER Contributor Serbia
Mr. Edward S. STEITZ Contributor USA
Mr. Yoshimi UEDA Contributor Japan
Mr. Abdel Moneim WAHBY Contributor Egypt
