All-time Hawks favorite sons from early hero Gordie McLeod to Chuck Harmison and more recent stars Glen Saville and Mat Campbell head a star-studded line-up of players attending the foundation National Basketball League club’s 30th Anniversary Reunion Dinner.

They will be joined by first captain Bob Kubbinga, first Australian representative Ray Hannett and a host of stars from the club’s three decades.

The Hawks Life Members and its committee is organising the reunion to recognise the club’s proud history of 30 seasons in the NBL and are inviting all club supporters to join the celebrations.

Tickets are just $60, which includes a three-course meal.

The dinner will be held at the Wollongong Entertainment Centre on Saturday, 19 April, and promises to be a huge night of entertainment and reflections on the Hawks’ great players and memorable moments over the past 30 seasons.

Not surprisingly, the club’s 2001 NBL championship season will figure prominently in the festivities.

Long-time Hawks court announcer and WIN Television personality Geoff Phillips, himself a Life Member, will be Master of Ceremonies.

The 30th Anniversary Committee chairman John TrivellionScott, a former long-serving board member, said the club’s Life Members had got together to plan the reunion because they wanted to recognise the enormous achievements of the Illawarra and Wollongong (the name was changed in 1998) Hawks.

Life member Peter Brettell said: “Only the Hawks and the Brisbane Bullets have survived from that first season in 1979, so that gives you an indication of what the club has achieved. We’ve always had to battle hard, as evidenced by the club’s latest struggle, but we’ve survived.”

NBL CEO and Hawks Life Member Chuck Harmison reflected that the club’s survival is a testimony to the tremendous support the club has received from dedicated individuals, sponsors and the region’s basketball fans over the years. “As Life Members, we wanted to repay that support by organising a night to celebrate all the great things that the Hawks have brought to the region over three decades,” Harmison said.

Life member Yvonne White said she had been busy contacting past players, coaches, officials and sponsors, and had received very positive responses.

“Gordie McLeod was one of the first players contacted, and the first to say he was coming,” Yvonne said. “Gordie was one of our foundation players, a co-coach of the team at one stage and an Australian representative at the Moscow Olympics. But most of all he was a real crowd-pleasers – a local boy who came up through the junior ranks of the Illawarra Basketball Association to represent his country.

“In a sense Gordie’s story was the story of the Hawks in the early years, and he inspired a lot of local kids to take up basketball.

“He was the first Hawk to represent his country at an Olympics, and he’ll be joined on the night by the Hawks’ two most recent Australian reps, Glen Saville and Matt Campbell.”

TrevillionScott said the committee had been working hard to contact past players and officials, but urged anyone who knew of any former players’ whereabouts to contacts them to make sure they knew about the reunion.

“It is an impossible task contacting every single person who has been involved with the hawks over 30 years, so we’d really appreciate the public’s help in contacting anyone they know with a link to the Hawks,” he said.

Past and present players and officials who have already indicated their intention to attend include Bob Kubbinga, Gordie McLeod, Chuck Harmison, Greg Hubbard, Glen Saville, Matt Campbell, Ray Hannett, Melvin Thomas, Damon Lowery, Craig Adam., Peter Rowsell, Butch Hayes, Luke Doherty, Phil Hamer, Rod and Terry Johnson, Mark and Guy Brandon, Dene McDonald, Axel Dench, Don Bickett, Norman Taylor and Eric Cooks.

Tickets 

Tickets for the general public are available at $60 a head, which includes a three-course meal with drinks from a cash bar.

For more details or bookings, contact Yvonne White on (02) 42854400, Mob: 0402298397 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Tickets can also be purchased at Tory Hino on the Princes Hwy at Albion Park Rail.

For more information, contact Peter Brettell on 0412 256507.