Item Detail
-
31195
-
1
-
1
-
English
-
Mormon missionaries and the University of Melbourne Basketball Club
-
University of Melbourne Collection
-
2013
-
13
-
2
-
Melbourne, Australia
-
University of Melbourne Press
-
43-50
-
"Believe it or not, Mormon missionaries from America once made a significant, but now virtually unknown, contribution to sports at the University of Melbourne. At the dawn of 1957, the university’s sports organisation requested a Latter-day Saint missionary to coach the Melbourne University Basketball Club (MUBC), which consisted of several teams. This might surprise us today, yet in light of the events that preceded it, the request made very good sense. A team of Mormon elders had participated in the YMCA competition in Australia as early as 1938. This visiting group of American Mormon missionaries not only won the Melbourne YMCA championship but went undefeated throughout the season. During the 1939 season, the Mormon elders representing the YMCA won championships in both the city of Melbourne and state of Victoria." [Author]