Anthony Dean Ronaldson (born 25 May 1972) is an Australian 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 (appro ...

player who played the majority of his career in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). Known as "The Bear", Ronaldson played for the

Eastside Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major administr ...

, South East Melbourne Magic, Victoria Titans,

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Perth Arena, ...

and

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

in the NBL. He played in seven NBL Grand Final series and won two championships, both with the Magic in 1992 and 1996. He also represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

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and again in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

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Playing career

In 1989, Ronaldson played for the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

in the SEABL. Ronaldson made his NBL debut in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

with the

under the coaching of

Brian Goorjian Brian Warwick Goorjian (born 28 July 1953) is an American-Australian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL). In an NBL coaching career spanning over 20 y ...

, playing two seasons there. In July 1990, he also had a one-game stint with the Nunawading Spectres SEABL team. He missed the Eastside Spectres' Grand Final appearance in 1991 due to leaving for the United States to attend

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

. When the Spectres merged with the Southern Melbourne Saints in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, Ronaldson was one of the players to be signed to the newly created South East Melbourne Magic who played out of the NBL's then largest venue, the 15,300 capacity National Tennis Centre. During his time with the Magic, Ronaldson competed in four Grand Finals, winning two NBL championships in

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

(both times defeating cross-town rivals the

Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Joh ...

who also used the Tennis Centre as their home venue) and being runner up in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

to the Tigers and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

to the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in the state's capital of Adela ...

. When the Magic also merged with another club in 1998–99, this time with cross-town rivals the

North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital ...

, Ronaldson once again signed with the resulting team: the Victoria Titans. With the Titans, he played in back-to-back losing Grand Finals. Ronaldson eventually left the Titans at the end of the 2001–02 NBL season, signing with the Perth Wildcats for 2002–03 season and helping them reach the Grand Final, where they lost 2–0 to the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

. Following the retirement of Ricky Grace, Ronaldson

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

ed the club in 2005–06, but was replaced by Paul Rogers the following season. In October 2006, Ronaldson played his 550th NBL game. In 2005 and 2006, he played in the

State Basketball League NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...

for the Stirling Senators. Ronaldson left the Wildcats after the 2006–07 season and signed with the

. Ronaldson ended his NBL career following the 2009–10 season, finishing with 665 games and averages of 15.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. Ronaldson has more wins than anyone else in NBL history with 430 victories from his 665-game career at a success rate of 64.66%.

NBL records

Ronaldson's 665 games leads the NBL for most games played all-time. He is also the fifth-highest scorer in the NBL with 10,154 points, and also holds the sixth-highest record for defensive rebounds with 2,642. He has also made the most appearances in the NBL Finals, playing in a league record 20 consecutive Finals series from 1990 to 2009. The only time in his NBL career that his team did not make the playoffs was his final season in 2009–10 when the Breakers finished one game short in 5th place (2009–10 was the first time the NBL used their

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4 team finals format).

National team career

In addition to his NBL career, Ronaldson represented Australia at international level on numerous occasions, making his debut for the Boomers at the

1994 FIBA World Championship The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the 12th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Canada from August 4 to 14, 1994. The tournament was held at SkyDome ...

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. He was also a member of the Boomers for the

(in which he made a spectacular four-point play in the dying seconds against

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to give the Boomers a 73–71 win and a berth in the bronze medal game against

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where they lost 80–74), the

1998 FIBA World Championship The 1998 FIBA World Championship was the 13th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), and hosted in Greece ...

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, the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

and the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

where he won a gold medal with the Boomers after they easily defeated their Trans-Tasman rivals

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

77–39 in the Final.Boomers Olympic History
/ref>

Honour roll

NBL career stats

References

External links

Ronaldson's NBL player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ronaldson, Tony 1972 births Living people Australian men's basketball players Olympic basketball players for Australia Australian Institute of Sport basketball players Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists in basketball Eastside Spectres players South East Melbourne Magic players Victoria Titans players Perth Wildcats players New Zealand Breakers players Waikato Pistons players Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball players Power forwards Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Basketball announcers Basketball players from Adelaide Sportsmen from South Australia 1998 FIBA World Championship players Basketball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games 1994 FIBA World Championship players Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games