The WNBL welcomes seven new Life Members
Players past and present, administrators, team managers and a journalist were honoured at Monday night’s WNBL awards.
The WNBL welcomed seven new Life Members – Alice Kunek (player), Lauren Jackson (player, administrator), Mark Quinn (administrator/contributor), Jodie Craig (player/administrator), John Davidson (contributor), Donna Turner (contributor) and Botond Nagy (contributor) at the presentations in Melbourne.
Alice Kunek achieved automatic life membership following her 250th WNBL game in Round 14.
Kunek, who has played for the AIS, Bulleen Boomers, Dandenong Rangers, Melbourne Boomers, Perth Lynx, Sydney Flames, Townsville Fire and this season the Southside Flyers, was part of Bulleen’s inaugural championship in 2010-11.
Lauren Jackson added yet another accolade to an incredible basketball CV, inducted as a WNBL life member.
A seven-time champion, Jackson won her first title in 1999 as a teenager and her last in 2023-24 aged 43. She dominated the league and was crowned MVP on four occasions (1999, 2000, 2002-03 and 2003-04). Jackson lifted on the biggest stage, finals, and was awarded Grand Final MVP in four of her titles with Canberra.
She earned selection in the All-Star Five during six consecutive seasons from 1999 to 2004.
As an administrator, Jackson served Head of the WNBL from 2019 to 2021.
Mark Quinn earned deserved recognition for his immeasurable contributions to the league across two decades working for Basketball Australia.
Quinn did it all – from scheduling to statistics, operations, establishing and maintaining relationships with the clubs and preserving the history of Australia’s longest-running elite women’s sporting competition.
Quinn’s professionalism and attention to detail shone in delivering big spectacles such as Grand Finals and was instrumental in ensuring the 2020 hub season, amid the Covid pandemic, was a success.
A mainstay of the Townsville Fire, Donna Turner has served as team manager of the north Queensland club for the past 20 years.
From fully-stocked first aid kids to the organisation of team uniforms and warm-up tops to juggling drink bottles and towels between players during home games, Turner is highly organised, efficient and plays a crucial role in the smooth operation of the Fire team.
She has served as team manager in four championships and nominates the Fire’s inaugural title in 2014-15 as a highlight of her tenure.
Jodie Craig (nee Smith) has been an outstanding contributor to the Sydney Flames as a player and later team manager.
As an athlete, she suited up for Sydney in 231 WNBL games between 1984 and 1994 and was part of history in 1993 when the club won its inaugural title.
Craig’s impact on the Flames continued after she retired. In 1997, she became team manager with her stint in the role running until season 2000-01. Following the birth of her daughters, she returned to the club and the role in 2004-05 serving the club and looking after the players, and was part of a further two titles, through until 2013.
Few volunteers have displayed dedication, hard work and passion like John Davidson has whose contributions to basketball and particularly the WNBL are mighty.
Davidson was elected as a director of the WNBL in 1997 and served in this position for three years before going on to become WNBL chairman in 2005.
When the WNBL commission was formed, Davidson became chairman as well as the league’s representative on the Basketball Australia board from 2005 to 2009.
No journalist has covered the league for as long, or as extensively, as Botond Nagy.
The South Australian has reported on the WNBL since it launched in 1981 through News Corp papers, specifically The Advertiser, Sunday Mail and its websites, various radio segments and podcasts and in recent years via his Basketball. On. The. Internet blog.
Nagy covered inaugural WNBL and SA teams North Adelaide, Noarlunga City and West Adelaide, the amalgamations that produced the Adelaide Comets and eventually the Adelaide Lightning.
He is a five-time winner of the WNBL’s Basketball Writer of the Year award (1992, 1996, 2001-02, 2010-11, 2012-13).