Back in the hazy days of 1996-97, one Aussie stood taller, hairier, and sweatier than the rest… and still found himself bolted to the Philadelphia 76ers like a 6-foot-10 piece of balsa covered in clag and left on the floor of a Narre Warren waxer the week of an Ed Sheeran concert.
BUT! On this day, 21 years ago, the Noarlunga Leviathan — Big Mark Bradtke, the Aussie Arvydas Sabonis himself — lugged his giant rig onto the hardwood for the first time in a week for his 29th NBA game!
That’s right, the man built like the Flinders Ranges but who had more bounce than Major Lazer tugged on his No. 50 Sixers jersey, and strode onto the court to check big Carlos Rogers while Fightin’ Jerry Stackhouse and Allen Iverson tried to outgun the Toronto Raptors.
Despite looking like the evil Kobra Kai sensei John Kreese from ‘Karate Kid’ and with the Sixers down 22, big bad bustling Bradtke — Hoges to his mates — got on the court for 2 minutes and hacked-the-knee on his way to a single rebound. He did so in a way SO brutal that Popeye Jones immediately walked out of the building and into a Philly Best Buy to buy a copy of ‘Crocodile Dundee 2’, and then proceeded to study it religiously for the next 3 years trying to unlock the secret of Bradtke’s sheer dominance.
But c’mon mate: 1 rebound in 2 minutes! I’m no maths scientist, but that means Nicole Bradtke’s husband’s per-36 numbers pegged him as bringing down 18 rebounds a game! That’s pretty bloody impressive!
But still… 2 minutes? For a 3x Olympian and 3x NBL champ who’d go on to win an NBL MVP!? Geez. Reckon his flog of a coach — Johnny Davis — hated big Bradtke more than bloody Razor Ray hates the Cats!
Anyway.
#ONYA Big Mark Bradtke!