John Bayliss & Distinguished Service Award Winners

The John Bayliss Award is presented in honour of the late John Bayliss, and is awarded to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the club over a number of years, typically based on their volunteered involvement in the running of the club.

The Distinguished Service Award is presented to club members who have made an outstanding contribution to the club in one of the areas of coaching, playing, or administration.

Both of these awards are designed to reward and recognise the efforts of those that combine to make MUBC such a wonderful club, both on and off the court. 

Year	John Bayliss Award Winner	Distinguished Service Award Winners
2024	Jennifer Naughton	Phina Newton, Gagan Kuthi Prasanna
2023	Andrew Lui	Amelia Smith, Joel Rimes, Mithali Rajagopalan
2022	Sophia Naughton	Andrew Lui
2021	Not Awarded	Not Awarded
2020	Not Awarded	Not Awarded (COVID pandemic)
2019	Philip Verrocchi	Not Awarded
2018	Anjali Goundar	William Burrell, Nicholas White, Jennifer Naughton, Grantley Bernard
2017	Jason Kotchoff	Amanda Douglass, Jason But
2016	Kylie Turnley	Sophia Naughton, James Shaw
2015	Jacqui Nguyen	Sam Fileccia, Simon Vaughan
2014	Bernard Thomson	Sofia Soltys, Damien Murphy
2013	Hugh James	Mark Farag, Jason Kotchoff, Philip Verrocchi
2012	Rhia Mikkor	James Cosgriff, Caitlyn Hallett, Ivan Raymond
2011	Eric Chan	Raef Akehurst, Jacqui Nguyen
2010	Andrew Walker	Anjali Goundar, Tom Leong, Kerry Turnley
2009	Matthew Hillbrich	Stuart Black, Melanie Fidler, Hugh James, Robbie McCoy, Peter Rossiter, Joey Rzepisko
2008	Steph Canale	Rhia Mikkor, Bernard Thomson, Kylie Turnley
2007	Joel Berry	Eric Chan, Andrew Walker
2006	James Fidler	Steph Canale, Matt Hillbrich, Anthony Nantes, James Pescott, Lach Strong
2005	Matthew Rafton	Kuhn Ip, Jim Kondos, Adriano Leti, Justin Turnley
2004	Glenda De Marinis	James Fidler
2003	Melissa Pearson
2002	Daisy Adams	Martin De Lange, Michelle Hansen, Tony Holden, Rachel Knight, Nick Martin, Melissa Pearson, Stuart Verrier
2001	Brendan Green
2000	Sam Sterling	Joe Caroll, Brendan Green, Sarsha McEntee, Matthew Rafton, David Semmens
1999	Herman Tokatlidis
1998	Michelle Hansen
1997	Marc Howard
1996	Tammy Walsh
1995	Michael Scales
1994	Carolyn Pickburn
1993	Trevor Andrew	Greg Scholes
1992	David Liddle
1991	Gillian Payne
1990	David Morosoli
1989	Gary Pendlebury
1988	Bernadette Bett
1987	Geoff Bowles
1986	Judy Knight
1985	Chris Macpherson
1984	Matthew Wellington
1983	Wendy Macpherson
1982	Andrew Bett
1981	Graeme Howe
1980	Kerry Lewis
1979	John Campbell
1978	Ann Compton
1977	Henry Cooper
1976	Julie Sievers
1975	Sandie De Wolfe
1974	Ian Bett
1972	Euan Lockie

 

With regard to the John Bayliss award, here is what Coops had to say about it in an interview in 2016:
Youtube link
1h, 15m, 30s mark 

"It was supposed to be a person a bit like me. I certainly wasn't a good basketballer at that stage but I was a person who was involved in all facets of the club. The committee, administering and running things, in coaching, in organising coaching and playing at a reasonable level but not a top level.

John was around in the late 60s to early 70s and he passed away in a car accident on the way back from the Swan Hill Tournament.

It was deemed that he was exactly the sort of person that makes a really great club that does really basic stuff like;

You want someone to coach a team in a tournament?
"Yeah I'll do that"

You need someone to do the scorebench in a game?
"Yeah I'll do that"

You need someone to organise some stuff for a party this weekend 
"Yeah I'll do that"

You need a general rep for something
"Yeah I'll do that"

He was just the sort of person who was invaluable and made a club worth belonging to.

The John Bayliss was in all my time, the highest award that we could give."

*Note: John Bayliss passed in January 1971