John Rillie

Following his junior years with the Toowoomba’s Eagles club, John Rillie graduated to the Toowoomba Mountaineers in the Queensland State League. In 1990 and 1991 he was a member of the Mountaineers’ back-to-back championship winning teams before heading to the USA.

John’s college playing career included one season at Tacoma Community College and three seasons with the Gonzaga Bulldogs. In 1995 he led the Bulldogs to the school's first NCAA berth and was named as the West Coast Conference’s most valuable player.

Following his collegiate career, John Rillie spent 16 years playing in the National Basketball League. He enjoyed stints with the Brisbane Bullets,  the Adelaide 36ers, the West Sydney Razorbacks, the Townsville Crocodiles and the New Zealand Breakers.

The highlights of John’s 481 game NBL career include never missing a game through injury; in 1995 being Rookie of the Year as a member of the Brisbane Bullets; in 1998 being a member of the NBL champion team, the Adelaide 36ers; in 2003 being NBL scoring champion; in 2004 being a member of the All Star First Team, and in 2002, 2003 and 2005 of the All Star Second Teams.

In addition, John holds the record for an Australian player for scoring in a finals playoff game, scoring 45 points for the West Sydney Razorbacks in 2004. In 2009 he was the first player in NBL history to make 10 three-pointers in a finals game.

During his 481 NBL games, John Rillie scored 7861 points with an average of 16.34 points per game; he hauled down 2809 rebounds and he delivered 1768 assists with an average of 3.67 per game. In an often-unheralded statistic, John was called for an average of fewer than two fouls per game.

John’s first taste of international basketball with the Boomers came at the 2003 FIBA Oceania Championships in preparation for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In 2004 the Boomers participated in a European Tour during which John played in all four games, and in the FIBA Diamond Ball Tournament. During the tournament he played in the games against China and Serbia and Montenegro.

The highlight of John’s playing career as a Boomer was his participation in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. During the Games John played against Angola, Lithuania and New Zealand.

Following a successful coaching career at Boise State University and the University of California Santa Barbara, in 2021 John was appointed as an assistant coach of the Boomers. The winning of the Bronze Medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games by Patty Mills’ Boomers is part of Australian basketball folk lore. In 2022, he was appointed head coach of the Perth Wildcats in the National Basketball League.

John Rillie excelled as a player in the National Basketball League. When added to his international career which included two Olympic Games, the 2004 Athens Games as a player and the Bronze Medal winning 2021 Tokyo Games as an assistant coach, John Rillie is a most worthy inductee into the Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame  in the Class of 2024.