Lifeblood: Duo reflect on 40 years of volunteering

Between them, David McKenzie and Bert Bargeus have dedicated more than 40 years to the Adelaide 36ers.

The long-time volunteers rarely miss a home game, spending countless hours at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Yet often they see little of the action and have to watch it on replay at home.

“I enjoy basketball,” smiles David when asked about his motivation for more than 20 years of volunteering.

“I enjoy being involved with basketball. I've been involved with basketball all my life so that's one of the drivers.

“We get to be around the players and for me, being part of a good team drives me.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Bert, who adds working on gameday keeps him fit, seeing him average 20,000 steps.

“Plus, we get invited to the MVP dinner at the end of the year, which is always nice to have,” Bert chips in.

“And as Dave said, you get to meet the players and I've made some pretty good friends over the years, notably, people like Mark Davis and Al Green.

In National Volunteer week, Adelaide 36ers Media has spent some time with the pair. At 65 and nearing retirement, David is the younger of the duo. If you ask David, Bert is 105, but the truth is that he is 76.

While they both played basketball growing up, their respective pathways to volunteering with the 36ers differ.

David stopped playing around age 23 but in the early 1990s as a regular spectator at 36ers games, he was asked to help form a supporter group.

“That went for two or three years, and we did quiz nights and various things like that so that was a great opportunity,” he recalls.

“And then I was involved with Scoretable and Bert, who was game commissioner at that stage said that he would like some help because he couldn't do every game.

“So I said, ‘okay, well I can do the games you don't’ because I went to every game anyway.”

Bert has had a lifetime involved with basketball including as a player, parent, team manager, and administrator.

He still sits on four separate basketball-related boards, and has a medal named in his honour awarded to the male and female athletes of the year in the SA Country basketball programs.

Bert’s time with the 36ers started around 2002 when he was asked to help out with statistics, after doing a similar role in Mount Barker.

“In those days, there was no NBL game commissioner, so we basically had to do it all – liaise with the opposition team, setting up for the game, setting up the stats people, looking after the media, looking after both teams,” he recalls.

“The NBL Game Day manager only started about five years ago I reckon so that kept going right up until when the Game Day manager started, and then we took a slightly lesser role, though we’ve basically kept doing what we were doing.

“We don't get to watch the whole game. If there's things going on that you need to be attending to, you don't see much.

“But here we are 23 years later, still doing it and they still keep us.”

Most of what David and Bert do goes unnoticed by many - whether it’s setting up the floor moppers and press conference room or ensuring both teams and broadcasters have statistics at each break.

Though a lot of people don’t see it, their work is very much appreciated from those within the Adelaide 36ers organisation.

And if you ask them, they’re more than happy to continue.

“Volunteers are the lifeblood of any club and I want to stay involved with basketball,” David smiles. “I enjoy it so much.”

“You know, you get to work with like-minded people and people who have a love for basketball,” Bert agrees.

“And the environment of game day is full on but I always get a little bit of a spring in my step come game day.

“I know we might not do a whole lot during the week because we're retired - although I'm still on four boards with basketball including the players union - but come game day, she's on.”