Len Ettridge obituary: how he beat the odds to become a farming sports star

Basketball is about throws and hoops, but when faced with jumping through the hoops of life, Len Ettridge endured more challenges than most people. As a 19-year-old farmhand and shearer, he was keen on basketball and other sports, but his life changed one day on a farm in the Wheatbelt town of Mukinbudin. While on a kangaroo shoot, there was a gun accident. He became a survivor, wheelchair basketballer and much more. Determination drove his wheels. He became a sports coach. His parents, his six sisters and three brothers gave every help on Len’s road back to as normal a life as possible. Many years later, having as coach and player shared the glory of many basketball teams’ championship wins, he was on a plane to a mine site in northern WA. The company had paid for him to bring a vital message for employees. The message? Safety. You, members of this work team, he confirmed, need to be careful every minute of the day. One slip, one moment, and you face a lifetime of regret. Len should know. On other days, in the Perth offices of mining companies, he had the same lesson to offer managers. Anyone could tell that Len had moved on. He had bounced back as well as any basketball hitting the backboard. He bounced in so many directions, achieving far more than playing wheelchair sport. He earned a living as bookkeeper and as bank teller. He was an armature winder with electrical machinery. He bred sheepdogs with such passion that he was known as the southern hemisphere’s most successful breeder. Having taught himself guitar, he went full country and western. His version of When The Rain Tumbles Down In July delighted many audiences and would surely have impressed the song’s main deliverer, Slim Dusty. Let the Canefields Burn was another Len regular. Len’s voice as volunteer radio announcer was prized by Capital Community Radio 101.7 FM. He was a long-time host of Country Crossover, a Wednesday program targeted at Perth people and country WA. The music and announcements spread widely, including communities like the one where he had grown up on the family farm. Leonard Arthur Ettridge was born in Esperance on December 19, 1947, the fifth of 10 children of Roma (nee Hubon) and Arthur Ettridge. Way back, Arthur had been granted land at Frankland, 60km south of Kojonup, and established a farm he named Kookaroo. Len or Lenny, as he soon became, attended school in Frankland and at home learned agricultural essentials. He was a champion athlete through to Grade 7 and played in Frankland’s football team. Becoming a shearer was one of his aims. In a folder full of press cuttings shown proudly by the Ettridge family, the headlines stand out. “No mountain too high”, “Katanning man beats the odds”, “Len’s reason to be proud” are just a few. He made the front page of The Australian, too, in a photo captioned “Disabled farmer Mr Len Ettridge herds sheep with his dog Rex”. Katanning is where Len made a lifelong friend, Chris Oversby, who saw in Len a potential employment officer. Len proved adept at finding jobs for people too long unemployed. His approach combined competence and kindness. He did not chase headlines. They chased him. WA’s basketball authorities have lists of teams, wheelchair and able-bodied, that excelled under his leadership. Perth Wheelcats was one team to hit the heights internationally, winning the World Club Championship in Japan in 2007. A former member of Wanneroo Wolves, Shaun McKeon, became another firm friend of the man who thrived on competitiveness and teamwork. “Len was also such an entertainer,” says Shaun. “Those guitar solos at the (Burswood) Superdome . . . great stuff.” In February 1972 Len married Christine Nokes. Their son, Ben, would grow up to be an accomplished basketballer and coach. Their daughter, Kirsty, is a netballer who praises her father for spending hours in paddocks, timing her laps and giving fine motivational advice. If Len were asked if he had a hero, it would be the world-famous spinal surgeon who saved his life, Sir George Bedbrook. Len spent nine months at Shenton Park Rehabilitation Hospital, where he met Frank Ponta and Bill Mather-Brown, who had both represented Australia in wheelchair sports. “I could wheel myself down that path,” Len thought. He could indeed. In 1984, the year he turned 37, he heard that Sir George had established the Paraplegic Benefit Fund. A gateway to a decent life was opened for people with significant disabilities and their families. Len’s diagnosis of lung cancer proved a major setback, but he kept busy. He died on December 2, survived by Christine, their two children, three grandchildren, and Len’s sisters, Pamela, Thelma, Diane and Janice, and brothers, Mervyn, Tom and Alan. Two other sisters, Aileen and Carolyn, predeceased him. Len’s dogs have rounded up sheep all over the world. For this indefatigable breeder/trainer, Brandy and Sherry were not so much drinks as favourite four-legged friends. Len Ettridge Basketball coach, farmer and musician Born: Esperance, 1947 Died: Perth, aged 75