This Sunday afternoon at Nunawading Stadium, David Biwer will take to the basketball court for the 300th time in his SEABL career. Biwer is the tenth player to reach the league milestone after 13 years in the competition.

His career achievements speak for themselves. A three time National ABA Champion, five times CBA/SEABL Conference Champion and two-time MVP award winner. His streak of finals appearances currently stands at eleven consecutive seasons.

Biwer was recruited to Australia from Central Washington University where he played 114 games on an outstanding team that was ranked third in the nation twice. He was promoted to captain and starter in his junior year, playing in the small forwards position and making the most of his point guard passing skills developed during his high school days.

In his senior year at college he led the team in rebounding playing alongside a freshman and another SEABL import, Jason Pepper. All time at CWU Biwer is ranked 5th in steals, 6th in block shots and 7th in total rebounds.

Biwer headed to Australia at the end of his college career in 1989 and landed a spot playing with Shoalhaven on the NSW Central Coast. In that season he played alongside SEABL and NBL champion Damon Lowery, whom coincidently was also making his Australian debut. The two dominated the competition in a season that returned 33 wins 0 losses and a state championship.

Lowery has fond memories of his year alongside Biwer. “Dave would grab the board, lead the break and I would simply run the lane. We dominated.”

In that season Lowery recalls one game in particular where the group thumped Bankstown, the next best team in the competition, by 43 points. “Dave and I never took things too seriously at Shoalhaven. I can vividly remember Dave asking the coach after the match was it really necessary that we continued training.”

Biwer returned to Australia in 1992 to play with Launceston in a season where he had a single game career high of 51 points, on 21 from 29 field goals and no three-point attempts. It would also be his last game for Launceston; a season where he averaged 29.5 points a game.

After taking a season off whilst working in the Tasmanian seafood industry, Biwer returned to the CBA a year later averaging 30.3 points per game playing with the North West Tasmania ‘Originals’ in Devonport. During his time at the club, the team made the finals for the first time and won a Conference and National Championship crown in 1996.

In 1997, a job offer saw Biwer move to Hobart to help the Tassie Devils prepare a bid to re-enter the NBL. The move saw Hobart move from bottom of the ladder with no wins, to Conference Champions in 1997, 1998 and National Champions in 2000 and 2002.

Head Coach of the Hobart Chargers, Mark Chivers enjoyed six great years working alongside Biwer. Most notably coach Chivers puts Biwer’s success down to leadership. “There were never ever any team issues when Dave was around and he always seemed to know what to say to the players when I was lost for words. He is a legend. He is every coaches dream and a great friend.”

His success at ABA level went relatively unnoticed by NBL clubs until an opportunity arose to play for the resurrected Victoria Giants. In 2003 Biwer would finish second in the NBL rookie of the Year award at the tender age of 36, averaging 8 points per game over his two seasons with the club.

A new chapter opened on Biwer’s career when he was recruited to the Nunawading Spectres after the teams 2-9 start to the 2004 season. With Biwer’s addition, the team experienced instant success closing out the season on a nine game winning streak and making it all the way to the Conference Grand Final.

Now 39 years of age, Biwer continues to mix it with the best in the SEABL playing for the Spectres. Just last weekend on Nunawading’s road trip to Tasmania, Biwer passed some significant personal milestones being only the fifth man in league history to pass 7,000 career points and claiming the all time rebounding record from Eric Cooks with just fewer than 4,000 boards.

Spectres Head Coach Rohan Short hopes that those who have enjoyed watching Biwer play will help share in his achievements by getting down to the game this Sunday at Nunawading. “He holds a very special place in the hearts of many teammates, opponents and fans across the league. It will be a privilege and an honour for our team to walk out there with him on Sunday.”

Nunawading take on the Mildura Mavericks for the O’Sullivan/Smythe Trophy at 2:30 pm at Nunawading Basketball Centre this Sunday afternoon.