SIX new athletes have joined the cream of the state’s sporting crop, after being inducted into the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame at the SA Sport Awards at the Adelaide Oval’s Magarey Room on Friday night.

NAT VON BERTOUCH

THERE are few South Australian netball names held in higher esteem than former Australian Diamonds captain Nat von Bertouch.

She was not the most gifted player. But throughout her career, von Bertouch was greatly admired for her incredible tenacity, never-give-in attitude and ability to carry a team to victory on her shoulders.

Reliability and team-first mentality were trademarks, while humility was a constant throughout her illustrious career.

Von Bertouch’s captaincy style was to lead by example and she did that with remarkable consistency. Team-mates had the utmost respect for the champion midcourter.

The name Natalie von Bertouch is a comfortable fit for the state’s Sport Hall of Fame.

Maybe the competitive determination of von Bertouch was born as she bided her time on the Thunderbirds bench waiting for an opening in the line-up. There was no easy ride onto netball’s biggest stages.

Once her opportunity was presented, however, her game exploded and she stamped herself as one of the club’s greats in her 13 years with the Adelaide club.

After making her debut for the Diamonds in 2004, von Bertouch had a key role in the triumph over arch rival New Zealand in the World Cup final in Auckland in 2007. The same year she was honoured as the Diamonds player of the year.

The following year she was elevated to vice-captain of the national team. In 2011, von Bertouch was promoted to captain in the absence of injured Sharelle McMahon and led the Diamonds to a successful World Cup title defence in Singapore.

Von Bertouch’s impact on Australian netball was no more glaring than in 2010.

As co-captain of the Thunderbirds, she sparked the side to premiership glory in the trans Tasman league, repeated her 2009 win as Australian player of the year in the competition and claimed the Liz Ellis Diamond.

She called a halt to her career in 2013, just days after leading the Thunderbirds to their second crown. And appropriately she was named the Players’ Player as well as fan favourite.

- Warren Partland

PHIL ROGERS

WORLD champion and two-time Olympic medallist Phil Rogers has become just the second swimmer to be inducted into the KPMG SA Sport Hall of Fame.

The 46-year-old who won world championship gold in 1993 and bronze medals at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics has joined Paralympic star Matthew Cowdrey as swimmers to have been recognised with the honour.

Rogers was a breaststroke specialist who competed in the Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney Olympics. He claimed his first bronze medal in 1992 in the 100m breaststroke and finished sixth in the 200m breaststroke final.

Four years later in Atlanta he added another bronze medal in the men’s 4x100m medley relay while finishing fifth in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke finals.

Rogers continued swimming to the Sydney Olympics where he missed the final in the 100m breaststroke.

Along the way he won two Commonwealth Games gold medals both in Victoria, Canada in 1994 and became a long course world hampion in 1998 in Perth in the 4x100m medley relay.

The Adelaide swimmer dominated in short course events, winning four gold and one silver in world championships from 1993 to 1999.

“This one (hall of fame) is massive, it came completely out of the blue, I had no idea that I was in the running,” Rogers said.

“To get a phone call one day was a complete shock but a nice one.”

Rogers now works as a station officer with the Metropolitan Fire Service and still swims once a week with a water polo squad and this year competed in the Police and Fire World Games in Los Angeles where not surprisingly he won four gold medals.

- Reece Homfray

CHRIS DITTMAR

THERE is a single statistic which best reflects the true value of former squash champion Chris Dittmar’s career.

In 1993, the left-hander rose to the pinnacle of the sport when ranked No. 1 in the game. It was an incredible achievement given Dittmar played during the golden era of the sport, and when Pakistani superstars Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan were in their prime.

If not for those two legends of the game, Dittmar’s resume would have been more impressive. Fives times he was runner-up in the World Open and twice the beaten finalist at the British Open.

In all seven finals, he lost to one of the Khans and Dittmar is considered the best player never to have won either of squash’s two most prestigious crowns.

Dittmar learned his craft on the courts at Alberton, joining another left-handed great from the club, Vicki Cardwell, onto the world tour.

It was obvious he was destined for a prolific career when he claimed the British Open junior title as well as being runner-up in two world junior championships.

His semi-final triumph over Jahangir in the 1989 world open in Kuala Lumpur when he won 15-13 in the fifth set is among the classic squash contests of all time. The following day he had a two-set lead over Jansher in the final, only to tire and lose in five.

Dittmar’s lengthy list of wins includes three victories in the Australian, Canadian, European and New Zealand Opens and two South African Opens.

He was ranked No. 2 or 3 in the world for lengthy periods.

- Warren Partland

KATRINA WEBB

KATRINA Webb was a teenage netball prodigy at the Australian Institute of Sport when she discovered she had cerebral palsy.

Instead of losing heart, the SA-born talent redirected her efforts towards athletics, winning seven Paralympic medals and inspiring a generation of sportspeople with disabilities.

Webb collected three golds from three Games during her glittering career on the track.

But her emergence as a Paralympic star came about by chance in 1995 when AIS staff diagnosed a weakness on the right side of her body as a mild case of cerebral palsy.

Chris Nunn, then Australia’s head coach of athletes with a disability, took Webb under his wing and set her on the path to success.

The following year she won the T36-37 100m and T34-37 200m at the Atlanta Paralympics, as well as claiming silver in the F34-37 long jump.

The qualified physiotherapist backed up the effort with two silvers (T38 100m and 400m) and a bronze (T38 200m) at Sydney 2000, where she was a torchbearer in the opening ceremony.

Webb, who also won a world title and broke a world record in javelin in 1998, completed her Paralympic career with a T38 400m gold medal in Athens.

But her achievements stretched well beyond the sporting arena.

The mother-of-two gained a reputation as an engaging and motivating public speaker.

Webb, now 40, was one of four athletes to present at the United Nations International Year of Sport and Physical Education closing ceremony in New York in 2006.

She has worked closely with the Australian Paralympic Committee and Novita Children’s Services, and has been an ambassador for Minda and the Premier’s Be Active Challenge.

- Rob Greenwood

BRETT AITKEN

BRETT Aitken was at the centre of one of Australia’s greatest Olympic triumphs in 2000 when he teamed with Scott McGrory to win the inaugural madison gold medal.

Not only did their victory give Australian cycling its first Olympic gold medal since Los Angeles in 1984 but it capped a remarkable story of resilience and inspiration.

Earlier in the year Aitken considered giving the sport away after his daughter was diagnosed with a neurological disorder but he was convinced to ride on to the Games. But his and McGrory’s plans hit another unimaginable hurdle when 10 weeks before the Olympics, McGrory lost his infant son. Through their adversity they created a bond which ultimately led to Olympic glory in the two-man madison event in Sydney.

“I had a few highlights in my career including the world record and world championship in the team pursuit (in 1993) but it was as if everything was leading to that one moment in Sydney in 2000,” Aitken said.

The Sydney Games was Aitken’s third Olympics after he debuted in Barcelona in 1992 and was part of Australia’s men’s team pursuit which won silver in the final. He returned to the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 where this time the men’s team pursuit finished third and won a bronze medal. Aitken also rode the team pursuit in Sydney where they finished fifth.

Aitken, who is now a head cycling coach with the South Australian Sports Institute, also had significant success at world championship and Commonwealth level throughout his career, winning two gold, one silver and one bronze medal in the 4km team pursuit.

Last night he was inducted into the SA Sport Hall of Fame.

“It’s a huge honour to be in the hall of fame, these things pop up and surprise you,” he said.

“But I’m happy it’s been delayed a bit because my girls are now old enough (13) to appreciate it so they’re excited about the night and I’m excited about sharing it with them.”

- Reece Homfray

CLARRIE GRIMMETT

IN 248 first class matches Clarrie Grimmett took bags of five wickets or more in a single innings 127 times. Don Bradman hit 117 centuries in 234 matches.

If you equate a five wicket haul with a century, Grimmett’s bowling record is better than Bradman’s batting record.

Born in New Zealand, Grimmett’s burning ambition was to play Test cricket. In 1914 Grimmett set sail for Sydney; then Melbourne, finally Adelaide, the “haven for unwanted bowlers…”

Vic Richardson wanted Grimmett in his team. An immediate success for SA Grimmett made his Test debut in the final Ashes contest of the 1924-25 summer at the SCG taking 11/82.

Some debut.

From 1924-1941 Grimmett wheeled down 28,467 balls for South Australia and he still heads the all-time wicket tally in the Sheffield Shield with 513 at 25.29. In 37 Tests he took 216 wickets at 24.21 and in first-class cricket he bagged 1424 wickets at 22.58 with a career best single innings effort of 10/37 against Yorkshire in 1930.

He always wore a scarlet woollen vest under his cricket shirt and while he was often called Grum and the old fox, his best-known nickname was Scarlet.

Grimmett dismissed Bradman 10 times in his career, including the Grimmett-Richardson Testimonial match at Adelaide Oval in November 1937.

Late on the Friday Vic Richardson said: “Scarlet we need a wicket badly, but we also want Bradman to stay for the bumper crowd tomorrow.” Bradman had inferred that Grimmett had “lost” his ability to turn his leg-break.

Just before stumps, Grimmett spun a leg break prodigiously to defeat the master.

- Ashley Mallett

HONOUR ROLL

LEGENDS

Sir Donald Bradman (cricket)

Bart Cummings (horse racing)

Barrie Robran (Aust. Rules Football)

HALL OF FAME

Simon Fairweather (archery)

Lisa Ondieki (athletics)

Ron Sharpe (baseball)

Phil Smyth (basketball)

Clem Hill (cricket)

Mike Turtur (cycling)

Gillian Rolton (equestrian)

Malcolm Blight (aust. rules football)

John Kosmina (soccer)

Juliet Haslam (hockey)

Vern Schuppan (motorsport)

Victor Richardson (multi sport)

Michelle den Dekker (netball)

Kate Allen - nee Slatter (rowing)

Vicki Hoffmann - nee Cardwell (squash)

Mark Woodforde (tennis)

Dean Lukin (weightlifting)

Dianne Burge (athletics)

Ian Chappell (cricket)

Fos Williams (aust. rules football)

Jane Carter (golf)

Robert Haigh (hockey)

Adrian Quist (tennis)

Kerri Pottharst (volleyball)

Brian Sando (medical)

Rachael Sporn (basketball)

Alexander Tonkin (soccer)

Neil Fuller (paralympics)

Russell Ebert (aust. rules football)

Charlie Walsh (cycling)

Kathryn Harby-Williams (netball)

Sir James Hardy (yachting)

Kenneth McGregor (tennis)

Jack Oatey (aust. rules football)

Jenny Williams (lacrosse)

Colin Hayes (horse racing)

George Giffen (cricket)

Christine Burton (netball)

Lynette Fullston (netball)

Kerry O’Brien (athletics)

Karen Rolton (cricket)

Sandra Pisani (hockey)

Norm Claxton (baseball)

Lorraine Eiler (basketball)

Robert Newbery (diving)