Basketball was quite big at the time because of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and later Michael Jordan. People wanted to play the sport.
Being a dwarf didn't help and I was one-handed. But I was a tenacious defender and very fit, and I had a good vertical jump.
Mike Hurring was the big star at the time playing for Otago Boys'. He was very tall and we used to turn up with players like Garth Freeman and Hoani Smith before they went to Logan Park. Mike was a great athlete. King's were competitive, like us.
We just loved it. We were blown out by 60 points by Otago Boys' once we lost our top players, but it was a fantastic era to get into basketball.
In 1986, Spud Webb won the slam dunk championship. And he's one of the shortest players ever in the NBA. He had a great jump and he beat all the big guys. That's how I became an Atlanta Hawks fan.
It was hard to follow the NBA back then. You'd get a few scores in the newspaper, maybe find the odd magazine. I think there was one game a week on TV and it always seemed to be the Sonics or maybe the Celtics-Lakers.
I built this sort of fanciful image of the Atlanta Hawks being a fantastic team. Then I discovered one of their players was Dominique Wilkins, the human highlight film. It was all very exciting.
But it's a sad fact that the Hawks are basically known for a lack of success. They've only won one championship, in 1958.
I have certainly lost faith over the years. I followed them closely through the 1990s with guys like Dikembe Mutumbo and Mookie Blaylock and Steve Smith.
They've made some terrible decisions through the draft and their trades. There have been massive holes in the organisation.
I guess if there's anything I've learned, it's that if you don't have good ownership and a good general manager, you can have talent and a good coach but you're not going to have a great team.
As a fan, it just seems the Hawks make poor decisions at pivotal times.
They were killed in the 2000s because they drafted so badly. I think they were the only team to have four seasons in a row where they lost more than 50 games. So it was pretty horrendous.
I lost a bit of interest when they were so awful. So much so I ended up encouraging my son to support the Celtics.
Things have picked up. They changed ownership, changed general manager and they drafted some key guys with leadership skills.
For a long time, the Hawks were picking up players who had talent but also had off-field issues. If you select on character - and I work with coaches at the moment for whom character is paramount - you will do better.
The Hawks have become more of a team and as a result are playing better.
We have quite a few NFL fans in the All Blacks. There aren't too many who are mad on basketball but a few of the boys wear some NBA shirts. Keven Mealamu and Jerome Kaino are sort of into it.
A friend went through Atlanta years ago and got me a Dominique Wilkins singlet. It was on sale because he'd just been traded.
I've never seen the Hawks but I was lucky enough to visit the Phoenix Suns and get invited into their locker room. I met Shaquille O'Neal and stood on a step to shake his hand. And I talked to Steve Nash.
He was very engaging and he knew all about rugby. He knew Graham Henry had been in Canada that week.
To me, it's still a fantasy existence being a Hawks fan. I don't think I need to go see them live. And in terms of my professional development, I think I've learned a lot more from the All Blacks.
Sometimes I wish it had turned out differently. It would have been great to have been a Celtics fan. But I'm stuck with the Hawks.
Pete Gallagher
All Black physiotherapist
• Team: Atlanta Hawks.
• Sport: Basketball.
• Fan since: 1986.
• Favourite players: Spud Webb, Dominique Wilkins, Mookie Blaylock and Al Horford.
• Greatest moment: There hasn't been one.
• Been to Philips Arena?: No.
- As told to Hayden Meikle.
