Justin Tatum’s Wollongong: Hoops, heritage and hidden gems

Justin Tatum has experienced the ultimate basketball arenas – seething monster stadiums filled with people, technology and emotion.

In the most recent off-season, the Illawarra Hawks head coach was courtside to watch son Jayson lead his Boston Celtics to win the 2024 NBA Championship and then again in Paris as Jayson and Team USA won the gold medal at the Olympics.

Today, he sits in the humid and humble Snakepit, the spiritual home and training court of the Illawarra Hawks at Beaton Park. It’s a place of much history and sentiment, but it’s hardly the Boston Gardens.

Justin was thrust into the Hawks role unexpectedly mid-season last year after the underperforming team parted ways with their then coach and managed a miraculous turnaround, with the Hawks making the NBL semi-finals.

This season, he again has the Hawks humming and the side boasting a 7-4 win-loss record 11 games into the NBL25 season.

Yet today, we’re not talking basketball. Well, not totally. Today we are here to find out what places in the Illawarra region have captured the attention of coach Tatum during his stint in Wollongong.

And today, as we sit underneath it, it’s an enduring feature of the Snakepit he remembers as catching his attention on day one.

“This first thing I saw when I walked in was that Big Ass Fan … and apparently that’s what it’s called,” Tatum says with a chuckle. And he’s right. That is indeed the brand name of the giant fan which circulates some air to keep the stadium cool.

“It was a different vibe walking in here (to the Snakepit). You know, gyms in the States are way bigger.”

Tatum was lured to Wollongong by the Hawks’ owner Jared Novelly to further his coaching aspirations, although the head coaching opportunity came sooner than expected.

Members of famous families from St Louis in Missouri, Jared and Justin went to the same high school and college four years apart.

When he reflects on his first sighting of his new home, Tatum recalls an experience many a refugee from interstate or overseas has felt when moving to Wollongong.

“I really thought it was beautiful,” Tatum said.

“Especially coming down here, when you are on the hill looking down and you can kind of see the city before you get here … I thought that was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”

It also didn’t take Tatum long to fall in love with the Hawks faithful and the club’s history and heritage. The Hawks remain the only foundation club of the National Basketball League.

“We hear we are a small market team every day, but a source of pride for me is we are the longest tenure team and that shows a lot in the community, right?” Tatum said.

“The community has supported this team when they could have easily folded. I pride myself in the fact I am coaching this team which is not like everyone else. We won’t have all the flashiness and everything other clubs have, but we have longevity. We have long-term passionate fans who love and bleed for the club.”

So, without further ado , just what are Justin Tatum’s three favourite places in Wollongong?

Wollongong Golf Club

“It’s the top one, for sure,” Tatum says.

“I started playing golf during COVID and then when I found out there was a club down the street here I was like, ‘Oh man, I can become a member’. I can just play nine holes and go back home.

“I’m not into competitions. I’m not Tiger Woods or anything like that. I just go out there, have fun. My handicap is at 20 so I’m not that great, but I think that’s fine for me.”

So who is the best golfer in the Hawks?

“Oh, Tyler Harvey,” he says instantly.

Favourite hole at Wollongong?

“The second hole, the par four right on the ocean,” he said.

“It’s not a bad spot. I always take pictures up there.”

WIN Entertainment Centre

“I mean we got a full house a couple times last year and you just hear them support and cheering the whole time, just rocking,” Tatum says with a big grin beaming through his beard.

“And when we won against New Zealand to keep our playoffs going, that was unbelievable.

“Last year we were like a Cinderella team, so everybody was really going for us because of how we went from the bottom to the top.”

And the fact the stadium rests right on the brink of the ocean is not lost on Tatum either.

“When we work out there, we normally have some of the guys run out and go straight to the beach,” he said.

“That’s a beautiful thing, just to be able to go from your gym and walk right out to the beach or your house.”

Wollongong eateries

The eateries of Wollongong, collectively, have made it to numder three on Tatum’s list, with Debutant and Samaras coming in for a special mention.

“Debutant … oh man, I had one of the best steaks I’ve ever had in my life there,” he said.

“And Samaras I go to a lot too. They are my regulars.

“But I’m a big Thai food guy and I’d do Thai more than. Anything.

“Gong Thai right in town I go to a lot.”

As conversation drifts and Tatum starts to think about ordering in his next Thai meal, he notes he will be bringing out his family, ‘his girls’, in December for a visit.

“I mean I have a balcony, so I get a chance to look over and see the ocean and hear the ocean before I go to sleep,” he said.

“So, I tell my girls, it was very relaxing, and that’s why it’s very easy to come to work or get excited to come to work, because I’m ready to go, and I’m not mad at traffic or somebody.

“You know, everything is just easygoing.”

Yeah. Wollongong suits Justin Tatum just fine.

The Hawks play the second-placed New Zealand Breakers at the WEC on Thursday 28 November and are not back at home again until 22 December against the Perth Wildcats. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.