As a schoolboy, Burdett was an accomplished cricketer and baseball player, earning several distinctions, but nonetheless took up basketball at the suggestions of some of his teammates. Thus he did not start playing competitively until age 18, but quickly demonstrated his talent with the Old Boy’s Institute squad. He won a national title with the team in 1953 and eventually attracted enough attention with the South Australian regional squad to join the national team for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. There, Australia was eliminated in round one and ranked 12th out of 15 nations. He retired from active competition the following year.
Australia