NBL may refer to:

• Any of several basketball leagues named National Basketball League
  • National Basketball League (Australasia), the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia
  • National Basketball League (Bulgaria)
  • National Basketball League of Canada
  • National Basketball League 1993-94 (Canada) (defunct)
  • National Basketball League (China), a men's semi-professional basketball minor league in China
  • National Basketball League (Czech Republic)
  • National Basketball League (Indonesia)
  • National Basketball League (Lithuania), a men's basketball minor league in Lithuania
  • National Basketball League (Malaysia)
  • National Basketball League (New Zealand)
  • National Basketball League (United Kingdom) 1972–2003 (defunct)
  • National Basketball League (United States) 1937–49 (defunct)
  • National Basketball League (1898–1904) (defunct)
• Namibia Breweries Limited
• National Bicycle League (United States)
• National Blackbelt League the world's largest and most prestigious sport karate league tournament
• National Book League (United Kingdom)
• National Bowling League (United States) (defunct)
• n-Butyllithium, an organic compound.
• Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center
• New Brunswick Laboratory
• Noble Energy, an oil and natural gas exploration and production company listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol NBL
• North Bay League, now part of the North Coast Section of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF)
• North Berwick Law, a volcanic plug in East Lothian, Scotland
• North British Locomotive Company

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2010)

John Ausonius
John Ausonius in the projection booth of the Astoria movie theater in Stockholm, 1986.
Born	(1953-07-12) 12 July 1953 (age 58)
Alias(es)	Lasermannen ("the Laser Man") Cykelrånaren ("the Bicycle Bank Robber")
Motive	Racism
Conviction(s)	One count of murder, nine counts of attempted murder, nine counts of robbery
Penalty	Life imprisonment
Status	Incarcerated at Kumla Prison

John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius (born 12 July 1953), known in the media as Lasermannen ("the Laser Man") is a second generation immigrant residing in Sweden convicted murderer, bank robber, and attempted serial killer.^[1][2][3] From August 1991 to January 1992 he shot eleven people in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and seriously injuring the others. He first used a rifle equipped with a laser sight (hence, his nickname), and later switched to a revolver. He was arrested in June 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 1994.^[1][2]

History[link]

Ausonius was born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg in Lidingö east of Stockholm, Sweden, the son of a Swiss father and a German mother who had both immigrated to Sweden. He grew up in Vällingby, a working class suburb of Stockholm. According to newspaper reports, he was bullied as a child because of his non-Swedish background, which manifested in him being teased for having very black hair and brown eyes. As an adult, he bleached his hair blonde, used blue contact lenses and legally changed his name, first to John Wolfgang Alexander Stannerman, and later to John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius to disguise his non-Swedish surname. He went to the German school in Stockholm, a private school, but dropped out before graduating. He later completed his secondary school education in an adult education programme and managed to get accepted to the Royal Institute of Technology, but dropped out after a couple of years of unsuccessful study. Ausonius is known to be a movie-fan, his favourite movies were the Monty Python films, especially Life of Brian; also, more in tune with his crimes, he liked Death Wish, a movie he rented many times and rewatched often. Swedish media wrote about the possibility that Ausonius's first plan to only kill immigrants who were criminals came from watching this movie.^{[citation needed]}

Following the Olof Palme assassination in 1986, Ausonius, then named John Stannerman, was one of the police’s initial suspects for the murder. However, Stannerman could not be linked to the murder since he was in prison, serving a multiple-count assault sentence, the night Palme was shot. In prison he also got to know the Ustasa-terrorist Miro Baresic, who was sentenced to life in Sweden after he and his friend shot a Yugoslavian ambassador in Stockholm to death. Ausonius looked up to Baresic and had him tell everything about his life of war and terrorism.

As an adult, he espoused hatred for Communists, Social Democrats, and immigrants, and dreamed about getting rich.^{[citation needed]} At the time he was working a low-paying job as a taxi-driver, but started trading in stocks and bonds. He had a talent for the market and quickly earned a fairly large fortune. He adopted the yuppie life-style, and by the late 80's he not only had a luxurious apartment, a Japanese sports car (a Toyota Supra — he despised the Porsche that many other yuppies drove at that time), but also a mobile phone, which before the 90's was a luxury item usually associated with jet-set lifestyle. However, poorly chosen investments depleted his fortune, and when he became addicted to gambling on a trip to Germany, he found himself in dire economic circumstances. He turned to robbing banks to maintain his lifestyle.^[4] He performed more than eighteen robberies, all in almost identical fashion.

Ausonius, who had become a Swedish citizen in 1979, had a strong hatred for immigrants and foreigners, and so started to look for immigrant criminals to kill. Eventually he got tired of this and decided to simply kill an immigrant, any immigrant, which he hoped would scare them all out of the country.^[4]

Victims

• On 3 August 1991, the Laser Man shot his first person. The victim was David Gebremariam, a 21-year-old immigrant to Sweden from Eritrea, whom Ausonius shot in the back. The victim, however, survived.^[3] Two of the victim's friends said they saw a circle of red light on his body before they heard the shot.

• On the evening of 21 October 1991, outside the Stockholm University, Shahram Khosravi, a 25-year-old student of Iranian origin, was shot in the face but survived.^[3]
• On the night of 27 October 1991, Dimitrios Karamalegos, a homeless man of Greek origin was shot twice in the stomach.^[3] The victim saw a bright red light, heard the shots but managed to run away. Although wounded, he survived.
• In the middle of the day of 1 November 1991, Ausonius walked into a restaurant kitchen in Stockholm where he had seen an immigrant and shot him once in the head and several times in the stomach. The victim, Heberson Vieira Da Costa, a musician from Brazil,^[3] saw a red light before he was shot, and got a good look at his assailant. The victim survived, seriously wounded, but was able to give a description of the Laser Man to the police.
• Ausonius continued his shootings and, on 8 November 1991, he mortally wounded Jimmy Ranjbar, another Iranian student, who died the next day.^[3]

Ausonius then went to Las Vegas to gamble and visit the Grand Canyon. The Laser Man disappeared for a few months, but he would return.

• On 22 January 1992, Ausonius went to Uppsala, where he walked up to a couple, and shot the man in the head. The victim, Erik Bongcam-Rudloff, was a Ph.D. student in medical sciences.^[3] He survived and is now a scientist representing Sweden in several international scientific networks.
• 23 January 1992, back in Stockholm, Ausonius shot Charles Dhlakama, a black bus driver, originally from Zimbabwe, in the middle of the day. The victim was shot in the chest but survived.^[3] That evening, Ausonius walked into a Somali club in central Stockholm and shot two men, both of whom also survived.^[3]
• On the night of 28 January 1992, Ausonius walked up to a kiosk where Isa Aybar, an immigrant of Turkish origin, was working. Ausonius shot him four times in the head and arm, and walked away. Aybar was seriously wounded but managed to call the police and survived.^[3]
• On 30 January 1992 Ausonius shot Hasan Zatara in the head, a Palestinian store owner, in Hägerstensåsen, paralyzing but not killing him.^[3]

Ausonius is also the main suspect for murdering a Jewish woman on 23 February 1992, in Frankfurt, Germany.^{[citation needed]} But the investigation by German police has been dropped and Ausonius will probably never be linked to this crime.

Having been in the army between 1981–1982, Ausonius knew how to use a weapon. However, his guns were of poor quality, very likely because Ausonius had modified them himself. He sawed off both the barrel and the stock of his first rifle to make it shorter, and he fitted the Smith & Wesson revolver with a silencer. This modification may have been the key to his failures in killing most of his victims as it deviated the bullet's trajectory and consequently caused him to miss his victims. It was amateurishly done and damaged the weapon's performance.^[3]

The police started a massive manhunt (second in size only to the hunt for Olof Palme's killer) and Ausonius was arrested during a bank robbery on 12 June 1992.^[1] He later assaulted his own lawyer in court and spent the rest of his trial in handcuffs. He was convicted of murder and robbery, but could not be linked to all of the shootings (although he confessed to all of them in 2000).^[4] He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and is currently^[update] serving it in Kumla Prison.

On 21 December 2010, the Örebro District Court rejected John Ausonius's application to have his life sentence commuted to a fixed term.

Media[link]

The journalist Gellert Tamas wrote a book about the case, Lasermannen - en berättelse om Sverige (2002), which became a bestseller. The book, which is very detailed, was published without consulting the victims first.^{[citation needed]} The author's personal opinions not only deals with Ausonius and his life story, but also with Sweden in general, speculating that his actions were in part explained by a surge of xenophobic sentiments in the country in the early 1990s, including the success of the Ny Demokrati right-wing party in the election.

In 2005, the book was adapted into a play, and the same year SVT produced a three-part TV miniseries, which premiered on 23 November. Ausonius was played by David Dencik.

Engagement[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2011)

In late April 2006, the daily Aftonbladet revealed that John Ausonius had become engaged to an anonymous 23 year old woman, who had fallen in love with him after having seen a recent television miniseries. According to the paper, a friend of the woman said the couple were planning to move abroad after Ausonius' putative release from prison by 2031. The couple are now no longer together.

See also[link]

• Lasermannen (TV series), a TV series based on Ausonius' crimes

References[link]

Darryl McDonald
Position	Guard
Nickname	D-Mac
Height	192 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	89 kg (196 lb)
Team	Retired
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1964-06-17) 17 June 1964 (age 48) New York, U.S.
College/University	Texas A&M University
Debut	1994
Previous Clubs	Oklahoma City Cavalry (CBA) 1990-91 Sioux Falls Skyforce (CBA) 1991-93 North Melbourne Giants 1994-98 Victoria Titans/Giants 1999-2003 Melbourne Tigers 2003-2008
Championships	1994, 2006, 2008
Career Highlights	All NBL First Team 1994-96 NBL Good Hands Award 1994-97 NBL All-Star Game MVP 1996, 2006 NBL Best Sixth Man 2004 NBL leader in steals 1994-97, 1999-2001, 2003

Darryl McDonald (born 17 June 1964) is a retired American-Australian professional basketball player who last played for the Melbourne Tigers in Australia's National Basketball League. Known as "D-Mac," he attended Texas A&M University and formerly played with the now defunct NBL teams the North Melbourne Giants, Victoria Titans and Victoria Giants.

McDonald has played in over 485 NBL games, and was a starting member of the teams which won the 1994, 2006, and 2008 NBL Championships, and has twice been named the NBL All-Star Game MVP. In 2011, he was the interim Coach for the Melbourne Tigers, and he is currently the 1sts Basketball Coach at Wesley College, Melbourne and the Head Coach for the Hawthorn Magic Boys under 16s program. His team has reached the Grand Final of the Victorian Junior Basketball League 1.

Early years[link]

Born in New York and growing up on the streets of Harlem, McDonald learned to play basketball on the tough New York playground courts such as the famous Rucker Park. Known as "Mr. Excitement" and "D-Mac: The Playground King.",^[1] he battled against New York playground legends such as The Terminator, Master Rob and Pookie Wilson as well as future NBA stars Rod Strickland and Mario 'The Jedi' Elie.^[2]

Basketball playing career[link]

College[link]

McDonald played basketball for Westchester Community College after his graduation from high school.^[2] After hearing about the young point guard, Texas A&M coach Shelby Metcalf travelled to Harlem in 1985 to see McDonald play on the playgrounds. Thoroughly impressed, Metcalf began recruiting McDonald to come to Texas and play for the Aggies.^[1] Fortunately for Metcalf, McDonald had already decided to leave New York. His neighborhood in Harlem was very dangerous, and McDonald's brother had in fact been shot and killed by robbers in early 1985. After agreeing to attend Texas A&M, McDonald spent the first few days of his stay in College Station in his dorm room, convinced that the number of gun racks he saw on pickup trucks throughout town meant the area was as dangerous as the place he had left.^[2]

His early years in Texas were frustrating as Metcalf tried to change's McDonald's style of play. McDonald was a "creative and flashy" player who liked playing to the crowd. With superb instincts, McDonald had a knack for stealing the ball but had difficulty playing straight-up defence. Metcalf finally agreed to allow McDonald to play as he saw fit, with good results.^[2] In 1987, McDonald led the Aggies to the Southwest Conference Tournament Championship, despite the fact that the Aggies entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed after losing nine of their last eleven conference games. For his performance, McDonald was named the tournament MVP.^[3] Their victory earned the team an automatic bid to the 1987 NCAA Tournament, Metcalf's final tournament appearance, and the last for the Aggies until 2006.^[1] The Aggies played a tough game against Duke but ultimately lost their first-round game, exiting the tournament.

Professional[link]

After graduating from Texas A&M, McDonald spent several years playing in the relative obscurity of the Canadian NBL, where he was named an All-Star in 1993 while playing to Cape Breton, and the CBA where he played for the Oklahoma City Cavalry and the Sioux Falls Skyforce.^[4] A chance encounter led D-Mac's career Down Under. Brett Brown, at the time coach of the North Melbourne Giants, was watching a tape of a CBA game to scout a different player. As soon as he saw D-Mac, he knew that was the player he wanted.^{[citation needed]}

In McDonald's first year in the league in 1994, he led the Giants to the championship and was named the runner-up NBL Most Valuable Player and the runner-up NBL Best Defensive player. For each of his first three years (1994–1997), McDonald led the league in assists and steals, winning the NBL Good Hands Award each year, and was again named runner-up NBL Most Value Player in 1997. From 1995-1997 he played in the NBL All Star-Game, becoming the MVP of the 1996 game. McDonald was named to the All-NBL First Team from 1994–1996 and to the All-NBL Second team in 1997.^[4]

McDonald continued to remain with his team when they merged into the Victoria Titans in 1999 under coach Brian Goorjian, and then becoming a member of the Victoria Giants after the Titans folded in 2002. Despite finishing second in the NBL in assists in 2002 and 2003, and being the NBL leader in steals in 2001 and 2003, McDonald was sacked by the Giants after the 2003 season as they decided to move in a younger direction.^[4][5]

The Melbourne Tigers quickly picked him up, and he served as a backup to Andrew Gaze and Lanard Copeland for two seasons,^[5] earning NBL Best Sixth Man honors in 2004.^[4] The 2005-06 season saw McDonald return to the starting lineup, and his play saw many sporting commentators wonder how his 42 year old body was able to sustain his elite level of play and athleticism.^[5] McDonald helped lead the Tigers to the 2006 championship, outclassing many of his younger opponents along the way, including starting Australian Boomers point guard CJ Bruton. He was named among the finalist for the NBL's 25th Anniversary Team, finishing 17th in the final voting, and was named to the 2006 NBL Aussie All-Star Team, where he was named the MVP.^[4]

McDonald signed a contract extension to lead the Tigers past his 44th birthday. His contract also gives him the opportunity to coach a Melbourne Tigers developmental team in the offseason.^[2] Despite his age, he was still one of the quickest and most explosive players in the NBL, but rarely played a full game due to his age and limited stamina. He retired after Game 5 of the 2007/08 Grand Final Series.

Personal life[link]

McDonald now has dual American/Australian citizenship.^[2] He has seven children, all of whose names start with D, who were born between 1980 and 2004. Although four of his children live in the United States, McDonald, his partner Tania, and the other children live in Melbourne.^[5]

McDonald once appeared on Judge Judy to debate a custody hearing for one of his children. The case was held shortly after his season finished in Australia, with McDonald just making it to the trial.

His oldest son, Derrick, who plays for the Melbourne Tigers Big V (VBL) team, and was able to make the Tigers' roster as a developmental player in the 2006-07 season. D-Mac was able to share court time with him throughout the season, starting with the pre-season competition, the Singapore Cup, and leading into the Grand Final series. This was widely regarded as a first in professional basketball.

In 2007 Darryl began coaching the Wesley College Firsts basketball team. This was the beginning of an amazing season in which Wesley College were a surprise package in the APS competition, finishing on top with 7 wins 1 loss moving into the final 3 games. McDonald has continued coaching the Wesley Firsts in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and is currently coaching for the 2012 season.

Currently, Darryl is involved with basketball coaching at AUBD, a basketball program run by NBA veteran Sedale Threatt and his son Sedale Threatt Jr.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Darryl McDonald Profile