WHEN the Meteors' Luke Harvey first met Sir Reggie Biddings at the Kooyong Hotel he had no idea he was a record breaking basketball star.

Biddings was famously known throughout the region for his carBq, which he had parked at the Kooyong when Harvey met him about four years ago.

Sir Reggie Biddings with his CarBq in Mackay. Lee Constable

They hit it off and connected through their love of basketball.

"I found out he played in the NBL for so many years and sat on the bench for the New York Knicks in the NBA,” Harvey said.

"When I first met him I thought he was mucking around.”

Biddings then got out photos of him playing and showed Harvey.

"He had a shed full of all different medals and trophies and stuff, it was all true,” he laughed.

The pair grew close over the years, so news of Biddings' death about three weeks ago shocked Harvey to the core.

"I never knew he was ever sick, no one really knew,” he said.

Harvey had just talked to Biddings over the phone that week, while he was in hospital in Mackay. Biddings told Harvey he felt fine and was just getting a few tests done.

About a week later, Sir Reggie Biddings died from stage four colon cancer. He was 59.

"It was a shock, not just to me but to everyone. Everyone loved him,” Harvey said.

A message from a friend offering condolences to Harvey was how he found out.

"It was 9.30 at night, I couldn't sleep,” Harvey said.

"It was so sudden, I didn't even think anything like that would happen.”

Biddings grew up in the beautiful Catskill Mountain in New York State. Reg found his calling with a ball in his hands and playing college basketball before being drafted in the NBA, playing in Europe and Australia.

Calling Australia home for 30 years, Reg not only had a successful basketball career, but owned clothing shops, marketing firms and nightclubs.

But to Harvey, Biddings was like a coach.

He said Biddings would always talk about scoring the most points in a game - 63 - whilst playing for the Forestville Eagles in 1981.

Reggie Biddings with the Mackay Meteors on Mad Monday a couple of years ago.

The record was broken three years later but still remains number two all-time and still holds the mark for 40-minute games.

The record was achieved before the three-point line was established and was 17 points better than any NBL player had ever recorded.

"He would talk about how he used to be so good at basketball he would always be making jokes with the opposition coach,” Harvey said.

"During games he would be telling the coach 'you're going to have to get someone else, this guy can't guard me' and how they used to go out after games.”

Harvey also recalled how Biddings got tired of sitting on the bench for the New York Knicks so packed up and came to play in Australia in the 1970s.

Reggie Biddings was a prolific scorer for Liberty High and later in the Australian NBL. Stuart Berg

"He reckons it was so hot when he got off the plane and he was surrounded by media,” Harvey said.

Biddings would always be tagging Harvey on Facebook in NBA videos.

"They would do reports and flashbacks and he would be in them so I would post it to his Facebook,” Harvey laughed.

Then there were the little side projects Biddings always had on the go.

"It was something different every week, he just had some cool ideas and would put them into action and think of them out of nowhere,” Harvey said.

One of them was his 'talking trash' basketball hoop system, which he built out of a wheelie bin for street basketball.

You would open up the lid, wind up the pole and you had a hoop.

Biddings built it back in the 80s and tried to sell it to Nike and Adidas but it never got off the ground.

Then Shark Tank wanted to get a hold of him but Biddings didn't want to go on TV.

Harvey said Biddings was an extremely down to earth person and he would miss his company most of all.

"I was so happy to meet him, he's just a true gentleman,” he said.

A Gofundme page has been set up to help Biddings' family at this difficult time.

Friends and family of Biddings packed into the Carrara Stadium Basketball Courts on Monday for Biddings' farewell service.