Isaac
Years ago
Andrew Gaze elevated to Legend status by BA
Basketball Australia today announced that Hall of Fame inductee Andrew Gaze AM OLY has been elevated to legend status, one of only six Australians to receive the highest honour in the sport.
He is one of the greatest basketball players Australia has produced competing in five Olympic games (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000). He played 297 matches representing his country, captained the Boomers for eight years and achieved fourth place at the 1988, 1996 and 2000 Olympics, Australia's highest results until Tokyo 2020.
Gaze is best known to Australians as the Olympic flag-bearer in Sydney where he led his country out in front of an ecstatic home crowd and became the third basketball player to compete at five Olympics. He remains the second all-time leading scorer at the Olympic games with 789 points.
Gaze played in four FIBA World Cups between 1986 and 1998, he remains the third-highest scorer of all time with 594 points.
Upon retiring from international basketball in 2000, Gaze continued his playing career at the NBL where he started as a rookie with the Melbourne Tigers in 1984 and went on to be the League’s top scorer for 14 seasons.
A dual NBL Champion (1993 and 1997), he was named the NBL MVP seven times, 11 x NBL All-Star and selected in the NBL First Team an incredible 15 times (1986-2000). He set the record for points scored (18,212) and assists (3427) across his 578 games played in the national league. The NBL season MVP award is also named after him.
While Gaze will always be known in Australia for his Olympic and NBL careers he is remembered in the USA for leading Seton Hall University to the NCAA final against Michigan in 1989 and his two stints in the NBA with the Washington Bullets and the San Antonio Spurs.
Basketball Australia Legends
Alistair Ramsay MBE OAM (dec)
Betty Watson OAM
John Raschke OAM
Lindsay Gaze OAM OLY
Michele Timms OAM OLY
Andrew Gaze AM OLY