yogee
Years ago
Funny Hall of Fame to be inducted tonight
Press release from Basketball Australia :
Eleven Australian basketball legends, including father and son duo Lindsay and Andrew Gaze, will be honoured in Sydney tonight at the inaugural Basketball Australia Hall of Fame Dinner.
It will be a family affair for the Gaze's with Lindsay and Andrew both receiving gongs for their outstanding contributions to the game as a coach and a player.
Former national team stalwarts Phil Smyth, Robyn Maher and Jenny Cheesman will also be honoured as players, all having captained their country at multiple Olympic Games and World Championships over their illustrious careers.
Coaches, officials and contributors will also be recognised, with former Boomers mentor Dr. Adrian Hurley joining Gaze as an inductee in the coaching category for his years of tireless service in the sport.
The late Drs. Ivor Burge and John Raschke will be recognised along with founder of the Oceania basketball region Al Ramsay for their contributions to the administration of the sport of basketball in Australia.
Referee Sid Taylor will also be inducted for his dedication to officiating basketball in Australia and the Oceania Region.
The Basketball Australia Hall of Fame was founded in order to recognise those people who have made an outstanding contribution to the sport of basketball in Australia at any level.
The inductees, their guests and many of Australian basketball's most famous faces will be hosted in the Round Room at the University of NSW in Sydney tonight for the inaugural induction ceremony.
Not all those honoured tonight will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Ken Watson, who has spent his life encouraging youngsters to play basketball, will be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
All inductees apart from Phil Smyth and Ken Watson will be in attendance to receive their award.
Nominations for the Hall of Fame were called for earlier this year with a list of finalists short-listed by an Honours Committee. The finalists were then submitted to the Board of Basketball Australia for approval.
INDUCTEE BACKGROUND
Andrew Gaze (Player)
Andrew Gaze is considered by many Australians as our greatest-ever basketballer. He became our youngest ever Olympic basketballer at 18 years of age at the 1984 Olympics. He would go on to become a five-time Olympian, representing Australia at the 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympics. He also wore the Boomers green and gold proudly at four World Championships (1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998) and has been the leading scorer for Australia in numerous Olympic and World Championship campaigns on top of a stellar NBL career.
Robyn Maher (Player)
Robyn Maher (Gull) has been an incredibly influential figure in Australian women's basketball. She played in 13 WNBL Grand Final games, being a part of the winning team on a record 10 occasions. She represented Australia in three Olympic Games and an astonishing six times at senior World Championship level.
Jenny Cheesman (Player)
Jenny Cheesman played 167 games for the Opals between 1975 and 1988 and was captain of the team from 1983 until the end of her career. She was on the court for the Opals' fifth and fourth place finishes in 1984 and 1988, and was a part of the coaching staff during their bronze and silver finishes in 1996 and 2000. She also represented her country in four World Championships (1975, 1979, 1983 and 1986).
Phil Smyth (Player)
As a four-time Olympian, five-time World Championship athlete and three-time Australian captain, Phil Smyth has represented Australia with distinction as a player. He first represented Australia at the 1978 World Championship and was to attend another four world title tournaments until his retirement from the game in 1994. He also represented Australia at the 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992 Olympics.
Adrian Hurley (Coach)
A legend of Australian coaching, Adrian Hurley's career as a basketball mentor began back in 1967. Career highlights include an NBL championship with the Perth Wildcats, the establishment of the AIS basketball program as a world force and 11 years as either an assistant or head coach in the Boomers program.
Lindsay Gaze (Coach)
Lindsay Gaze has become an icon of the game as a player, coach and administrator. He represented Australia at three Olympics (1960, 1964, 1968) as a player, and as a coach at four Olympics (1972, 1976, 1980, 1984). He has coached successfully at every level and his Tigers team are perennial contenders in the NBL, having won two titles under Gaze in 1993 and 1997.
Al Ramsay (Contributor)
For over forty years, Al Ramsay worked in a voluntary capacity for basketball within Australia but his impact also reached into the Oceania zone and indeed the world. He established the Oceania Zone in 1967 and carried out the duties of Secretary-General for over thirty years from 1968-2001. In 2004, Ramsay penned
Ivor Burge (Contributor)
Widely recognised as one of the founding fathers of the sport of basketball in Australia, the late Ivor Burge is responsible for bringing the game to our shores. Burge produced the first standardised basketball rulebook in Australia and was influential in establishing a national body for the sport. He was one of four representatives that came together in 1939 in Melbourne with the main objective of establishing a body to control the sport of basketball in Australia - Basketball Australia. In 1946 Burge was involved in the writing of the Constitution of Basketball Australia.
Dr. John Raschke (Contributor)
The late Dr. John Raschke's vision and drive saw the NBL become a reality in 1979. He was the NBL chairman between 1979 and 1982 and acted as commissioner until 1983. Dr. Raschke was instrumental in providing professional basketball to both players and the fans. He also enjoyed a fine record as a coach and led the Australian men's team to their first World Championship appearance in Yugoslavia in 1970.
Sid Taylor (Official)
In his 58 years of involvement in our sport, Sid Taylor has made many lifetimes worth of contributions through his work as a technical official. After receiving his FIBA badge in 1964, Taylor officiated at the Tokyo Olympics and went on to represent Australia with the whistle on numerous occasions including at the 1974 World Championships in Puerto Rico.
Ken Watson (Lifetime Achievement)
Ken Watson is widely recognised as the patriarch of Australian basketball. He coached the first Australian Olympic team in 1956, and again in 1968 after Australia had become recognised as an emerging international basketball nation. He was secretary of the Victorian Basketball Association for 44 years and during this period he pioneered the Victoria Junior Council, The Victorian Country Council, the Victorian State Championships and the South Eastern Basketball Conference.
