Lindsay John Casson Gaze is a former Australian Basketball player born in Adelaide in 1936. He has been given the title of Father Of basketball in Australia. Gaze took basketball to another level in the country. He has an everlasting impact on basketball in the country. He also represented his country in three Olympics pre-qualification tournaments. Lindsay Gaze had a successful career as a coach and a player. The Gaze family has a laudable contribution to basketball in the country.

Early Life

Lindsay Gaze was born to Albert J. Gaze and Avis M. Gaze. His father was also a basketball coach. Barry Gaze and Tony Gaze are older brothers of Lindsay. Tony Gaze coached the Australian Women National basketball team.

He started his basketball career by playing for the Melbourne Church of Christ team in 1958. It was a popular high school basketball team all over the country. His playing career between 1958 to 1964 is not well known but he established himself as a solid player and came to the notice of the basketball community in the country.

Private Life Of Lindsay Gaze

He married Margaret in 1962 and has two children Janet Gaze Daniels and Andrew Gaze. Andrew followed in the footprints of his father and went on to play for the Australian national team. Andrew also represented Australia at the Olympics.

Contribution Of Gaze Family Toward Basketball In Australia

The Gaze family has indelible imprints on the history and development of basketball in the country. He mentored many young players who played a great role in the enhancement of basketball in the future. Lindsay Gaze and Andrew Gaze paved way for Australia to present itself as a powerhouse for basketball at the international level.

Mark Gaze, the nephew of Lindsay Gaze, played for Australia under the coaching of his uncle at the FIBA world championship of 1982. Mark played in NBL from 1983 to 1991.

Mark Graze’s daughter Kate Gaze, went on to play for Canberra Capitals in Australia women’s national basketball league.

Lindsay Gaze And National Basketball League

Gaze was a great administrator and brought many improvements to rules and administrative control of basketball in Australia. He was instrumental in forming the National Basketball League in Australia in 1979. NBL is the top-notch professional basketball league in Australia. He was the first chairman of NBL. It was due to his efforts and administrative acumen that NBL quickly rose to prominence as a professional league.

He was a great believer in grooming players at the gross root level. Gaze played a pivotal role in the development of the Australian Institute of Sport basketball program. Lindsay was on the AIS advisory committee of basketball. The AIS has produced numerous players nurtured by Lindsay Gaze himself. He gave world-class players to Australia including Andrew Gaze, Chris Anstey, and Mark Bradtke.

Apart from playing for the Melbourne tigers, he also coached the same club for more than 20 years. He started coaching the club in 1984. He ended his association with the club in 2005 when he got retired from the game. Overall, he coached for 22 seasons which makes him the longest-serving coach of the club.

He led his team to 2 NBL championships. Melbourne Tigers were champions in the year 1993, and 1997 respectively.

In 2003 he joined Sydney Kings and made his team win Two NBL championships. He coached the team for 4 seasons.

He was the NBL coach of the year for 1989,1997, and 1999 respectively.

Lindsay Gaze Contribution To Australia In The Olympics

As a player, he was part of the silver medal-winning team in the 1964 Olympics held in Tokyo. Gaze was instrumental in helping his team to win the first-ever medal team by the national basketball team.

He was part of the coaching staff of the Australian basketball team from 1980 to 2000. In 1980 he was the assistant coach, in 1984 head coach, 1988 head coach, 1992 head coach, 1996 assistant coach, and assistant coach in 2000. In the 1988 Olympics, the Boomers won its first-ever medal in basketball i.e the silver medal. Lindsay gaze was the head coach of the team.

Responsibility As Head Coach Of the Australian National Team

Lindsay has been a great ambassador for Australian basketball. He coached the Australian National team. He was the coach of the national team when Australia won a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It was under Gaze’s coaching that the team won a silver medal at the FIBA world championship in 1998.

From 2007 to 2009 he served as the head coach of the Chinese National basketball team. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the team finished overall 9^th under the coaching of Gaze.

• He has also coached teams at the college level in the United States and Japan.
• He was inducted into the Australian basketball Hall of fame in 2004.
• He was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2013.
• He was inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame in 2019.

Andrew Gaze

Introduction

Andrew Barry Casson Gaze was born to Lindsay Gaze in 1965. He continued the legacy of his father and made an immense contribution to basketball in Australia. He played for Melbourne Tiger throughout his playing career from 1984 to 2005. He helped his team win Two NBL championships in 1993, and 1997 respectively.  Andrew made 5 Olympics appearances for the national basketball team. It was Andrew Gaze who popularized basketball in the country and played professional basketball in the United States and Europe.

Early Life

Andrew Gaze started playing at Albert Park basketball stadium. He graduated from Albert Park College and pursued a professional basketball career at Victoria University in Melbourne

He started playing for Melbourne Tigers in the National basketball league as 18 years old kid. He was named NBL Rookie of the year in the same year.

Andrew Gaze NBL Career And Contribution

He played for the Melbourne Tigers from 1984 to 2005 for 20 seasons. During his NBL career, he helped his team win five championships. He was known for strong nerves and scoring in crunch situations.

Seven times he won the award for the most valuable player of NBL. He was also the leading scorer of the league record 14 times during his career. Testament to the excellence of Andrew Gaze, he was named a record 15 times to All-NBL’s first team in his career.

He was incredibly dangerous when it came to long-range shooting ability. He had a percentage of 50.5 as a field goal percentage and a three-pointer percentage of 41.6 percent. He announced his retirement from NBL in 2005 with 612 games under his belt.

After his retirement, he coached his team from 2006 to 2008. In 2006 under his coaching he made it to the final of the NBL but couldn’t win.

Andrew promoted the NBL as a commentator and as an analyst. His acumen and insight into the game gave widespread popularity to the league in the country as well as outside Australia.

Andrew Gaze Contribution In The Olympics As A Player

He represented Australia in Five Olympics games. He was also the flag bearer for Australia in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He has scored 789 points in the Olympics, which is so far the highest for any Australian player.

Andrew Gaze has been the key person in Australia’s achievements at the Olympic games. He was an important player on the Australian national team in 1988 which won the Silver medal. His 34 points heroics against the Soviet Union in the quarter-final made his team clinch an unbelievable victory.

He was the leading scorer of the team scoring an average of 19.3 points each game. His performance at the Olympics raised the profile of the team and the popularity of basketball in the country.

Andrew Gaze drew curtains on his professional career in 2005.

Achievements Of Andrew Gaze

He helped his team win two medals in his career, a silver medal in the 1988 Olympics at Seoul and a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

He had his achievements in Europe and was two-times most valuable player of the Italian League and helped the Kinder Bologna team win the Euro-league championship in 1998.

In 2013 he was inducted into the FIBA hall of fame in recognition of his services to basketball.

In 2022 Andrew Gaze was appointed as the head coach of the Melbourne Tigers team.

Contribution Towards Charity

Andrew Gaze has been contributing to charity organizations. In 2016 he was an ambassador of the non-profit organization ‘The Beehive’ which works for developing resilience and coping methods for younger people.

Andrew Gaze is married to Melinda and has four children Mason, Courtney, Annie, and Phoebe. He was named the father of the year by the Children’s Charity organization ‘The Stepherd Centre’.