Memorable Gaze into the past

Stephen Howell has written about the National Basketball League since 1984. Next season will be his first without the Gazes at the Tigers.

I first saw Andrew Gaze play in Tasmania more than 20 years ago when the Tigers met the now extinct Hobart Devils.

The memory is of a pre-game description of him as one of Australia's outstanding athletes that brought laughter from father/coach Lindsay Gaze, and, on seeing the player, I could understand why: great player, average athlete.

Any semblance of athleticism has gone as Gaze nears 40, but that he did not jump high or run fast probably added to his greatness rather than detracted from it.

The next remembered view came at the old Albert Park Stadium one Sunday in May 1987. In a shoot-out against the Brisbane Bullets, he had 54 points and Leroy Loggins, the only player ranked near Gaze in the league's history, had 55.

The first time I remember him in an Australian singlet rather than a Tiger one was 1988 at the Glasshouse and Gaze sent a game against the Soviet Union into overtime and a full house into raptures. His three-pointer came from the corner and with a hand in his face.

In 1989, Gaze was at Seton Hall, a US university that most Australians had never heard of. Channel Seven, I think it was, had a delayed telecast of the national college final. My neighbour spoiled the first 40 minutes of it for me when he told me he had heard on the radio that the match went into overtime.

The extra minutes were enthralling, but Gaze's team fell short - just.

He was to get an American championship in 1999, but it was as an extra because he was not in the 12 for San Antonio Spurs in the finals after having a reserve role all season.

He was never ineffectual in Australia, apart from when forced to look on after a life-threatening thrombosis and, more recently, when an infection had doctors fearing he could lose a leg.

His seasons in Greece and Italy were remarkably effective, as was his career for the Boomers.

The Russian game was a near-miss, a coming of age; the win over Italy in the 2000 Olympics, his last international event, was an exclamation mark - he netted the win for Australia and a place in the medal round, and drew from the beaten Italians praise that he should have bottled.

On the international stage, he carried the flag at the Sydney Olympics, his fifth Games. He had four world championships. He is regarded as the second-best scorer in international basketball after Brazilian great Oscar Schmidt.

At home, over 22 National Basketball League seasons, he was seven times most valuable player (plus four runners-up), and 15 times All-First team. He won 14 scoring titles and he was first named in the NBL's 25-year team.

Andrew Gaze, above, in Barcelona with another larger-than-life basketballer in 1992. Below, Andrew Gaze in 1988 with Phil Smyth and Damian Keogh after beating Spain at the Seoul Olympics.
Photo:Stuart Hannagan

The milestones were many, but more than the points and honours Gaze accumulated, I enjoyed his alley-oops with Lanard Copeland, his courtside bear hug with Lindsay on winning the 1993 championship in Perth, one 1990s last quarter when he destroyed South East Melbourne Magic, and so much more.

Lindsay Gaze was finished as a player and already an established coach and a key administrator when I met him. I have written about him so often that cynical workmates would ask if he was my father.

Post-game "Lindsayisms" included "as I was saying to the fellas at half-time or before the game or . . ." ; that Mark Bradtke would go "above and beyond the call of duty"; that late in the game, players would be "running in mud"; and that he would defend the Tigers' allegedly suspect defence.

Courtside, you knew Gaze would be leaning back in his chair, cat-like sleepy until something really upset him. You knew that he let those who had earned starting positions play most of the game and that he would not call timeouts unless there was absolutely no alternative.

In many ways, he was the last of the amateur coaches. That is not written as a criticism, rather saying he loved the game more than he needed to bend it.

He is not as extroverted as Andrew, but has been just as accommodating to the media as he built the sport's profile. He was, however, never one to give away a fact or figure that had a negative attached.

And he especially hated retirement questions, whether they related to him or to his son. Retired they are now and the best description of Andrew's career comes from former Boomer teammate and now Adelaide coach, Phil Smyth. He said: "In time, we'll talk about Andrew Gaze and people will think he was a myth . . . no one could be that good."

True. And history, I'm sure, will judge Lindsay Gaze, because of all his roles, as the most influential figure in Australian basketball. It is fitting they leave the court together.

THE GAZE LEGACY
ANDREW GAZE
Seasons: 22 Games: 612 Points: 18,908 (30.9pergame) Rebounds: 3096 (5.06pergame)
NBL highlights NBL record in scoring, assists and games. NBL MVP seven times All-NBL first team 15times. NBL's greatest player, 25th anniversary team. NBL All-Star Game MVP twice.
Olympics Five-time Olympian Captain and flagbearer, Australian Olympic team, Sydney 2000.
International highlights International Player of the Year five times. NCAA runner-up with Seton Hall, 1989. NBA Championship, San Antonio Spurs, 1999
LINDSAY GAZE
Seasons: 22. Games coached: 689. Record: 363-326 (52.6percent).
Career highlights NBL champion ship 1993, 1997. NBL Coach of the Year three times. Second in all- time NBL games won. Australian Olympic coach four times. Australian world championship coach three times. Olympic player three times.