The Basketball Australia Hall of Fame and National Basketball League Hall of Fame have been united under the ‘Australian Basketball Hall of Fame’ to acknowledge the restructure of the NBL and Basketball Australia into a single, united governing body.
The dinner will be held at the Sofitel Melbourne on Collins, when the sport will celebrate its past successes with the induction of players, coaches, officials and administrators into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame.
Inductees are those people who have made an outstanding contribution to the sport of basketball in Australia at the international or national levels, NBL/WNBL, State/Territory, local level, or to basketball in general.
This dinner reflects and acknowledges the growth of basketball in Australia and the wonderful tradition that has been developed and is continuing to establish basketball as one of the premier sports in Australia.
The dinner will also serve as a farewell to the Golden Star Australian Boomers and Jayco Australian Opals who, in the days following the dinner, will depart Australia for the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Men (Turkey) and Women (Czech Republic).
Current members of the Hall of Fame include FIBA President Bob Elphinston, Andrew and Lindsay Gaze, Basketball Australia CEO Larry Sengstock, Rachael Sporn and Michele Timms.
In addition to the inductees, the recipient of the Legend Award will be announced on the night. The Legend Award is the ultimate award in the Hall of Fame and can be made only to persons who have previously been inducted into it at the 2004, 2006 and 2007 dinners.
Sengstock said the dinner was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the recent and past achievements of Australian basketball.
“With our Opals and Boomers soon to head off to their World Championships this is a fitting time to reflect on the accomplishments of both these teams and the pioneers of basketball in Australia,” Sengstock said.
“It’s an exciting time in basketball at the moment with our U17 Men’s team finishing sixth at their World Championship on Sunday and our Men’s and Women’s Wheelchair teams in the middle of their own World Championships, but we don’t often get a chance to acknowledge the tireless work of players, coaching staff, officials and administrators from previous years that have made these achievements possible today.”
