FIBA, basketball’s international governing body, have named Gaze amongst 17 new inductees from 12 different countries for 2010, with the former Melbourne Tigers and Australian Boomers head coach becoming just the eighth coach ever to enter the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Gaze, who on Wednesday became the third person to be elevated to ‘Legend’ status by the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame, will be inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame on 12th September during the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, FIBA announced on Friday.
He will become just the second Australian to enter the FIBA Hall of Fame, joining trailblazing administrator Alistair Ramsay, who was in the 2009 Hall of Fame class but will be officially enshrined at the same time as Gaze.
National icons Oscar Schmidt from Brazil, Arvydas Sabonis from Lithuania, Dino Meneghin from Italy, Vlade Divac and Dragan Kicanovic from Serbia are among the other inductees for the 2010 Class of the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Two of the best female players of all time, Cheryl Miller from the USA and Natalia Zassoulskaya from Russia complete the list of players.
A combined 14 Olympic medals and 15 FIBA World Championship medals underline the prominence of the seven players and three coaches inducted.
The selected referees and contributors were at the top of the game for decades and belong to the most decorated in their field.
“The 2010 Class has stardom, character and countless merits for the promotion of our game,” said FIBA President Bob Elphinston.
“The inductees were and still are brilliant on and off the court. We are very proud to host the 2010 ceremony in the presence of all these great women and men during the FIBA World Championship and give them the public platform they deserve.”
Click here to see a list of Gaze’s accomplishments.
Below is the full list of the 2010 FIBA Hall of Fame Class.
PLAYERS
Divac, Vlade (Serbia)
Kicanovic, Dragan (Serbia)
Meneghin, Dino (Italy)
Miller, Cheryl (USA)
Sabonis, Arvydas (Lithuania)
Schmidt, Oscar (Brazil)
Zassoulskaya, Natalia (Russia)
COACHES
Gaze, Lindsay (Australia)
Gomelsky, Evgeny (Russia)
Novosel, Mirko (Croatia)
TECH OFFICIALS
Bain, Jim (USA)
Dimou, Konstantinos (Greece)
CONTRIBUTORS
Killian, George (USA)
Otto, Hans-Joachim (Germany)
Segura de Luna, Ernesto (Spain) (posthumously)
Seye Moreau, Abdoulaye (Senegal)
Ramsay, Al (Australia)*
* Al Ramsay was selected for the 2009 Class, but will officially be enshrined in 2010.
