Gaze is the son of Albert J. Gaze and Avis M. Gaze. He has two older brothers, Barry and Tony, who is a former coach of the Australian national women's basketball team, the Opals. He married Margaret in 1962, with the couple having a daughter, Janet Gaze-Daniels (born 8 July 1964), who works in recreation management, and a son, Australian basketball player Andrew Gaze (born 24 July 1965). As the GM of the Victorian Basketball Association (until his retirement), the Gaze family lived in the official GM's residence, which was attached to the back of the Albert Park Basketball Stadium. Gaze's nephew, Mark Gaze (Tony's son), played for Australia, under Lindsay's coaching, at the 1982 FIBA World Championship and went on to play in 182 NBL, games from 1983 to 1991. He is also the great-uncle of Mark Gaze's daughter, Kate Gaze, who played for the Canberra Capitals, in Australia's Women's National Basketball League.
Lindsay Gaze and his brothers were raised by his mother, after his parents separated soon after moving from Adelaide to Melbourne, in the early 1940s. As a youth, he played tennis, basketball and Australian rules football and was his school captain in tennis and football. Lindsay and Barry Gaze played in the Victorian Football Association for Prahran, and they were both selected as members of an Australian rules team that played an exhibition match during the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, although Lindsay didn't take the field.
Olympic career
It was in basketball that Gaze would make his mark in the Summer Olympic Games. In 1958, he chose to pursue a career in basketball, rather than football (and a promising engineering career) and although still playing, became the first full-time basketball administrator of the Victorian Basketball Association, accepting the position of General Manager. Lindsay Gaze held the position until his retirement in 2005, during which time the number of registered players in Victoria rose from around 2,000 in 1958 to over 200,000.
He was selected for the senior Australian basketball team for the 1960 Bologna Pre-Olympic Tournament, which was the first Australian basketball team to travel overseas to compete for a place at the Summer Olympics. Gaze soon established himself as one of Australia's leading basketball players, establishing an international reputation, when he was selected as a member of the All-Star Five at the 1962 Philippines Invitational Basketball Tournament.
Gaze represented Australia during the 1960 Bologna, 1964 Yokohama, and 1968 Monterrey Summer Olympics world qualification tournaments, but Australia only qualified to compete at the 1964 Games. He developed a reputation as a fanatical trainer, training two or three times a week with his club and at home. Gaze also coached the Australian national under-16 and under-18 squads, during his playing career.
His reputation for training led to his appointment as a coach of the Melbourne Tigers (MBA) in 1970, and also of the senior men's Australian basketball side in 1971, which he went on to coach at four Summer Olympic Games, in 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984. His son, Andrew, was a part of the team that he coached in 1984. Lindsay Gaze would write his first book, Better Basketball, in 1977.
Lindsay was a part of every Australian Boomers' Olympics team as a player or coach, from 1960 to 1984. He covered each of the campaigns, year by year, on the Aussie Hoopla podcast.[1]
NBL coaching career 1983–2005
Gaze was the inaugural head coach of the Melbourne Tigers, at the start of the NBL, in 1984. He retired in May 2005, after coaching the team for 22 seasons. He coached in a total of 651 games, and recorded 339 victories. The Melbourne Tigers won two NBL championships, in 1993 and 1997, with Gaze as the club's head coach. He was a widely respected coach in the NBL, winning the league's Coach of the Year award three times during his career. He announced his retirement from coaching basketball, on the same day that his son, Andrew Gaze, announced his retirement from playing basketball, after having played in 612 NBL games. Lindsay Gaze had coached Andrew Gaze during his son's entire career as an NBL player, with the pair forming the longest standing father-son partnership in the history of world sport. The pair would also author a book titled, Winning Basketball, in 1992.
Lindsay Gaze was also a member of the NBL Board. In 2004, he became a part owner of the Melbourne Tigers, along with Andrew Gaze.[2] At his retirement, journalist Stephen Howell of the Melbourne Age, wrote that history would judge him as, the most influential figure in Australian basketball.
