MIES (Switzerland) - Any discussion about the history and success of Australian basketball is next to impossible to not mention either Lindsay Gaze or his son Andrew Gaze - both legends in their own right, but who together make up the iconic first family of hoops Down Under.

Both father and son have been inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame - Lindsay in 2010 and Andrew in 2013 - for their contributions to the game in the country as well as for the Boomers.

The elder Gaze, who was born in Adelaide on August 16, 1936, played for the Australian national team for a decade including at the 1964 Olympic Games and FIBA Basketball World Cup 1970. After that he took over as national team coach and guided the Boomers for 104 games from 1971 to 1984, including at three FIBA Basketball World Cups (1974, 1978 and 1982) and four Olympics (1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984). Lindsay also paced the sidelines of the Melbourne Tigers from 1970 to 2005, winning NBL titles in 1993 and 1997.

The Gazes' Olympics paths crossed in 1984 in Andrew's first Games and the last Olympics for Lindsay. Andrew would go on to play at five Olympics and remains the second-highest Olympic points scorer of all time. Andrew, who was Australia's flag-bearer at the Sydney 2000 Games, helped the Boomers take fourth place three times - 1988, 1996 and 2000.

Andrew also competed at four FIBA Basketball World Cups - 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1998 - and finished fifth in 1994, when he led the tournament in scoring with a 23.9 points average. Gaze in 2019 was overtaken by Luis Scola of Argentina and now ranks third all-time in career points at the Basketball World Cup. Gaze, who served as the Boomers captain from 1994 to 2000, was named as one of FIBA's Greatest Players in 1991.

The 1984 Olympics was only the early stages of the Gazes teaming up as father and son and head coach and player. Andrew went to college in the United States and helped Seton Hall to the NCAA final in 1989 and then returned to Australia to play for his father at Melbourne. Andrew spent one season in Italy at Udine in 1991-92 and played the 1993-94 season in the NBA with the Washington Bullets. He played the following season back in Europe at Apollon Patras in Greece and then helped the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA title in 1998-99.

All of the other time in that stretch saw Andrew play for his father at Melbourne, and he was seven times named the NBL league MVP (1991,1992,1994-1998) and is the league's all-time leading scorer with 18,908 points in 612 games over a 22-season career for an average of 30.9 points per game.

The collective efforts of Lindsay and Andrew Gaze at Melbourne Tigers came to a close on May 12, 2005 when father and son jointly announced their retirement from basketball. The Gazes stepped away from the court but Andrew would eventually return - to where his father had worked with him: to the sidelines as head coach of Melbourne Tigers in 2016. His tenure would run just one season but it was clear that the Gazes were still part of the game - and will be forever connected to basketball in Australia.

FIBA