Happy 60th Birthday to 'The GOAT' Andrew Gaze

• The NBL's 'GOAT' Andrew Gaze celebrates his 60th birthday
• Gaze is a two-time NBL champion and seven-time NBL MVP
• He has been inducted into the FIBA, Australian Sporting and Australian Basketball Hall of Fames

He was dubbed 'the great one' by the late Corey 'Homicide' Williams and there are probably no more fitting words to describe the icon that is Andrew Gaze.

Gaze, better known as The GOAT to most basketball fans in Australia, celebrates his 60th birthday and as the hoops community shows their appreciation for one of the country's greatest ever sporting stars, we take a look back at a career that will never be replicated.

A career which includes two NBL championships, an NBA title, seven NBL MVP awards, the NBL's all-time leading scorer, second on the all-time Olympic Games scoring list and just a few Hall of Fame entries to go along with it, such as the FIBA Hall of Fame, Australian Sporting Hall of Fame and the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame.

Dominance of the NBL

From the moment his professional career tipped-off, it was clear to almost everybody that Gaze was a rare breed.

Joining the Melbourne Tigers as an 18-year-old, under coach and father Lindsay Gaze, he put together easily the most impressive and dominant season ever by a rookie in the NBL. Gaze averaged more than 29 points per game on his way to earning the league's Rookie of the Year title in what would be a sign of ominous things to come for opposing teams for the next 20 years.

His numbers would continue to grow each year and in his fourth season, Gaze would reach previously unthinkable heights.

Despite the Tigers struggles that season, Gaze averaged and incredible 44 points per game at just 22-years-old. He did it while shooting almost 40% from the three-point line on more than eight attempts per contest.

His averages would then decline ever so slightly as the Tigers became more prominent in the competition, making playoffs and becoming a championship threat. He claimed the first of his seven NBL MVP awards - an award now named after the man himself - in 1991 after boasting numbers of 38.8 points per game, along with six rebounds and 4.4 assists.

But he and his father's crowning moment would come in 1993 as the Tigers, featuring legends such as Lanard Copeland, Mark Bradtke and more, captured its first NBL championship by beating the Perth Wildcats in Perth. A moment that will go down as one of the greatest in NBL history as scenes showed both Lindsey and Andrew Gaze embracing while in tears as they had finally claimed that elusive trophy.

In a recent column with basketball.com.au, Copeland talked about the pressure of going into Perth in such a big game.

"You're always pretty confident when you have Andrew Gaze in your team," he said.

While he'd go on to win six more NBL MVP titles, Gaze and the Tigers would replicate their 1993 triumph with another championship in 1997 - this time beating crosstown rivals the South East Melbourne Magic.

Gaze would continue to ply his trade in the NBL until the end of the 2004-05 season, where he hung up the boots, still while averaging 22 points per game for his beloved Tigers.

The greatest Boomer ever?

While Gaze dominated the NBL unlike anyone we have ever seen and will probably ever see, his greatest achievement could possibly be the career he put together in the green and gold (or gold and green) of the Boomers.

Starting his Olympic career in 1984 in Los Angeles as a fresh-faced 19-year-old, Gaze would go on to the rare achievement of competing at five Olympic Games - where he was the first Australian basketballer to do so before other legends in Lauren Jackson, Patty Mills and Joe Ingles reached that milestone in Paris in 2024.

But Gaze carried his scoring prowess from the NBL into the international game. In 1994, he was the leading scorer at the World Championships with almost 24 points per game. The Tigers superstar would put the Boomers on his back, taking them agonisingly close to a history-making international medal, finishing fourth at the 1998, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.

Despite missing out on the ultimate goal, Gaze would etch his name into the minds of basketball fans around the world through his individual dominance in a Boomers uniform, where he would go on to become the second highest scorer of all-time at the Olympic Games, where he still sits today with 789 career points, only trailing Brazilian legend Oscar Schmidt with 1093 points.

His feats for Australia would lead to Gaze being inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2013, another achievement he shares with his dad Lindsay.

Taking his talents to the US

While he is mostly known for his achievements in Australia in the NBL or while wearing a Boomers uniform, Gaze also struck gold (literally) in his brief time playing in the US.

Starting with his brief but incredibly successful and memorable college career with Seton Hall University. Under the great PJ Carlesimo, Gaze was a significant part of the Pirates' run to the NCAA National Championship game for the 1988-89 season.

Averaging more than 13 points per game for The Hall, Gaze started for Seton Hall and showcased his elite shooting in the NCAA Tournament, helping his team to wins over UNLV and Duke in the run to the championship game. Although he and Seton Hall finished just short of a national title, going down to Michigan in an 80-79 overtime loss in front of almost 40,000 fans in Seattle, Gaze would be part of one of the biggest fairytale runs to the championship game in NCAA history.

Gaze would return to the US in 1994, spending a brief stint with the Washington Bullets (now the Wizards) in the NBA. Five years later, he would be back in the NBA but this time with one of the league's greatest ever franchises in the San Antonio Spurs during the lockout-shortened season.

It was there he would feature at the start of a Spurs dynasty with San Antonio winning the NBA championship, beating the New York Knicks. It would be the first of four titles within a decade for the franchise.

Gaze was the second Australian to win an NBA ring behind Luc Longley with the Chicago Bulls.

Post-retirement career

After dazzling fans around the world for more than 20 years as a player, Gaze hasn't stopped doing so since he shot his last jumpshot.

The legend would immediately go on to become a commentator for the NBL, where he remains as one of the best ambassadors for our great game and has come up with some of the greatest calls on the mic we have heard.

Knock for his colourful character and personality, that shone through when he jumped on the sidelines to coach the Sydney Kings from 2016-19 with his expressions, conversations with officials and post-game press conferences becoming a thing of legend.

Does a certain play from Andrew Bogut ring a bell?

His passion also oozes out of the microphone while on commentary and in the media space, especially when he was on camera following the Boomers' bronze medal win in 2021.

He still remains as a coach at the semi-professional with the Melbourne Tigers at the NBL1 South level, ushering through some of Australia's next top prospects.

One thing's for sure, Gaze is a GOAT for a reason and a player, person and character we may never ever see replicated. Happy 60th birthday to the GOAT!