It’s official: Andrew Gaze and Belinda Clark are living legends of Australian sport.
Gaze, the retired Melbourne Tigers and Australian Boomers basketball great, and Clark, the trailblazing cricketer who led her country to multiple World Cup victories, are the two members of the 2025 Sport Australia Hall of Fame, one of the nation’s highest sporting honours.
Announced today, August 25th, Gaze and Clark are the 52nd and 53rd Legends announced since 1993, alongside the likes of national sporting heroes Don Bradman, Dawn Fraser, Cathy Freeman, Shane Warne and Ian Thorpe.
Gaze and Clark will receive their dues at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Gala Dinner at Crown Palladium, to be presented Monday, November 17th in Melbourne. On the night, seven new members will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and the best of the best for the year will be announced, by way of the The Don and The Dawn Awards.
For Gaze and Clark, news of their Legend status will ripple through their respective sports.
Gaze, a household name who competed for Australia at five Olympic Games, carrying the nation’s flag at opening ceremony for the last of those, at the Sydney 2000 Games, is the first basketballer to receive the honour.
Clark becomes the first female amongst only a handful of cricketers to be recognised.
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Gaze was an astonishing scorer of the ball. Coming into the NBL as an 18-year-old rookie with the Melbourne Tigers, Gaze put up 29 points per game. The following year, he lifting his output to a mind-boggling 44ppg. Gaze would take that form into the national team, leading his team to the medals round of the Olympics on four occasions, and etching his name in the history books as the No. 2 all-time leading scorer in the competition, and No. 3 all time in the World Cup (formerly World Championships) of basketball. Gaze also blazed a trail to the NCAA, where he led Seton Hall to within a bucket of winning the 1989 title; to the NBA, where he won a title with San Antonio Spurs and competed with Washington Wizards (then Bullets), and played multiple stints in Europe.
The 6’7” guard dominated the domestic NBL across a 22-season career, all with the Tigers, playing more than 600 games and scoring almost 19,000 points at an average of 30 points per match. He won two titles and collected the NBL’s Most Valuable Player award a record seven times (1991-92, 1994-98). The award now bears his name.
“Being elevated to Legend status is something I’ve never really thought about, and it’s an honour I never imagined would be bestowed upon me,” Gaze comments in a statement. “It’s very humbling, and there’s always a touch of guilt around it, because when you look at some of the people in there, you think, ‘What the hell am I doing in this type of company?’ But I’m very grateful that others feel it’s worthy, and I’m honoured to have this recognition.”
A record-breaking opening batter, Clark was first cricketer (male or female) to score a double century in a One Day International, piling on an unbeaten 229 against Denmark at the 1997 World Cup. During her career, she played 118 ODIs, captaining her country 101 times and lifted two World Cups (1997, 2005). Her Test career spanned 15 matches, for 919 runs at an average of 45.90. “With her aggressive, classical batting style and unparalleled captaincy, Clark helped to change the status of women’s cricket during the 1990s and 2000s,” reads a statement from Sport Australia.
“It’s an unbelievable honour to be elevated to Legend status in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame,” Clarke remarks. “I am experiencing a combination of surprise, gratitude and pride. I played a team sport, and the reality is none of us achieve anything without the support and commitment of the whole team. I hope my teammates along with the coaches, support staff and administration feel like they are a part of this recognition. Professionally, I am proud of where the sport is going. It is setting the pace in the ambition to be equitable and whilst there is still a way to go, I am bullish about the future.”
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Cricket, she continues, “is a game of mental toughness, and I felt tested in every game I played. One game that comes to mind was a semi-final in the 1997 World Cup. We were playing India in Delhi and the match was delayed due to fog. We had lost in the semi-final at the 1993 World Cup, and as I watched England play New Zealand from the stands at Lord’s, I vowed to never again lose a World Cup semi-final and miss the chance of playing in a final.
“We were in all sorts of trouble and found a way to win that match and go on to win the final against New Zealand in front of 70,000 at Eden Gardens in Calcutta. Staying calm and clear in those moments and backing people to play at their best under pressure is a critical part of the leadership role. I kept asking myself, what would I be thinking if I was watching this match on the lounge chair?”
To quality for Legend status, a Hall of Fame member must be retired for at least 15 years. Elevation to the top of the order is voted on by the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Board, based on recommendations by the organisation’s Selection Committee.
