BIO: Mark Gaze was born in Melbourne (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Frankston basketball program.

FAMILY: Mark’s brother, Peter Gaze also played 22 games in the NBL. Is also the son of former Australian Opals coach Tony Gaze. He is the nephew of Lindsay Gaze and cousin of Andrew Gaze.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Mark Gaze made his NBL debut with the Frankston Bears on 10/2/1983. He scored 16 points in his first game.

In his first NBL season Gaze averaged 15.8 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists as Frankston finished with a record of 6-16 .

1984
In 1984, Gaze (22.9 points, 2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists) became a key part of the Bears offence and helped the team improve from 6 to 10 wins (10-14) in his second season.

MELBOURNE TIGERS
1985
In 1985, Gaze left Frankston and joined his cousin Andrew at the Melbourne Tigers. Gaze averaged 9.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists as the Tigers finished with a record of 5-21.

1986
In 1986, Gaze averaged 11.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.5 assists as the Tigers finished in third place with a record of 6-20 .

1988
After missing the 1987 season due to injuries, Gaze returned to the Tigers and played a key role with the team’s second unit. Gaze (8.5 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists) came off the bench and added instant offence while the Tigers ended the regular season with a 8-16 record.

1989
In 1989, Melbourne moved on from imports James Bullock and Alvis Rogers and signed talented forwards Dave Simmons and David Colbert. The Tigers also added local players Ray Gordon (via North Melbourne), Warrick Giddey (via Illawarra) and rookie Stephen Whitehead, who would become the Tigers’ core group for the next five years. Naturalised players Eric Bailey and Brad Pineau were also signed, giving the Tigers their deepest roster since entering the league in 1984.

Andrew Gaze (34.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 7.2 assists) led the league in both scoring and assists, but it was the addition of new faces Simmons (26.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.4 blocks), Colbert (25.8 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.5 blocks) and Gordon (11.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals) that made the difference. Behind the Tigers’ revamped roster, they were able to jump from twelfth position (8-16) the season to prior to finish fourth (17-10) and reached the playoffs for the first time in the team’s history.

Melbourne’s inexperience became evident in the postseason, however, being eliminated in the first round by the Sydney Kings.

Gaze saw limited playing opportunities with the Tigers this season, appearing in 22 games but averaging a mere 1.9 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 0.7 assists for the season.

1990
Off the back of the Tiger’s revamped roster, which led to their first playoff appearance ever, Melbourne re-signed its core group and looked to become a even stronger team in 1990. Although they lost naturalised swingman Eric Bailey (to Gold Coast), they were able to replace him with a even better option in Cecil Exum (via North Melbourne), who had been a big part of the Giant’s championship in 1989 and imports Dave Colbert and Dave Simmons were re-signed.

Andrew Gaze, who had spent the off-seasonplaying with Seton Hall University and narrowly missing out on a contract with the Seattle Supersonics, looked to light up the league.

Gaze (37.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 2.6 steals), Colbert (31.1 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.6 blocks) and Simmons (27.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 3.2 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.3) filled every column in the stats sheet every night, as well as combing for 96 points per game.

Melbourne hit a major speed bump when Gaze was diagnosed as having a blood clot in his right shoulder, a issue that almost ended his playing career. As a result, Gaze would miss the Tigers’ last two games of the regular season and all playoff games, but Melbourne still managed to finish in fourth place (17-9). They faced off against fifth-seed Perth in the elimination finals, where Colbert (52 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals) erupted for a career-high in Gaze’s absence, but it wasn’t enough to get past the well-balanced attack of Perth. Ricky Grace (30 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists) made 10 of his 13 shots and seemed to set up teammate David Close (25 points and 6 rebounds) for a open look whenever he didn’t score, allowing Perth to walk away victors (122-100).

In game two, Colbert (42 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks) was unstoppable again, and teammate Dave Simmons (29 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists) also delivered a big game also but Perth managed to shut down every other Tigers’ player and ended Melbourne’s season behind a ten point win (123-113). Gaze would play in 19 games, averaging 2.7 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 0.5 assists.

1991
Melbourne had become a formidable team by 1991, and had it not been for a blood clot that derailed Andrew Gaze’s season, could have seen a deep playoff run from the Tigers. This year would see the trio of Gaze (38.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 2.7 steals), David Cobert (24.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.5 blocks) and Dave Simmons (24.1 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.1 blocks) get the chance to see how far they could go with a full season together. Melbourne was also boosted by the emergence of Stephen Whitehead (9.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.4 steals), who would double his production with a shift to the team’s starting lineup.

The Tigers made history this season when they faced off against Illawarra and recorded the highest scoring game in NBL history (Jul 27). The game saw 344 points scored, and the Tigers come out as victors (186-158). Gaze (59 points, 11 assists, and 4 steals), Colbert (42 points, 20 rebounds and 5 assists) and Simmons (36 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists) doing the bulk of the scoring for Melbourne and Patric Fairs (41 points and 10 rebounds) and Greg Hubbard (36 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists) top scoring for Illawarra, who shot 76% from the field, which remains the highest shooting percentage ever recorded by a team in a losing effort.

Once into the playoffs, Melbourne would lose game one (115-129) and game two (96-132) to Adelaide in the elimination finals. The scoring brilliance of Gaze, combined with the Tigers’ regular season success, was enough to earn him the NBL Most Valuable Player award for the first time. Gaze would then take home the NBL MVP award in seven of his next eight seasons. In what would be his final season in the NBL, Gaze appeared in 19 games for the Tigers, averaging 1.3 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 0.2 assists.

Mark Gaze played eight seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Frankston Bears and the Melbourne Tigers. He averaged 9.7 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 182 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (817 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.