History
The first official reports of a new Gold Coast franchise surfaced in September 2006. Former Gold Coast Rollers head coach Dave Claxton spearheaded a bid for a new NBL license for the Gold Coast. On 21 November 2006 the NBL Board officially accepted the bid and announced the addition of a new Gold Coast franchise and reported that the club would compete out of the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.
At the beginning of 2007 the newly founded Gold Coast franchise held a competition to name the club. The franchise offered four options to choose from including the 'Heat', 'Marlins', 'Flyers' and 'Waves', as well as the ability to suggest another alternative. On 23 February the franchise announced that it would compete under the 'Blaze' moniker. Despite the 'Heat' name being voted the most popular in the naming competition, club officials decided it would be best to steer clear of the name following objections from the NBA, due to the name being held by American franchise the Miami Heat.
Prior to the official naming of the franchise, the Blaze made their first major signing on 18 January in signing former Wollongong Hawks head coach Brendan Joyce as their inaugural head coach. Following this signing, two days later the club signed former West Sydney Razorbacks head coach Mark Watkins as the assistant coach.
On 5 April the Blaze announced the signing of their first player: former West Sydney Razorbacks captain Scott McGregor. The first international signing was announced on 2 May with former Houston Rockets NBA player Juaquin Hawkins, who had met Gold Coast coach Brendan Joyce in California several years before.
In the 2008-09 season, Shane Heal, the former South Dragons captain/coach joined the team along with Pero Cameron & Casey Frank.
However, despite an experienced lineup, they have lost all of their first 5 matches, with the most recent a loss to the Wollongong Hawks, a team of which Cameron, Frank and Ben Melmeth was a part of at some point.
On 17 July 2012, it was reported that the Gold Coast Blaze owners, Katie & Owen Tomlinson had decided to withdraw their bid to stay in the NBL for the 2012-13 season.
Read more about this topic: Gold Coast Blaze
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