Andrew Vlahov

Andrew Mitchell Vlahov OAM (born 1 April 1969) is an Australian retired professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball League of Australia from 1991 through until the 2001–02 season. Vlahov now leads RV Sport, a premium sports and event marketing company.

Early life

Vlahov was born in Perth to Eva (née Kampe) and Len Vlahov. His mother had arrived in Australia as a post-war refugee from Latvia, while his father was the son of Croatian immigrants. Both his parents were athletes, and represented Australia at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (which Perth hosted).^[1] Vlahov initially attended Perth's Kent Street Senior High School, which did not have a basketball team. He first came to the U.S. as an exchange student in junior high school, and later returned for his final year of high school, enrolling at South Eugene High School in Eugene, Oregon, while his father (an academic) worked at the University of Oregon.^[2]

Playing career

Australian Institute of Sport

He attended the Australian Institute of Sport in 1987. His sister Lisa attended between 1985 and 1986.^[3]

College

Vlahov attended college at Stanford University in the US from 1987 to 1991 and was coached by Mike Montgomery.

Vlahov was a key member of Stanford's 1991 National Invitational Tournament championship winning team, scoring 14 points and 11 rebounds in the championship game against Oklahoma.^[4]

Vlahov received the following awards at Stanford:^[5]

• Best Defensive Player – 3 times (1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91)
• Most Inspirational Player (1989–90)
• Team Captain (1989–90, 1990–91)
• Pacific-10 Conference All-Academic Team (1989)

Vlahov holds four Stanford school basketball records:^[6]

• 5th in career steals (130)
• 7th in career assists (278)
• 9th in season steals (50)
• 10th in career fouls (286)

NBL

After playing at Stanford, Vlahov was signed by the Perth Wildcats where he played his entire NBL career. A stellar first season with the Wildcats saw Vlahov awarded with the NBL's Rookie of the Year award. Vlahov replaced Mike Ellis as the captain of the club in 1993 after only two seasons in the NBL and remained so until his retirement.

International

Vlahov was a four-time Olympian playing with the Boomers at the 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.

Post-playing career

While still on the playing roster with the Wildcats, Vlahov teamed up with ex-NBA player and fellow Western Australian Luc Longley to purchase the Wildcats franchise from owner Kerry Stokes. Once Longley pulled out of the venture Vlahov was the majority shareholder of the club (with Mack Hall holding a small minority of shares) until the completion of the 2005/2006 season when West Australian Jack Bendat took over the club.

In his time as owner of the Wildcats, Vlahov was instrumental in the NBL's push into the Asian market including match telecasts to Asian countries and the now discontinued "Singapore Spectacular" (a regular season match where the Wildcats played host to another NBL team in Singapore). The success of the spectacular actually led to the Singapore Slingers (formerly the Canberra Cannons (1979-2002) and Hunter Pirates (2003–2006)) joining the NBL in 2006. Although the Slingers only lasted in the league until 2008, they remain the only Asian based team in NBL history.

Vlahov appeared in a television commercial for "King Size Big and Tall", an Australian clothing company that specialises in clothing for big men.

On 4 February 2013, Vlahov was named in the Perth Wildcats 30th Anniversary All-Star team.^[7][8]

On Australia Day 2016, Vlahov was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to basketball as an athlete and administrator.^[9]

References