Great Britain Paralympians Gary Davidson and Calum Gordon became the first wheelchair basketball stars to be inducted into the Scottish Basketball Hall of Fame.
On Saturday, June 18th, the first 11 people were inducted into the Scottish Basketball Hall of Fame, which included Davidson and Gordon during basketballscotland’s 75th anniversary dinner. The Scottish Hall of Fame recognises the achievement and effort of those at the highest levels of the game.
Gary Davidson, who is still heavily involved in the game, first played the sport aged 12, he was an international by 15 and went on to amass an impressive 89 caps for Great Britain. This included an appearance at the 1984 Paralympic Games where he shot the winning basket against France, the defending champions.
In the club game, Gary starred for a number of clubs, including Team Thistle, Birmingham Bullets, Dublin Celts and West of Scotland Wheelchair Sports Club. His career included. Whilst playing with West of Scotland, they won the “international spitfire” tournament in Canada. To this day, Gary remains the tournament’s Top Points Scorer.
A talented sportsman who also competed internationally at swimming, table tennis and wheelchair rugby 7s, Gary has had an enormous impact on wheelchair basketball. Not just through his playing career, or just in Scotland with his current role at Glasgow Rollin Rocks and coaching in the National Academy, Gary was also integral to establishing wheelchair basketball in the country of Georgia.
Relatively late to the sport, Calum Gordon was quickly identified as a player with great potential. Starting with Team Thistle, he moved to Sheffield Steelers and was called up to the GB team for the Paralympic Games in Seoul. Here he won the first of his 104 officially recognised caps, although there are several more from additional tours with GB.
After Seoul, Calum played in a further 2 Paralympic Games, winning silver at Atlanta in 1996. He has also won a silver at a World Championships and 5 medals from European Championships. On an individual level, Calum was selected in the World All Star Squad in 1996 and won the British Wheelchair Premier Division MVP 3 times. Whilst playing with Sheffield Steelers, Calum won the Premier Division title on at least 5 occasions. With Steelers, Calum also had success in European Competition, winning the Champions Cup in 1994 and finishing second in 2002.
Photo Credit: BasketballScotland
