A SPORTING CHANCE
A Sporting Chance Fresh out of university, Martin Hirons (1981) went for a job that would literally change the course of his professional and personal life. The interview panel for a Promotions Officer at Basketball Victoria included legendary basketball player and coach Lindsay Gaze, who would become a mentor to Hirons, and Canadian basketballer and two-time Assistant Coach of the Australian Women’s Basketball Team, Lori Chizik, who married Hirons in 1990. Incidentally, Malcolm Speed (former CEO of Cricket Australia and the ICC) was the third panel
member who would also become a client, mentor and golf friend over many years. Needless to say, he got the job and working alongside Gaze, Hirons’ journey to become one of Australia’s leading sports strategists had begun. “Lindsay Gaze gave me the first chance and his influence on me, and the industry as a whole can never be underestimated,” Hirons said. “It was the lead up to the 1988 Olympics and a great time to be starting out in basketball.
It established my career in the sports industry.” Like his legendary mentors, Hirons is a mover and a shaker. The one-time Captain of the Kingston Heath Golf Club, Hirons was instrumental, in the background, setting up the Australian Masters that brought Adam Scott to town in 2012 - and the ‘2009 Tiger Woods Australian Masters’, also at the Heath. More recently, he was part of the successful bid team for the Western United’s A-League licence, based out of Wyndham in Melbourne’s West.
Martin Hirons and family.
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