Andrew Mitchell Vlahov (born 1 April 1969) is an Australian retired professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played his entire eleven-year professional career for the

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at RAC Arena, known colloquially as "The Jungle". Afte ...

of the National Basketball League (NBL), with whom he won three championships in 1991, 1995 and 2000.

Early life

Vlahov was born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Eva Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...

(née Kampe) and Len Vlahov. His mother had arrived in Australia as a post-war refugee from

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, 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 The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North Perth. The ...

which were held in Perth. Eva was a WA State

Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

champion while Len held the WA State Discus record for 20 consecutive years. Andrew Vlahov initially attended

Kent Street Senior High School Kent Street Senior High School is a public co-educational specialist high day and boarding school in the Town of Victoria Park, located on Kent Street in East Victoria Park, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Over 50 percent of students a ...

in south Perth, but unfortunately Kent Street Senior did not have a basketball team, but he played in his local junior team the Perth Redbacks where he would meet long time friend and future Australian Boomers teammate

Luc Longley Lucien James Longley (born 19 January 1969) is an Australian professional basketball coach and former player. He was the first Australian to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he played for four teams over 10 seasons. Long ...

. Vlahov first came to the U.S. as an exchange student in

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

, and later returned for his final year of high school, enrolling at

South Eugene High School South Eugene High School is a public high school located in Eugene, Oregon, United States. History The school was founded as Eugene High School around 1900, and was located at Willamette Street and West 11th Avenue in a brick building that late ...

in Eugene,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, while his father (an academic as well as an athlete) worked at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

Playing career

Australian Institute of Sport

He attended the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

in 1987. His sister Lisa attended between 1985 and 1986.

College

Vlahov attended college at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in the US from 1987 to 1991 and was coached by

Mike Montgomery Michael John Montgomery (born February 27, 1947) is a retired American basketball coach. He is best known for his 18-year tenure at Stanford (1986–2004), where he led the program to 12 NCAA Tournaments, including a Final Four appearance in 199 ...

. Vlahov was a key member of Stanford's 1991

National Invitational Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

championship winning team, scoring 14 points and 11 rebounds in the championship game against Oklahoma. Vlahov received the following awards at Stanford: * 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: * 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 Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

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 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Post-playing career

While still on the playing roster with the Wildcats, Vlahov teamed up with ex-

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

player and fellow Western Australian

to purchase the Wildcats franchise from owner

Kerry Stokes Kerry Matthew Stokes (born John Patrick Alford on 13 September 1940) is an Australian businessman. He holds business interests in a diverse range of industries including electronic and print media, property, mining, and construction equipment. ...

. 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 Western Australian

Jack Bendat Jack Bendat (6 May 1925 – 17 February 2022) was an American-born Australian businessman most known for his ownership of the Perth Wildcats basketball team between 2007 and 2021. Previously involved in construction and media businesses with lo ...

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 The Singapore Slingers is a Singaporean professional basketball team that currently compete in the ASEAN Basketball League. The Slingers were known as the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers between 2009 and 2014, due to sponsorship ties with JobS ...

(formerly the

Canberra Cannons The Canberra Cannons are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). They went into financial administration in 2003 and were relocated to Newcastle, where they became the Hunter Pirates. After thi ...

(1979-2002) and

Hunter Pirates The Hunter Pirates are a defunct Australian professional men's basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). It was based in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales. Team history The team was once known as the Canberra ...

(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 now leads RV Sport, a premium sports and event marketing company. 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. On Australia Day 2016, Vlahov was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(OAM) for service to basketball as an athlete and administrator.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlahov, Andrew 1969 births Living people Australian men's basketball players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian Institute of Sport basketball players Australian people of Croatian descent Australian people of Latvian descent Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players of Australia People educated at Aquinas College, Perth People educated at Kent Street Senior High School Perth Wildcats players Power forwards (basketball) Small forwards Basketball players from Perth, Western Australia Stanford Cardinal men's basketball players 1998 FIBA World Championship players Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 1994 FIBA World Championship players