In 1985, BBNZ established an award to honour the outstanding contribution to basketball by the late Sir Lance Cross and presented it to those who have provided exceptional services to New Zealand Basketball.
The BBNZ board was pleased to announce that the 1997 recipient is Daisy Rangi.
Daisy was an active member of the Te Awamutu Basketball Association. She held the positions of President, Secretary and treasurer over a 35 year period. No job was too difficult for Daisy. She compiled draws, organized competitions, coached school teams, managed representative teams and initiated the miniball programmes in Te Awamatu.
At the time of receiving the award Daisy was the Secretary of the Waikato Referees and Secretary of the Waikato Basketball League.
She was an enthusiast of the game with a wonderful caring attitude. She was a role model to the young players around her. The amount of time and effort Daisy put into the sport of basketball made her a wonderful asset to the basketball community and someone Basketball New Zealand was proud to call an ambassador of basketball.
In receiving the Sir Lance Cross award for 1997, Daisy was a shining example of the hard workers at the grassroots level of basketball who must be recongised for their contribution. Without them, our sport would not achieve its potential.
