BASKETBALL
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Tears flowed freely when a bunch of past and present Hawks, plus their partners, gathered for one last farewell for Dave and Kara Gruber last week.
The informal dinner was hosted by Glen and Ange Saville and gave some of Gruber's old teammates the chance to say goodbye and good luck on his return to America.
Gruber was controversially cut by the Hawks three games into the season, ending his five-year association with the club.
He received a couple of offers to play from other NBL clubs a month ago but Gruber and Kara, who both became Australian citizens four years ago, had already decided to head home with their young Australian-born daughters Grace and Ruby.
"We went round to Sav's and had a dinner and it was nice to be able to say goodbye, but it was sad as well and there was a few tears," Wollongong centre Larry Davidson said.
"He's such a good person and he handled the whole [axing] situation really well."
Gruber doesn't have any jobs lined up in America and hasn't ruled out returning to the NBL in 2015-16.
"I had some opportunities with some teams here but it was too late because by that stage we'd made a bunch of arrangements," he said.
"It's bittersweet that we're going home."