Gavin Hastings

Andrew Gavin Hastings, OBE (born 3 January 1962) is a former Scotland rugby union player. He is frequently considered to be one of the best rugby players to come out of Scotland. His nickname is "Big Gav".

Hastings was born in Edinburgh. He has played for Watsonians, London Scottish, Cambridge University, Scotland and the British and Irish Lions and was one of the outstanding rugby union players of his generation, winning 61 caps for Scotland, 20 of which as captain. He played fullback, and captained the Lions on the tour to New Zealand in 1993 (after playing in all three tests in the 1989 tour to Australia).

Hastings captained the first Scottish schoolboys' side to win on English soil. He captained the victorious 1985 Cambridge University side; During his sabbatical year he won the Gallaher Shield with Auckland University.

He made his debut for Scotland against France in 1986 and was a central figure in Scotland's 1990 Five Nations Grand Slam.

His tally of 667 international points was Scottish record until surpassed by Chris Paterson in 2008.

He captained Scotland on 20 occasions including at the 1995 World Cup.

In 1996, Hasting joined the Scottish Claymores an American Football team in the NFL_Europe. He played a single season as a placekicker scoring 24 of 27 conversions but missed his only attempt at a field goal. Despite the Claymores winning the World Bowl, Hastings was released at the end of the season.

On 30 August 2007 he was announced as the chairman of the "New" Edinburgh professional rugby club.

His younger brother Scott was also a professional Rugby Union player.

His son, Adam plays for Bath Rugby and has represented Scotland at U20 level. His wife Diane, whom he married in 1993 was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease in 2003.

Hastings was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1993 for services to Rugby Union.

He was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2003 and later into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2013.