EuroBasket 1939

Last updated

EuroBasket 1939
EuroBasket 1939 logo.jpg
Tournament details
Host countryLithuania
City Kaunas
Dates21–28 May
Teams8
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
ChampionsFlag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg  Lithuania (2nd title)
Runners-upFlag of Latvia.svg  Latvia
Third placeFlag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland
Fourth placeFlag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg  France
Tournament statistics
Games played28
MVP Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg Mykolas Ruzgys
(de facto: Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg Pranas Lubinas)‡
Top scorer Flag of Estonia.svg Heino Veskila
(16.7 points per game)
← 1937
1946 →

The 1939 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1939, was the third FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA. Eight national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) took part in the competition. Defending champions Lithuania hosted the tournament, held in Kaunas Sports Hall.

Contents

Tickets

The prices for tickets were high at the time: The price for a seat was 2.5–5 LTL, and for a standing spot 1.5–2 LTL.

Venue

Kaunas Sports Hall Kauno sporto hale.jpg
Kaunas Sports Hall
EuroBasket 1939 ticket EuroBasket 1939 ticket.jpg
EuroBasket 1939 ticket

One of the toughest question was where the competition games of the Third European Basketball Championship should be played. First European Championship was held in a primitively adapted exhibitions hall, second – in adapted former factory premises. Firstly, there was a thought to organize it in an open-court with a hanging tarpaulin roof, protecting from the rain, in the that time State Court (currently Darius and Girėnas Stadium). Although, such building wasn't suitable nor for the Lithuania, nor for the FIBA. It was decided to build completely new sports hall for the basketball games. Anatolijus Rozenbliumas projected the new basketball hall with capacity of 11.000 people (3.500 seats). It cost around 400.000 LTL, however nobody complained about its necessarily and its building progress. Kaunas Sports Hall was built in time. Many helpers participated in construction. One of them, Donatas Banionis, remembers: "I remember 1939 European Championship in Kaunas. Then the Kaunas Sports Hall was built. On the eve of the tournament I learned from friends that helpers are required to number the benches. Free observation of the games was promised for that. This, for us – boys, was a staggering thing. The cheapest ticket to all the games cost 10 LTL. So I numbered the sports hall benches with dye honestly". [1]

Opening and closing ceremonies

The opening ceremony of the EuroBasket 1939 took place on 21 May 1939. Independent Lithuania sport historian, Jonas Narbutas, wrote: "The interest in the competition, of course, was huge. But still it was hardly imaginable that even that big event may attract such wide masses. It seemed that the whole Kaunas swam into the National Stadium. Tides of people attended the Vytautas hill: by foot, by driving. Generations of times swam into the hall: near the gray-headed there was his aging son with his children, small and big swam, of all ages and castes. The hall possibly sheltered 10.000 of people. It is doubtful that more could fit there. It was possible to sell 20.000 tickets to the opening and the closing ceremonies". [2] The opening ceremony was started by the Lithuanian president Antanas Smetona speech.

Teams and their compositions

Postage stamp with the planned participants flags. EuroBasket 1939 - 1939 - 60 cnt.JPG
Postage stamp with the planned participants flags.

At first, after sending the invitations, 17 countries wished to compete. Even the basketball newcomers Great Britain, Turkey, and Germany planned to participate in it. Because of this, one of the issued postage stamp had flags of 17 countries. [3] Though, when Kaunas was waiting for the guests from all the European countries, World War II phantom was already wandering in Europe. That changed things, with some of the 17 planned countries no longer interested in participating in the tournament.

Eight teams arrived. Despite that, all the strongest teams of the EuroBasket 1937 participated (Lithuania, Italy, France). The championship prestige was also raised with the very capable Baltic teams participation (Latvia, Estonia). Most of the teams arrived at Kaunas firmly strengthened: Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Italy national teams had emigrants, who finished studies in the United States of America.

Everyone was thrilled with the question: will tall (unlimited) height players participation be allowed? At that time FIBA had a rule which distributed players into two groups: lower than 1.90 meter and taller than 1.90 meter. Though, this rule never was used practically. Two teams had players taller than 1.90 meter: Estonia (Ralf Viksten – 1.98 meter) and Lithuania (Pranas Lubinas – 2.00 or 2.01 meter). Just one day before the competition, FIBA Technical Committee reached a decision allowing players of all heights to compete. [4]

Results

The 1939 competition was in a very simple format. Each team played each of the other teams once. A win was worth 2 standings points, a loss worth 1. The rankings were based on those standing points. Ties were broken by head-to-head results. The winning team was Lithuania. In retrospect, the most important match was Lithuania vs Latvia in the first round. Lithuania won by 1 point, and this was the eventual winning margin of the championship. Relations between the two nations soured to such an extent that it led to the cancellation of the subsequent 1939 Baltic Cup football tournament.

Match results

Lithuania  Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg37–36Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia
Poland  Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg40–36Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia
France  Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg76–11Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Italy  Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg39–21Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg  Hungary
Lithuania  Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg33–14Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia
Latvia  Flag of Latvia.svg58–24Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg  Hungary
Poland  Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg38–36Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg  France
Italy  Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg63–13Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Lithuania  Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg46–18Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland
Latvia  Flag of Latvia.svg108–7Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
France  Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg31–24Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Italy
Estonia  Flag of Estonia.svg64–18Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg  Hungary
Lithuania  Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg48–18Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg  France
Latvia  Flag of Latvia.svg38–23Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Italy
Poland  Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg42–20Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg  Hungary
Estonia  Flag of Estonia.svg91–1Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Lithuania  Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg79–15Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg  Hungary
Latvia  Flag of Latvia.svg45–26Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg  France
Poland  Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg46–13Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Estonia  Flag of Estonia.svg29–22Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Italy
Lithuania  Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg112–9Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Poland  Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg43–27Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Italy
France  Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg45–19Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg  Hungary
Estonia  Flag of Estonia.svg26–25Flag of Latvia.svg  Latvia
Lithuania  Flag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg41–27Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Italy
Latvia  Flag of Latvia.svg43–20Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland
France  Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg33–31Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia
Hungary  Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg45–16Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
 1939 FIBA EuroBasket champions 
Flag of Lithuania.svg
Lithuania
2nd title

Final standings

EuroBasket 1939 presidential prize. A silver chest decorated with ambers. EuroBasket 1939 prize.JPG
EuroBasket 1939 presidential prize. A silver chest decorated with ambers.
RankTeamPldWLPFPAPDPts
Gold medal icon.svgFlag of Lithuania 1918-1940.svg  Lithuania 770396137+25914
Silver medal icon.svgFlag of Latvia.svg  Latvia 752353163+19012
Bronze medal icon.svgFlag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland 752242216+2612
4.Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg  France 743265216+4911
5.Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia 743286167+11911
6.Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg  Italy 725225216+99
7.Flag of Hungary (1915-1918, 1919-1946).svg  Hungary 716162343−1818
8.Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 70770541−4717

Source: fibaeurope.com

Team rosters

Lithuania's Lubinas previously played for the gold medal-winning United States national basketball team at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

1. Lithuania: Pranas Lubinas, Mykolas Ruzgys, Feliksas Kriaučiūnas, Leonas Baltrūnas, Zenonas Puzinauskas, Artūras Andrulis, Pranas Mažeika, Leonas Petrauskas, Eugenijus Nikolskis, Vytautas Norkus, Juozas Jurgėla, Mindaugas Šliūpas, Vytautas Budriūnas, Vytautas Lesčinskas (Coach: Pranas Lubinas)

2. Latvia: Visvaldis Melderis, Kārlis Arents, Jānis Graudiņš, Teodors Grīnbergs, Maksis Kazāks, Alfrēds Krauklis, Voldemārs Šmits, Juris Solovjovs, Aleksandrs Vanags, Kārlis Satiņš (Coach: Valdemārs Baumanis)

3. Poland: Paweł Stok, Bogdan Bartosiewicz, Jerzy Gregołajtis, Florian Grzechowiak, Zdzisław Kasprzak, Ewaryst Łój, Stanisław Pawlowski, Zbigniew Resich, Jerzy Rossudowski, Jarosław Śmigielski (Coach: Walenty Kłyszejko)

4. France: Robert Busnel, Vladimir Fabrikant, Henri Lesmayoux, Fernand Prudhomme, Jean Jeammes, Etienne Roland, Emile Frezot, Robert Cohu, Maurice Mertz, Abel Gravier, Andre Ambroise, Gaston Falleur, Gabriel Gonnet, Alexandre Katlama (Coach: Paul Geist)

5. Estonia: Heino Veskila, Evald Mahl, Oskar Erikson, Ralf Viksten, Georg Vinogradov, Erich Altosaar, Artur Amon, Hans Juurup, Valdeko Valdmäe, Herbert Tillemann (Coach: Herbert Niiler)

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References

  1. ↑ Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (pages: 33-35)
  2. ↑ Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (pages: 37-38)
  3. ↑ Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (page: 32)
  4. ↑ Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (pages: 36-37)
  5. ↑ "Kauno sporto halė". IstorinePrezidentura.lt (in Lithuanian). 1 October 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
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