Samuel Balter Jr. (October 15, 1909 – August 8, 1998) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who won a gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He was also a renowned sportscaster.

Career

Balter was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. He went first to Lincoln High School, and then to Roosevelt High School, both in Los Angeles. He then attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, where he played basketball and was an

NCAA All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

. He competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics. As a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

, he had some hesitation about playing in the Olympics hosted by

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's Germany, but was persuaded when he was assured by

Avery Brundage Avery Brundage (; September 28, 1887 – May 8, 1975) was an American sports administrator who served as the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972. The only American and only non-European to attain that p ...

that there would be no

Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi polici ...

at the games. Balter was part of the American basketball team which won the gold medal. He played in two matches, but not the final match in which the U.S. team won the gold medal. He was one of a number of Jewish athletes who won medals at the Nazi Olympics in Berlin in 1936. Before the Olympics, Balter played college basketball at

and for an amateur basketball team sponsored by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

. Balter later turned his celebrity into a career as a Los Angeles sportscaster, announcing at radio station

KLAC KLAC (570 AM) is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, serving Greater Los Angeles and much of surrounding Southern California. Owned by a joint venture between iHeartMedia, Inc. and the Los Angeles Dodgers b ...

from 1946 to 1962, and starting his TV career on a local station in 1950. He was known as the "voice of UCLA football and basketball" and also wrote sports columns for the '' Los Angeles Herald-Express''.Los Angeles Radio People, Where are They Now? – B
Retrieved March 30, 2016. Balter was the broadcast announcer for the

Los Angeles Stars LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

of the American Basketball Association before the ABA-NBA merger. He also appeared in a number of movies and television shows, always portraying a radio announcer or sportscaster. Balter is a member of the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) Hall of Fame, the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere arou ...

, the Southern California Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

, and the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Balter was married and had a daughter. He died as a result of complications from abdominal surgery on August 8, 1998.

Filmography

* '' Straightaway'' (1961–1962), two episodes

References

External links

Olympics Profile
at Jewish Sports Hall of Fame * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balter, Sam 1909 births 1998 deaths Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American Basketball Association announcers American men's basketball players Basketball players at the 1936 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Detroit Cincinnati Reds announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Forwards (basketball) Jewish American sportspeople Jewish men's basketball players Los Angeles Stars Los Angeles Rams announcers Major League Baseball broadcasters Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Minor League Baseball broadcasters Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball UCLA Bruins football announcers UCLA Bruins men's basketball players United States men's national basketball team players 20th-century American Jews

Career

Personal life

Filmography

See also

References

External links