The 1939 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1939, was the third

FIBA EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

regional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

championship, held by FIBA. Eight national teams affiliated with the

International Basketball Federation The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

(FIBA) took part in the competition. Defending champions

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

hosted the tournament, held in Kaunas Sports Hall.

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

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 A tarpaulin ( , ) or tarp is a large sheet of strong, flexible, water-resistant or waterproof material, often cloth such as canvas or polyester coated with polyurethane, or made of plastics such as polyethylene. Tarpaulins often have reinforce ...

roof, protecting from the rain, in the that time State Court (currently

Darius and Girėnas Stadium Darius and Girėnas stadium ( lt, Dariaus ir Girėno stadionas) is a multi-use stadium in the Ąžuolynas park in Žaliakalnis district of Kaunas, Lithuania. The all-seater stadium holds 15,315 people. In 1998 the stadium was renovated accordin ...

). 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".

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". The opening ceremony was started by the Lithuanian president

Antanas Smetona Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual and journalist and the first President of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1926 to 1940, before its occupation by the Soviet Union. He was one of the ...

speech.

Teams and their compositions

At first, after sending the invitations, 17 countries wished to compete. Even the basketball newcomers

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

planned to participate in it. Because of this, one of the issued postage stamp had flags of 17 countries. Though, when Kaunas was waiting for the guests from all the European countries,

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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 (

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

). The championship prestige was also raised with the very capable Baltic teams participation (

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

). Most of the teams arrived at Kaunas firmly strengthened: Lithuania,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, Estonia, Latvia, Italy national teams had emigrants, who finished studies in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. Everyone was thrilled with the question: will tall (unlimited) height players participation be allowed? At that time

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

had a rule which distributed players into two groups: lower than 1.90

meter The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

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 Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

– 1.98 meter) and Lithuania (

Pranas Lubinas Frank John Lubin ( lt, Pranas Jonas Lubinas; January 7, 1910 – July 8, 1999) was a Lithuanian-American basketball player. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins from 1928 to 1931. In 1997, Lubin was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hal ...

– 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.Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (pages: 36-37)

Gallery

File:EuroBasket 1939 opening ceremony.jpg, EuroBasket 1939 opening ceremony File:EuroBasket 1939 opening ceremony 2.JPG, EuroBasket 1939 opening ceremony File:Eurobasket 1939 Lithuania-Hungary.jpg,

–

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

game during EuroBasket 1939

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

. 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

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Final standings

Source
fibaeurope.com

Team rosters

Lithuania's Lubinas previously played for the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

-winning

United States national basketball team The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. They are the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in ...

at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-s ...

. 1. Lithuania:

Mykolas Ruzgys Mykolas Ruzgys (January 15, 1915 – December 15, 1986) was a Lithuanian-American basketball player. He won gold medal with Lithuania national basketball team during the EuroBasket 1939, held in Kaunas. Biography Born in the United States as Mi ...

Feliksas Kriaučiūnas Feliksas Kriaučiūnas (Americanized his name as Phil Krause; August 18, 1911 – October 28, 1977) was a Lithuanian American basketball player and coach. He won two gold medals with Lithuania national basketball team and silver medal with Lithu ...

, Leonas Baltrūnas,

Zenonas Puzinauskas Zenonas Puzinauskas (March 4, 1920 – July 16, 1995) was a Lithuanian basketball player. He won two gold medals with the Lithuania national basketball team during EuroBasket 1937 and EuroBasket 1939.Artūras Andrulis, Pranas Mažeika, Leonas Petrauskas,

Eugenijus Nikolskis Eugenijus Nikolskis (born 1917) was a Lithuanian basketball and table tennis player. He won two gold medals with the Lithuania national basketball team during EuroBasket 1937 and EuroBasket 1939.Vytautas Norkus Vytautas Norkus (28 January 1921 – 29 January 2014) was a Lithuanian-born American basketball player. He won a gold medal with the Lithuania national basketball team during EuroBasket 1939. Biography He studied at Kaunas Aušra boys gymnasi ...

, Jurgis Jurgėla, Mindaugas Šliūpas,

Vytautas Budriūnas Vytautas Budriūnas (Americanized his name as Walter "Whitey" Budrun; born December 19, 1908; died June 28, 2003) was a Lithuanian basketball player. He won gold medal at EuroBasket 1939 with Lithuania national basketball team. He was notable ...

, Vytautas Lesčinskas (Coach:

) 2. Latvia: Visvaldis Melderis, Kārlis Arents, Jānis Graudiņš,

Teodors Grīnbergs Teodors Grīnbergs (2 April 1870 - 14 June 1962) was a Latvian prelate of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia and its first Archbishop from 1932. He was forcibly taken into exile in Germany in 1944. He continued to serve as Archbishop of the ...

, Maksis Kazāks, Alfrēds Krauklis, Voldemārs Šmits, Juris Solovjovs,

Aleksandrs Vanags Aleksandrs Vanags (21 March 1919 – 1986), also known as Alexandre Vanags, was a Latvian association football, football and basketball player. At international level, he represented the Latvia national football team, after World War II he play ...

, Kārlis Satiņš (Coach: Valdemārs Baumanis) 3. Poland:

Paweł Stok Paweł Stanisław Stok (22 March 1913 in Tarnopol – 18 August 1993 in Kraków) was a Polish basketball player who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics. He was part of the Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Po ...

, Bogdan Bartosiewicz, Jerzy Gregołajtis,

Florian Grzechowiak Florian Grzechowiak (June 7, 1914 in Bottrop, Germany – July 24, 1972 in Poznań) was a Polish basketball player who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics ( German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially kno ...

, Zdzisław Kasprzak, Ewaryst Łój, Stanisław Pawlowski,

Zbigniew Resich Zbigniew () is a Polish masculine given name, originally Zbygniew . This West Slavic name is derived from the Polish elements ''Zby-'' (from ''zbyć, zbyć się, or pozbyć się'', meaning "to dispel", "to get rid of") and ''gniew'', meaning "ange ...

, Jerzy Rossudowski, Jarosław Śmigielski (Coach: Walenty Kłyszejko) 4. France: Robert Busnel, Vladimir Fabrikant,

Henri Lesmayoux Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the ' List of rulers named Henry' for Kings of France named Henri.'' * Henri I de Mon ...

Fernand Prudhomme Fernand Prudhomme (3 July 1916 – 29 April 1993) was a French basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German language, German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), off ...

, Jean Jeammes, Etienne Roland,

Emile Frezot Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

Robert Cohu Robert Cohu (20 August 1911 – 21 January 2011) was a French basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German language, German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), offi ...

, Maurice Mertz, Abel Gravier, Andre Ambroise, Gaston Falleur, Gabriel Gonnet, Alexandre Katlama (Coach:

Paul Geist Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

) 5. Estonia:

Heino Veskila Heino Veskila (14 December 1918 – 22 July 1941) was an Estonian basketball player who played for Tartu YMCA, Tartu EASK and Tartu Dünamo. He also represented the Estonia men's national basketball team internationally. Veskila competed for Est ...

Evald Mahl Evald Mahl (14 April 1915 – 18 January 2001) was an Estonian basketball player. He competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German language, German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games ...

Oskar Erikson Oskar may refer to: * oskar (gene), the Drosophila gene * Oskar (given name) Oscar or Oskar is a masculine given name of Irish origin. Etymology The name is derived from two elements in Irish: the first, ''os'', means "deer"; the second element, ' ...

, Georg Vinogradov, Erich Altosaar, Artur Amon, Hans Juurup, Valdeko Valdmäe, Herbert Tillemann (Coach:

Herbert Niiler Herbert Niiler (27 April 1905 – 13 April 1982) was an Estonian American basketball player and coach. Niiler coached the Estonia men's national basketball team in the 1936 Summer Olympics, where the team placed 9th. He also led Estonia to EuroBa ...

)

References

External links

FIBA Europe EuroBasket 1939Eurobasket.com 1939 EChampionship
{{Eurobasket

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

1939 in basketball

Sports competitions in Kaunas 1939 in Lithuanian sport May 1939 sports events 20th century in Kaunas