John Stanich ( January 18, 1925 - April 1, 2020) is an American retired

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. He was an All-American college player at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

and represented the United States in the

1950 FIBA World Championship The 1950 FIBA World Championship, also called the 1st World Basketball Championship – 1950, was an international basketball tournament held by the International Basketball Federation in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 22 October to 3 November ...

. Stanich graduated from

Sacramento High School Sacramento Charter High School ("Sac High") is an independent public charter high school in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento, California. Originally founded in 1856, Sacramento High is the second oldest public high school in California. In ...

and attended hometown

Sacramento City College Sacramento City College (SCC) is a public community college in Sacramento, California. SCC is part of the Los Rios Community College District and had an enrollment of 25,307 in 2009. It is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community ...

. Stanich led the Panthers in scoring in both of his seasons there and as a sophomore in 1945–46 led the Panthers to the junior college national championship. Following his junior college career, Stanich teamed with his younger brother

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Pres ...

at UCLA. As a senior in 1947–48, Stanich captained the Bruins squad and was named first team All-Conference and an honorable mention All-American by the

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. Following the close of his college career, Stanich was drafted by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associa ...

in the

1948 BAA draft The 1948 BAA draft was the second annual draft of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which later became the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 10, 1948, before the 1948–49 season. In this draft, eight BAA ...

. However, he chose to play for the

Phillips Petroleum Company Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in th ...

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 has ...

(AAU) power

Phillips 66ers The Phillips 66ers (also known as the Oilers) were an amateur basketball team located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and sponsored and run by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The 66ers were a national phenomenon that grew from a small-town team to an ...

. Stanich was named an AAU All-American in 1949 and won an AAU championship in 1950. After the season, Stanich moved to the Denver Chevrolets. Also in 1950, Stanich was named to the United States' team for the inaugural FIBA World Championship (now called the

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

). The Americans lost 64–50 to host country Argentina. Stanich finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 7.2 points per game in the tournament, and was the lone American named to the all-tournament team.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanich, John 1925 births 2020 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from Sacramento, California Forwards (basketball) Guards (basketball) Junior college men's basketball players in the United States New York Knicks draft picks Phillips 66ers players Sacramento City College alumni UCLA Bruins men's basketball players United States men's national basketball team players 1950 FIBA World Championship players