Konstantinas Savickas (Americanized his name as Connie Savickas; October 14, 1908, Punsk – 1992,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

) was an American lawyer and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

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 (appro ...

coach. He is often regarded as ''the father of Lithuanian basketball''.

Biography

In 1909, he emigrated to the United States with his parents. In

, he achieved

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

and graduated

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1929 by achieving

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

. As a student he actively exercised, in 1933-1935 he was editing

n youth newspaper "Vytis". In 1935–1936, he lived in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

, worked at Physical Culture Palace as a sports instructor.

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 (appro ...

situation in

was deplorable at that time, tragic loss to

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

with huge difference was a perfect proof of that. As a result, Savickas started coaching Lithuania national basketball team in 1935 and improved it a lot. He invited well-known

Lithuanian-American Lithuanian Americans refer to Americans, American citizens and residents of Lithuanians, Lithuanian descent or were born in Lithuania. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in its population ...

basketball players Pranas Talzūnas,

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

Juozas Žukas Jonas Juozas Žukas (October 29, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois - July 7, 1981) was a Lithuanian basketball and tennis player. He won a gold medal with Lithuania national basketball team during EuroBasket 1937. Žukas lived in northern Chicago, near ...

and B.Budrikas to

. In

, 1936, he published his book "Krepšinis" (English: "Basketball"), wrote various articles about physical education. In 1937, Lithuania lost to Latvia again but only with score of 29:41, which was a huge improvement. Just before

EuroBasket 1937 The 1937 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1937, was the second FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA. Eight national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) took p ...

, he transferred his head coach post to

. Lithuania won

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 ...

for the first time during that competition in

. After the end of

, he returned to United States without knowing that his home-country will be occupied soon. As a result, he had to stay in United States almost his whole life after

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

occupation and observe

Frank Lubin Frank John Lubin (; January 7, 1910 – July 8, 1999) was a Lithuanian Americans, Lithuanian-American basketball player. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCLA Bruins from 1928 to 1931. In 1997, Lubin was inducted ...

(5-times All-American) games in USA clubs and after many decades admire Sabonis, Marčiulionis, Chomičius, Kurtinaitis game play. He returned to

only in 1991, just one year before his death, to participate in IV Lithuanian World Sports Games. Giving interview to daily newspaper

Lietuvos rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is ...

he said:

''"Tikiu, kad išaugs nauji saboniai ir marčiulioniai, ir vėl susiburs nauja gera komanda" (English: I believe that new Sabonis and Marčiulions will grow up and will create a new superb team again)''

He said that by observing future and without knowing that he will not have a chance to see future Lithuania national basketball team victories. Savickas died in the beginning of June, 1992, in

, just a few months before tremendous Lithuania national team victory in

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

against Unified Team (team formed from the former

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

countries, except the

Baltic States The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

) during the Olympic bronze game.Basketball road to Lithuania
', sviesa.lt''

References

* Jungtinių Amerikos Valstijų lietuviai. (II t.) – Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras, Vilnius, 1998 * Vidas Mačiulis, Vytautas Gudelis. Halė, kurioje žaidė Lubinas ir Sabonis. 1939–1989. – Respublikinis sporto kombinatas, Kaunas, 1989 {{DEFAULTSORT:Savickas, Konstantinas 1908 births 1992 deaths Lithuanian basketball coaches Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States