Mykolas Ruzgys (January 15, 1915 – December 15, 1986) was a

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 ...

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player. He won gold medal with Lithuania national basketball team during the

EuroBasket 1939 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 par ...

, held 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 ...

Biography

Born in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

as Michael Paul Rutzgis, around 1938 he moved to

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 ...

and became CJSO () basketball team member and player. He was invited to Lithuania national basketball team and became champion of Europe in

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

. He was fifth in scoring during the competition. Around 1940 Ruzgys returned to the United States and was forced to leave his pregnant wife Danutė in Lithuania. He never saw her again due to the

Soviet occupation of Lithuania The occupation of the Baltic states was a period of annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union from 1940 until its dissolution in 1991. For a period of several years during World War II, Nazi Germany occupied the Baltic st ...

and never met his daughter, who was born just a few weeks after he left. After the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he settled in

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where he became a basketball coach. He coached the

Spain national basketball team The Spain men's national basketball team () represents Spain in international basketball competitions. They are managed by the Spanish Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Spain. Spain is the current European champion. ...

in the

1950 FIBA World Championship The 1950 FIBA World Championship, also called the 1st World Basketball Championship – 1950, was the inaugural edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, World Cup basketball tournament for men's national teams. It was held by the Internatio ...

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, Argentina, while at the same time coaching one team in the Spanish League, U.D. Huesca. After that, he became player-coach for Bazan Ferrol.

Player-coach at Bazán Ferrol

Bazan also sponsored its own men's and women's basketball teams. The men's A Team was good enough to play in the Second Division, and some say that the shipyard refused a berth in the First for financial reasons. On Monday June 1, 1953, Bazan won the Regions Federation Cup in Valladolid by defeating ''Español de Valencia'' 43-30. The newspaper ''Mundo Deportivo'' praised the speed of the Bazan players and singled out Rusghise icas their best player, who was also the coach and whose real name was Michael P. Rutzgis. The 1954 season was arguably Team A's best. In February, Bazan played a home friendly against the Spanish national team; the game ended 69-57. Between May 11-13 Bazan played in the round-robin inter-regional championship held in Valladolid against ''Águilas de Valladolid'', ''Real Valladolid'' and ''Covadonga de Gijón''. On Tuesday May 11 Bazan beat ''Covadonga de Gijón'' 44-28 with "manifest superiority." On Wednesday Bazan defeated ''Águilas de Valladolid'' 59-43. The decisive game was played at noon on Thursday "under a blazing sun" against ''Real Valladolid''. In a "colossal feat" Bazan won 54-39. The outstanding Bazan players of the series were Pardo, Lobón and Polo. The championship advanced the team to the

Copa del Generalísimo The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...

in Madrid where they would face ''San Adrián de Barcelona'', ''Estudiantes de Madrid'' and ''Real Madrid''. On Thursday May 20, 1954, Bazan left Ferrol for Madrid on the TAF. On Sunday at 7:00 PM Bazan beat ''San Adrián de Barcelona'' 64-46. On Monday at 11:00 PM Bazan defeated ''Estudiantes de Madrid'' 74-63. On Tuesday at 11:00 PM Bazan succumbed to ''Real Madrid'' 37-67. "The superiority of Real Madrid was evident, they were always ahead on the scoreboard." On Wednesday May 26 the team returned from Madrid. "Players of juvenile and junior basketball teams ndmany fans gave the Ferrol sportsmen an affectionate and cordial welcome home" at a transfer railway station forty-one kilometers away from the city. A short note in the newspaper ''La Voz de Galicia'' of June 9, 1954, summed up the extraordinary season thus, "Our unreserved applause for Ruzgis icand those sportsmen he so skilfully trains."...

Sources

* Vidas Mačiulis, Vytautas Gudelis. Halė, kurioje žaidė Lubinas ir Sabonis. 1939–1989. – Respublikinis sporto kombinatas, Kaunas, 1989. * http://historiabasket.blogspot.com.es/2011/08/el-catalogo-del-buen-ferrolano.html * http://hemeroteca-paginas.mundodeportivo.com/EMD02/HEM/1953/06/01/MD19530601-001.pdf

References

1915 births 1986 deaths FIBA EuroBasket–winning players Lithuanian men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen {{1910s-US-basketball-bio-stub