Šarūnas Marčiulionis
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| Position | Shooting guard |
|---|---|
| Height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Weight | 200 lb (91 kg) |
| Born | June 13, 1964 Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, USSR |
| Nationality | Lithuanian |
| Draft | 6thround, 127th overall, 1987 Golden State Warriors |
| Pro career | 1981–1997 |
| Former teams | Statyba Vilnius (1981-89) Golden State Warriors (1989–94) Seattle SuperSonics (1994-95) Sacramento Kings (1995-96) Denver Nuggets (1996-97) |
| Awards | Lithuanian Sportsman of the Year (1987, 1989, 1990, 1991) Eurobasket 1995 MVP |
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Basketball | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1988 Seoul | USSR | |
| Bronze | 1992 Barcelona | Lithuania | |
| Bronze | 1996 Atlanta | Lithuania | |
Raimondas Šarūnas Marčiulionis (pronunciation ) (born June 13, 1964 in Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, USSR) is a Lithuanian former basketball player, one of the first Europeans to become a regular in the North American National Basketball Association (NBA). Marčiulionis started his basketball career with Statyba Vilnius in the USSR league. In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, together with Arvydas Sabonis, he led the USSR to a gold medal in basketball.
Marčiulionis was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the 6th round of the 1987 NBA Draft. He moved to the NBA in 1989 and played four years for the Warriors, finishing as the runner-up for the NBA Sixth Man Award in 1991 and 1992. Marčiulionis became one of the first Europeans to get significant playing time in the NBA, helping to lead the way for the internationalization of the league in the late 1990s. After missing a year and a half with a leg injury, he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics in 1994, then traded to the Sacramento Kings in 1995, and finished his NBA career with the Denver Nuggets in the 1996-97 season.
Despite a language barrier during his NBA career (Warrior's coach Don Nelson hired his son Donn as an assistant chiefly to serve as an interpreter for Marčiulionis), Marčiulionis was a devoted teammate and active in the communities he played in. In the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake of 1989, Marčiulionis appeared at the site of a commuter train accident wearing his Warriors warmup outfit and helped by pulling out trapped passengers and administering first aid.
In addition, his wife Inga enrolled at Merritt College, a junior college in the Oakland hills, walked on to their women's basketball team and was a star player for two seasons. Inga became one of 147 women in women's college basketball history to score 50 or more points in a college game while at Merritt, and today is the head coach of Merritt's women's team.
Following the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990, Marčiulionis almost single-handedly resurrected the Lithuanian national team. He contacted prospective players, encouraged several to join, selected the uniforms, negotiated a shoe deal, and arranged for sponsorships.[1] One notable sponsor was The Grateful Dead; the band had one of its licensees design the distinctive warm-up outfits the team wore that Olympics.[1] The outfits were a tie-dyed design in Lithuania's national colors of green, yellow, and red, with a version of the band's logo and "LIETUVA" (the country's name in its own language) on the front. The team went on to win a bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Marčiulionis was again a bronze medalist with Lithuania in the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 1995, he was named the Most Valuable Player in the European Championship, leading Lithuania to a silver medal. In 1987, 1989, 1990, and 1991 he was voted as the best sportsman in Lithuania.
In 1992, Marčiulionis opened the Šarūnas Hotel in Vilnius. In 1993, he founded the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and became its president. In 1999, Marčiulionis founded North European Basketball League (NEBL) and became its commissioner. The NEBL would later be absorbed into today's Baltic Basketball League. He is one of the most successful businessmen in Lithuania.[2]
He is currently the president of the Šarūnas Marčiulionis Basketball Academy.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b Woolf, Alexander (2002). Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure. New York: Warner Books, p. 20. ISBN 0-446-52601-0.
- ^ Woolf, Big Game, Small World, pp. 19-20.
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