Basketball competitions taking place in 1981

Winners of major team competitions 1980–1981

Men

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

Women

Player awards (
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
)

Regular Season MVP

NBA Finals MVP

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

*Class of 1981: ** Tom Barlow **

Arad McCutchan Arad A. McCutchan (July 4, 1912 – June 16, 1993) was a collegiate basketball coach. The Evansville, Indiana, native coached his hometown University of Evansville from 1946 to 1977, guiding the Purple Aces to a 514–314 record. McCutchan spent ...

Ferenc Hepp Dr. Ferenc Hepp (November 3, 1909 in Békés, Hungary – November 27, 1980) was a basketball administrator. He is considered "the father of Hungarian basketball". He became the president of the Hungarian Basketball Federation in 1954 and was a me ...

J. Walter Kennedy James Walter Kennedy (June 8, 1912 – June 26, 1977) was an American businessman and politician, best known as the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1963 until 1975. Profile Early life James Walter Kennedy wa ...

Deaths

* January 1 — Matt Vaniel, American professional player (born 1919) * January 5 — Joe Dolhon, American professional player (born 1927) * January 9 —

Tommy Byrnes Thomas Patrick Byrnes (February 19, 1923 – January 9, 1981) was an American professional basketball player. He played collegiately for Seton Hall University. He began his professional career playing for the New York Knicks of the Basketball As ...

, American professional player (born 1923) * January 10 — Chink Crossin, American professional player (born 1923) * January 22 — Russ Wilkins, American professional player (born 1923) * January 31 — Dick Edwards, American college coach (born 1930) * February 7 —

Connie Kunzmann Connie Renea Kunzmann (July 3, 1956 – February 7, 1981) was a professional basketball player who was a member of the Iowa Cornets and the Nebraska Wranglers in the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL) from 1978 to 1981. Kunzmann made t ...

, American professional player (born 1956) * February 26 —

Bud Lindberg Walter George "Bud" Lindenberg (September 13, 1909 – February 26, 1981) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball League for the Fort Wayne General Electrics in 1937–38. He had also played for the Fo ...

, American professional player (born 1909) * April 3 — Willis Young, American professional player (born 1911) * June 7 — Ian Watson, Australian Olympic player (born 1949) * June 20 — Rock Norman, American college coach (born 1892) * June 23 — Lou Spicer, American professional player (born 1922) * July 3 —

Artūras Andrulis Artūras Andrulis (Americanized his name as Adolfas Andrulis; April 10, 1922 – July 3, 1981Florida, Deat ...

, Lithuanian national team player (born 1922) * July 25 —

Bobby Anet Charles Robert Anet (August 11, 1917 – July 25, 1981) was a college basketball guard who helped guide the University of Oregon to win the inaugural NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament championship in 1938–39. Aside from scoring ...

, college All-American and national champion (

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

) (born 1917) * August 6 — Jack Harvey, college All-American and AAU player (born 1918) * September 4 —

Carl Knowles Carl Stanley Knowles (February 24, 1910 – September 4, 1981) was an American basketball player who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics. He was part of the American basketball team, which won the gold medal. He played two matches includi ...

, American Olympic gold medalist (

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

) (born 1910) * September 10 — John Lance, American college coach (born 1897) * September 16 —

John Azary John D. Azary (October 14, 1929 – September 16, 1981) was an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Columbia College (now Columbia University) from 1948 to 1951. Azary was born in the Bronx, New York, to Hun ...

, American college and professional player (born 1929) * November 8 —

George Nostrand George Thomas Nostrand (January 25, 1924 – November 8, 1981) was an American professional basketball player. A 6'8" (2.03 m) forward/center from High Point University (1941–1944) and the University of Wyoming (1944–1945), Nostrand pla ...

, American professional player (born 1924)

References

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