Arvo Johannes Jantunen (April 29, 1929 – July 20, 2018) was a Finnish

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 (appr ...

player and coach who also played

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

pesäpallo Pesäpallo (; sv, boboll, both names literally meaning "nest ball", colloquially known in Finnish as pesis, also referred to as Finnish baseball) is a fast-moving bat-and-ball sport that is often referred to as the national sport of Finland a ...

at the national top-tier level. In basketball, Jantunen represented

Tampereen Pyrintö Tampereen Pyrintö ry is a Finnish multi-sport club from Tampere. Pyrintö representatives have achieved several Olympic medals and other success. In the year 2017, Pyrintö has sport sections in cross-country skiing, basketball, ski jumping, w ...

that has retired his jersey. He also played for Finnish national team in three EuroBasket editions.

Career and personal life

In basketball, the Jantunen played his whole SM-sarja career for

. He also worked as the head coach of the team for two seasons in the 1960s. Pyrintö retired Jantunen's jersey in 2014 but per team policy allows players to use his number 5. Jantunen had 50 caps for the

Finland national basketball team The Finland men's national basketball team ( fi, Suomen koripallomaajoukkue, sv, Finlands herrlandslag i basket) represents Finland in international basketball competition. The national team is governed by Basketball Finland. Finland has playe ...

and belonged to the Finnish squads in

EuroBasket 1957 The 1957 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1957, was the tenth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Sixteen national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation (FIB ...

EuroBasket 1959 The 1959 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1959, was the eleventh FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Turkey, began on 21 May 1959 and concluded w ...

and

EuroBasket 1961 The 1961 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1961, was the twelfth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Nineteen national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation ...

, placing best at 1957 (11th). Jantunen worked as a P.E. teacher. He died in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

at the age of 89 on July 20 2018.

Trophies and awards

Basketball

* Jersey #5 retired by Tampereen Pyrintö * 11th place in

, 13th in

, 14th in

* SM-sarja silver medal in 1958

Handball

* Finnish championship in 1959 ** silver in 1954

Sources

* * *

References

External links

* 1929 births 2018 deaths Finnish basketball coaches Finnish men's footballers Finnish male handball players Finnish men's basketball players Sportspeople from Tampere Tampereen Pyrintö players Men's association football players not categorized by position {{Finland-basketball-bio-stub