Frank John Lubin ( lt, Pranas Jonas Lubinas; January 7, 1910 – July 8, 1999) was a

Lithuanian-American Lithuanian Americans refers to American citizens and residents who are Lithuanian and were born in Lithuania, or are of Lithuanian descent. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in the United ...

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. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

from 1928 to 1931. In 1997, Lubin was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the Helms Sports Hall of Fame.

Early life

Lubin was born on the east side of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, to a family of Lithuanian immigrants, and he died in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...

. A veteran with the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Lubin was buried at

Riverside National Cemetery Riverside National Cemetery (RNC) is a cemetery located in Riverside, California, dedicated to the interment of United States military personnel. The cemetery covers , making it the largest cemetery managed by the National Cemetery Administratio ...

, in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

. His father, Konstantinas Lubinas, was from

Vilkaviškis Vilkaviškis () is a city in southwestern Lithuania, the administrative center of the Vilkaviškis District Municipality. It is located northwest from Marijampolė, at the confluence of of and rivers. The city got its name from the Vilkau ...

, while his mother, Paulina Vasiliauskaitė, was from

Vabalninkas Vabalninkas () ( pl, Wobolniki) is a city in the Biržai district municipality, Lithuania. It is located south of Biržai. History Vabalninkas village was mentioned in 1554, Vabalninkas estate in 1555. In 1593, Vabalninkas was assigned to A ...

Basketball career

High school

When Lubin grew up to a height of at Lincoln High School, classmates encouraged him to try out for the basketball team. Gangly and uncoordinated, Lubin struggled to improve his game, but was eventually named to the All-City Second Team as a senior in 1927.

College career

While playing

at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...

, from 1928 to 1931, Lubin earned All-Pacific Coast Conference honors in his senior season with the Bruins.

U.S. national team

Following his college career, he worked as a

stagehand A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their work include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production. General S ...

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, and joined the studio's AAU team, which earned the right to represent the U.S. as part of the first Olympic basketball tournament in

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 ...

, where he won the gold.Frank Lubin, a Big Man in Two Countries
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Lithuanian national team

During the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-s ...

, Lubin was invited to come to

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), 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. Lithuania ...

, and he became their first national team

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

. They won the

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 ...

title in

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into ...

, using American-born players of Lithuanian heritage. When the team hosted the EuroBasket in

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

, they again won the title, this time with Lubin, acting as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. Lubin the de facto

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of EuroBasket 1939, however he was unable to receive the award, because he was taller than , and

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

had a rule at the time, which prohibited the award to be given to players at such a height. When

broke out in 1939, Lubin was in Italy, coaching a Lithuanian women's team. Given that

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

was directly on the path back to Lithuania, Italian officials had to help the team to get back, through train and boat, avoiding Germany. Afterwards, Lubin fled Lithuania to California with his family, in the face of the upcoming Soviet invasion that happened one year later. Lubin continued to play for the Twentieth Century Fox team until 1955, when knee problems prompted him to retire. For his contributions and for introducing the now basketball-mad country of Lithuania to the sport, Lubin is often called the "grandfather of Lithuanian basketball". sports-reference.com

References

Footnotes Bibliography * Vidas Mačiulis, Vytautas Gudelis. Halė, kurioje žaidė Lubinas ir Sabonis. 1939–1989 – Respublikinis sporto kombinatas, Kaunas, 1989

External links

* *
Olympic Oral History interview with Frank Lubin (1988)

Frank Lubin page on Hoopedia.NBA

Los Angeles Times Interview with Mary Agnes Lubin

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lubin, Frank 1910 births 1999 deaths Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players American men's basketball players American people of Lithuanian descent Basketball players at the 1936 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Los Angeles Burials at Riverside National Cemetery FIBA EuroBasket-winning coaches FIBA EuroBasket-winning players Lithuanian men's basketball players Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball UCLA Bruins men's basketball players United States men's national basketball team players Centers (basketball)