Leonas Baltrūnas (20 October 1914 – 20 April 1993) was a Lithuanian

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. He won two gold medals with

Lithuania national basketball team Lithuania national basketball team may refer to: * Lithuania men's national basketball team * Lithuania women's national basketball team * Lithuania men's national under-20 basketball team * Lithuania men's national under-18 and under-19 basketba ...

during

EuroBasket 1937 The 1937 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1937, was the second FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA. Eight national teams affiliated with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) took pa ...

and

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 ...

Biography

In 1937 he graduated

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

Highs physical education courses, taught in Higher Technical School. Baltrūnas became interested in basketball in 1935 when he met with the basketball coach from the U.S.

Konstantinas Savickas Konstantinas Savickas (Americanized his name as Connie Savickas; October 14, 1908, Punsk – 1992, Chicago) was an American lawyer and Lithuanian basketball coach. He is often regarded as ''the father of Lithuanian basketball''. Biography In ...

. He was member of

(1936–1940) and participated in two

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 E ...

and

. He won two gold medals during both competitions. In 1944 he moved to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, in 1949 he settled in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In 1950 he organized Lithuanians basketball championship in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

for the first time, established Lithuanians sports club "Varpas" and was physical education chairman. In 1949-1953 he was

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

state and in 1955 Australia national basketball team coach, later he worked as physical education teacher at Swinburne Technical School in Hawthorn, Victoria. He also firmly contributed in popularizing

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

in Victoria state.Stanislovas Stonkus. Leonas Baltrūnas. Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija, T. II (Arktis-Beketas). – Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 2002. (page 576) Leonas Baltrūnas once said: Sport journalist Antanas Laukaitis describing him wrote:

References

;Footnotes ;Bibliography * Vidas Mačiulis, Vytautas Gudelis. Halė, kurioje žaidė Lubinas ir Sabonis. 1939–1989 – Respublikinis sporto kombinatas, Kaunas, 1989
''Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą''
page 45. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltrunas, Leonas 1914 births 1993 deaths FIBA EuroBasket-winning players Lithuanian basketball coaches Lithuanian men's basketball players Lithuanian emigrants to Australia