Pranas Talzūnas (born as Frank Konstant Talzunas; May 23, 1913 in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

– 1984) was a

Lithuanian American Lithuanian Americans refer to American citizens and residents of Lithuanian descent or were born in Lithuania. New Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has the largest percentage of Lithuanian Americans (20.8%) in its population in the United States. ...

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 (appro ...

player. He won a gold medal with the Lithuania national basketball team during the

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 p ...

, held in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

. Pranas was named

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of EuroBasket 1937 and is regarded as the first player to use the

hook shot In basketball, a hook shot is a play where the offensive player, usually turned perpendicular to the basket, gently throws the ball using a sweeping motion of the arm farther from the basket in an upward arc with a follow-through which ends over ...

. Talzūnas attitude toward the game, the matches and the representing of the nation seriousness are perfectly described by his words after the successful competition ending: "I confess that going to Riga I had no clue what to thought: whenever we will win or not. I didn't knew how our upcoming opponents plays. <...> We won deservedly, however <...> it wasn't easy. <...> The concern of the upcoming battles for me and for

Feliksas Kriaučiūnas Feliksas Kriaučiūnas (Americanized his name as Phil Krause; August 18, 1911 – October 28, 1977) was a Lithuanian Americans, Lithuanian American basketball player and coach. He won two gold medals with Lithuania men's national basketball team, ...

didn't let us to sleep for any single night. <...> We were considering the victories possibilities for hours and still doubted it. Now everything is over. For me the heaviest stone just fall from the chest".

Player profile

Lithuania national basketball team - EuroBasket 1937 champions

Pranas Talzūnas game-play was perfectly described by the sport journalist Juozas Kusa: "Talzūnas doesn't like to shoot from far, he scores all the points from under the basket. <...> It is his specialty and that his ability was overshadowed rarely by defender at least once. Just look – he got the ball, discreetly turned around, the defender is left at the other side, the, most frequently, right hand rises and the basket is done. He is also capable to shoot from far: he shot only once versus Italy and implanted it". Juris Silarājs, a Latvia national team member in

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

, who vigilantly spectated the second European championship, described him by saying: "P. Talzūnas wasn't very tall, possibly 182–183

centimeters upright=1.35, Different lengths as in respect to the electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the metre and its derived scales. The microwave is in-between 1 meter to 1 millimeter. A centimetre (International spelling) or centimeter (American ...

, however he was a tightly structured athlete. <...> The whole Lithuania national team game was based on P. Talzūnas. <...> The attack was started by F. Kriaučiūnas, then the ball was reaching Žukas and he was passing it to the P. Talzūnas, who was finishing the attack. We saw a new way to shoot into the basket: by having the ball, standing at his back to the basket, P. Talzūnas was jumping by turning into the basket and was sending the ball to the basket with his both hands". Olgert Altberg, the famous Latvian basketball coach, theoretician and professor, described Talzūnas by telling: "P. Talzūnas has shown the shot over the head for the first time – a hook shot. Nobody saw such shooting way before". From the Latvian press of that time: "Talzūnas, as attacker, was receiving at least half of the points, which the Lithuanian team was scoring. He is irreplaceable in his activity under the basket. The Italy, Poland, Estonia and Egypt defenders were vainly trying to detain this famous Lithuanian player, who was the best attacker".Stanislovas Stonkus "Krepšinio kelias į Lietuvą" (page: 29)

References

External links

*''Phil Hersh,'
Lithuania Stands Tall In Basketball
', in «

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

», June 21, 1992.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Talzunas, Pranas 1913 births Year of death missing American people of Lithuanian descent FIBA EuroBasket–winning players Lithuanian men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago