Vytautas Norkus (28 January 1921 – 29 January 2014) was a Lithuanian-born American
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 won a gold medal with the
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 basketball ...
during
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
He studied at
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 ...
Aušra boys gymnasium. From 15 years old he started to play basketball. Later in
Vytautas Magnus University
Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) ( lt, Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas (VDU)) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university.
Initially it was known ...
he studied physical education. He also played for Kaunas "Grandies" team, later for Kaunas "Perkūnas".
He was invited to join
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 basketball ...
and participate in
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 ...
. He became
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 ...
champion that year. Spectators were pleased to see combination performed by him along with
Vytautas Budriūnas
Vytautas Budriūnas (Americanized his name as Walter "Whitey" Budrun; born December 19, 1908; died June 28, 2003) was a Lithuanian basketball player. He won gold medal at EuroBasket 1939 with Lithuania men's national basketball team, Lithuania ...
and
Pranas Lubinas
Frank John Lubin ( lt, Pranas Jonas Lubinas; January 7, 1910 – July 8, 1999) was a Lithuanian-American basketball player. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins from 1928 to 1931. In 1997, Lubin was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hal ...
.
At the end of
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
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 ...
, where he played for Kempton ''Šarūnas'' Lithuanian emigrants basketball team. In 1949 he moved to
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
References
Sources
* Jungtinių Amerikos Valstijų lietuviai. (II t.) – Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras, Vilnius, 1998
* Vidas Mačiulis, Vytautas Gudelis. Halė, kurioje žaidė Lubinas ir Sabonis. 1939–1989 – Respublikinis sporto kombinatas, Kaunas, 1989
1921 births
2014 deaths
Place of birth missing
FIBA EuroBasket-winning players
Lithuanian men's basketball players
Soviet expatriates in Germany
Soviet emigrants to the United States
{{Lithuania-basketball-bio-stub