Robert Albert Kurland (December 23, 1924 – September 29, 2013) was a 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 ...

center, who played for the two-time

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

champion Oklahoma A&M Aggies (now

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National Col ...

) basketball team. He led the U.S. basketball team to gold medals in two Summer Olympics, and led his AAU team to three national titles. He is a member of the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

Early life

Kurland was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Albert and Adele Kurland. He graduated from Jennings High School in

Jennings, Missouri Jennings is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 12,895. Geography Jennings is located at (38.721100, -90.261428). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area o ...

, where he participated in basketball and track.Robert Kurland Obituary – Bartlesville, OK , Examiner-Enterprise
Legacy.com. Retrieved on September 4, 2015.

College career

Kurland, a Missouri native, considered attending the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

. But when Oklahoma A&M played a game at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, ...

, A&M coach

Henry Iba Henry Payne Iba (; August 6, 1904 – January 15, 1993) was an American basketball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head basketball coach at Northwest Missouri State Teacher's College, now known as Northwest Missouri St ...

invited Kurland to dinner and offered him a scholarship. Missouri could only offer Kurland a job. Many of Kurland's family members had not finished high school, and Kurland was the first in his family to attend college at any level. Kurland was an integral part of the team's consecutive NCAA titles in 1945 and 1946, and was named the

NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player At the conclusion of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, men's and NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, women's Division I (NCAA), Division I basketball championships (the "F ...

both times. In the 1945–46 season, he scored a then-season record 643 points, including 58 in a game against Saint Louis University, which featured freshman

Ed Macauley Charles Edward Macauley (March 22, 1928 – November 8, 2011) was a professional basketball player and coach. His playing nickname was "Easy Ed". Early life Macauley spent his prep school days at St. Louis University High School, then went on to ...

. Kurland was voted

Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year The Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year was an annual men's college basketball award given to the most outstanding men′s player in the United States. It was awarded by the Helms Athletic Foundation, an organization founded in ...

. Kurland was known to leap above the rim to grab opponents' shots. This led to the NCAA banning defensive goaltending in 1945. Kurland has been credited as the first person to dunk in a college basketball game. The rivalry between him and De Paul's

George Mikan George Lawrence Mikan Jr. (; June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed "Mr. Basketball", was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of ...

would foreshadow similar matchups, especially those of basketball's "big men." In college, Kurland was active in many campus activities, including the student council, for which he served as president in 1945 and 1946. He graduated with a bachelor of science in education.

AAU career

Kurland never played professional basketball, passing up the newly formed Basketball Association of America and National Basketball League (which would merge, forming the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

), to play for

Phillips Petroleum Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in th ...

's A.A.U. team, the

Phillips 66ers The Phillips 66ers (also known as the Oilers) were an amateur basketball team located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and sponsored and run by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The 66ers were a national phenomenon that grew from a small-town team to an ...

. Kurland played for six years with Phillips, winning three championships.

Summer Olympics

Since Kurland never played professionally, he was eligible as an amateur for the Olympic Games. In the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ...

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

, he led the U.S. basketball team to the gold medal. He was second on the team in scoring (behind

Alex Groza Alex John Groza (October 7, 1926 – January 21, 1995) was an American professional basketball player from Martins Ferry, Ohio. Resulting from the CCNY point shaving scandal, Groza was banned from the National Basketball Association (NBA) for l ...

) as the U.S. defeated France in the gold medal game, 65–21. In the 1952 Olympics in

Helsinki, Finland Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Kurland carried the U.S. flag in the opening ceremony. He was again a dominant force at center as the U.S. defeated the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in the gold medal game, 36–25.

Personal life

Kurland received post-graduate management training at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. He became a salesman for

Phillips Petroleum Company Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the ...

, where he played AAU basketball, and later served as a senior marketing executive. He held a variety of positions, including ones responsible for the development of the self-service gas station concept, growth of the agricultural and plastics divisions, and management of marketing initiatives. His corporate responsibilities took his family to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Wichita,

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

. Ultimately, the family returned to the home of Phillips Petroleum,

Bartlesville, Oklahoma Bartlesville is a city mostly in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 37,290 at the 2020 census. Bartlesville is north of Tulsa and south of the Kansas border. It is the county seat of Washington County. The Ca ...

, where Kurland served as vice mayor and as a member of the city commission for several years. He retired from Phillips in 1985. Kurland was elected to the

in 1961. In 1996, he was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.Bob Kurland , National Polish-American Sports Hall Of Fame
. Polishsportshof.com (June 13, 1996). Retrieved on 2015-09-04. After retirement, Kurland and his wife, Barbara, divided time between their homes in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and

Sanibel Island, Florida Sanibel is an island and city in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,382 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The island, also known as Sanibel Island, constitute ...

. Kurland died at his Florida home on September 29, 2013, at age 88. He was survived by his wife of 62 years, Barbara, their four children Alex, Ross, Dana, and Barbara, and seven grandchildren.

References

External links

* *
National Polish-American Sports HOF profileVoices of Oklahoma interview with Bob Kurland.
First person interview conducted on January 27, 2011, with Bob Kurland. Original audio and transcript archived wit
Voices of Oklahoma oral history project.O-State Stories at the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurland, Bob 1924 births 2013 deaths All-American college men's basketball players American people of Polish descent Basketball players at the 1948 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1952 Summer Olympics Basketball players from St. Louis Centers (basketball) Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball People from Sanibel, Florida Phillips 66ers players St. Louis Bombers (NBA) draft picks United States men's national basketball team players American men's basketball players