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Nazi Germany, Basketball and the Olympics 1936
It’s 1936 and Nazi Germany wants to impress the world with perfect Olympic Games. For the first time in history, basketball joins the Olympic program. But the sport’s debut would turn into a slapstick act as Olympic basketball makes its bumpy beginning.
“Don’t get on that boat until you see us there,” was the warning from Frank Lubin.
The telegram was directed to his wife, his sister-in-law and his father. His family was to not board the boat while he was stuck somewhere in no-man’s land. After all, the final destination was far-off Europe. Lubin and his loved ones have to arrive in New York by July 12, 1936. The SS Manhattan was leaving the next day, heading to Berlin.
Three months earler, Frank Lubin had no idea that he would be writing history in the middle of Nazi Germany. The 26-year-old was playing basketball for the Amateur Athletic Union. A section of the AAU was large companies which sponsored teams and offered young men work. Among them was a company group from Universal Studios in Hollywood, for whom Lubin played. Another was the Kansas-based McPheson Globe Oilers – also called the Refiners. They were among the best that the AAU had to offer and faced off in the championship final, with the Oilers winning the game by 13 points.
Two weeks later, both teams were invited to play at Madison Square Garden along with five college teams and a YMCA team. Organisers were looking for 14 players to represent the United States at the Olympic Games in Berlin. The Olympic Committee did not have a large budget, making an extensive recruiting effort for players impossible. Instead, the committee decided to pick an already-organised team.
The Universal Pictures side knocked off the Oilers 44-43 in the Garden final, giving them the right to name half of the Olympic team. The other seven players were made up of six Oilers players and Ralph Bishop of the third-placed team University of Washington. The two centers from the McPherson Oilers – Willard Schmidt und Joe Fortenberry – really gave the U.S. some height that not only impressed those in Berlin. Time Magazine featured the two big men in a report in its April 13, 1936 edition.
Time wrote: “Centres Willard Schmidt and Joe Fortenberry are 6 ft. 9 and 6 ft. 8 respectively. When the team travels, they sleep on hotel bedroom floors. They have perfected a technique called ‘dunking’, with which they score by jumping up above the basket, dropping the ball into it. On the defense, they prevent opponents from scoring by batting the ball out of the basket.”
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But it remained questionable if the McPherson players would even be allowed to take part in the Olympics. The oil refinery threatened with instant dismissal if the players played in Berlin. They were, after all, just normal employees. And the trip would last weeks. And also at Universal Studios the players were confronted with little support. The company even rescinded its team name and sponsorship out of protest against National Socialism.
“Well, we were stuck here in Los Angeles,” said Lubin. “And Braven Dyer, Sr., who was sports editor of the ‘Los Angeles Times’, said that he would organize a team to play our team in the Olympic Auditorium to raise a sum of money to get us on our way.” Dyer Sr. kept his promise. The Universals played against a selected squad of college players and lost 22-20. But instead of gaining loads of money for the trip, there was plenty of scourn. A series of show matches followed in the U.S. flatlands – Denver, Tulsa, Kansas City. The tour went on and that’s when Lubin sent the telegram to his loved ones that they should not check in for the boat to Berlin too early. Just to be on the safe side.
The Olympic team ended up arriving on the East Coast on time. Also with them was Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. The Canadian native – who was then 74 years old – collected money from coaches so that he could make the trip. He was to be honored at the Olympics 45 years after the invention of basketball.
The American delegation spent a number of days on the open waters. And there was no chance to practice on the ship. The players were able to jog on deck and passing drills could be practiced as well – as long as the wind didn’t blow too hard. But nobody could have expected the huge role the weather would play in basketball’s Olympic premiere. Playmaker Sam Balter, who after his playing career would make a name as a radio announcer and columnist, wrote years later: “We had hoped to display to sports fans of other countries the skills, the science and the speed of this native American game.” But what should have been, according to Balter “the greatest basketball tournament ever” turned into a comedy of mistakes and unlucky circumstances.
Text: Goranka Zloporubovic
