1936 Berlin Olympics

The 1936 Berlin Olympics marked the first time that basketball would be played as a medal sport. To decide the players for the United States team an Olympic Tournament was held in New York at Madison Square Gardens.

A field of eight teams was put together to compete for the honor of representing the United States. The top two teams from the National Amateur Athletic Union Tournament - McPherson and Universal Pictures; five teams from the college ranks - Arkansas, DePaul, Temple, Utah State, and Washington; and the Wilmerding, Pennsylvania YMCA all competed to represent the USA.

The McPherson Refiners were the favored team to win the tournament. However, they lost 44-43 to the Universal Pictures team, the team they had beat in the AAU national finals just two weeks earlier, when a hard fought rally came up short. The win entitled the Universals to have seven players on the Olympic team. McPherson placed six players with an additional player from the University of Washington.

The rules of Olympic basketball were quite different from today. Teams were only allowed to suit up seven players for each game. A substitute could only enter the game once. There were no three or ten second violations. The clock would run continuously without timeouts. The games would be played outdoors on refurbished clay tennis courts with limited seating for the fans.

Perhaps the most outlandish rule that was adopted was the limiting of players to a height restriction of 6’2” or less. This would have made five Americans ineligible to play. The American team strongly objected to this rule and it was overturned by the time the games began.

The ball used was made by a German company called Berg. This ball was very poorly designed as it was light-weight, lopsided, and lacked the dimpling of the American ball. This caused it to become slick during play when sweat from the players and the clay dust covered the ball. Many players commented on passes becoming errant due to wind gusts.

In Berlin the team was split into two squads with the Universals on one squad and the Refiners and the Washington University player on the other. These squads then alternated games played as the Olympic tournament progressed. For the championship game the squad combined seven players - four Refiners, two Universals, and the Washington University player.

The United States won their first game by a 2-0 score when the Spanish team had to forfeit when they pulled out due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil war. Estonia was their next opponent and they were easily defeated as were the Philippines and Mexico setting up a final of the United States and Canada.

The gold medal game was played in the rain which turned the court into a mess. At halftime the USA led 15-4, the low score a result of the slow play as any attempts at a fast break ended up in players skidding up to ten feet when they tried to stop. The USA won by a score of 19-8 with the last half of the game basically turning into a series of passes between players as any attempt to dribble ended up in the ball becoming mired in the mud.

During the awards ceremony Refiner Bill Wheatley accepted the gold medal on behalf of the USA team - the first Olympic gold medal awarded for basketball.