 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1928-01-18)18 January 1928 Kronstadt, Leningrad Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Died | 16 August 2005(2005-08-16) (aged 77) Moscow, Russia |
| Nationality | Soviet / Russian |
| Career information | |
| Playing career | 1945–1953 |
| Position | Point guard / shooting guard |
| Coaching career | 1949–1991 |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1945–1948 | SKIF Leningrad |
| 1949–1953 | SKA Leningrad |
| As coach: | |
| 1949–1952 | Spartak Leningrad (women) |
| 1953–1965 | Rīgas ASK |
| 1970–1979, 1985–1986 | CSKA Moscow |
| 1988–1989 | Tenerife AB |
| 1990–1991 | CSP Limoges |
| Career highlights and awards | |
As a head coach
| |
| Basketball Hall of Fame | |
| FIBA Hall of Fame | |
| Medals | |
Alexander Yakovlevich Gomelsky (Russian: Александр Яковлевич Гомельский; 18 January 1928 – 16 August 2005) was a Russian professional basketball player and coach. The Father of Soviet and Russian basketball, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.
Alexander Gomelsky was awarded the Olympic Order by the International Olympic Committee in 1998. In 2008, he was named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors.
Playing career
Gomelsky played club basketball in the Soviet Union. He played with SKIF Leningrad, from 1945 to 1948. He finished his playing career with SKA, where he played from 1949 to 1953.
Club coaching career
Gomelsky began his coaching career in 1949, in Leningrad, with the women's team of LGS Spartak. In 1953, he became the coach of Rīgas ASK, leading the team to three Soviet Union League titles (1955, 1957, 1958), and three consecutive European Champions Cups (EuroLeague), from 1958 to 1960.
In 1970, he was appointed the head coach of CSKA Moscow, leading the club to 8 Soviet Union national league championships (1971–1974, 1976–1979), 2 Soviet Union Cups (1972, 1973), and one European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) title in 1971. He also led the club to two more European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) finals, in 1970, and 1973.
He also coached in Spain and France shortly before the dissolution of the USSR.
National team coaching career
Gomelsky was the long-time head coach of the senior Soviet Union national team, leading them to 6 EuroBasket titles (1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1979, and 1981), 2 FIBA World Cup titles (1967, and 1982), and the Summer Olympic Games gold medal in 1988.
He was originally the Soviet national team head coach in 1972, and was expected to coach the team at the 1972 Summer Olympic games, but the KGB confiscated his passport, fearing that, since Gomelsky was Jewish, he would defect to Israel. The Soviet team, with Vladimir Kondrashin as their coach, won their first Olympic gold medal that year, after a controversial game against the United States.
Individual awards
For merits in the development of sports and basketball was awarded:
- Honored Coach of the USSR: 1956
- Master of Sports of the USSR International Class: 1965
- 4× Soviet Union Coach of the Year: 1967, 1977, 1982, 1988
- Honored Coach of the Lithuanian SSR: 1982
- Order of the Red Banner of Labour: 1982
- Order of the Red Star
- Order of Friendship of Peoples
- 2 Orders of the Badge of Honour
- Honored Worker of Physical Culture of Russia: 1993
- Silver Olympic Order: 1998
- FIBA EuroStar: 1998
- Order of Merit (Ukraine): 2003
Career achievements
Club competitions
- EuroLeague: 4 (Rīgas ASK: 1958, 1959, 1960 & CSKA Moscow: 1971)
- Soviet League: 12 (Rīgas ASK: 1955, 1957, 1958, Latvian SSR Team 1956 & CSKA Moscow: 1971–1974, 1976–1979)
- Soviet Cup: 2 (CSKA Moscow: 1972, 1973)
National team competitions
- 1963 FIBA World Championship:
Bronze - EuroBasket 1963:
Gold - 1964 Summer Olympics:
Silver - EuroBasket 1965: Gold
- 1967 FIBA World Championship: Gold
- EuroBasket 1967: Gold
- 1968 Summer Olympics: Bronze
- EuroBasket 1969: Gold
- 1970 FIBA World Championship: Bronze
- EuroBasket 1977: Silver
- 1978 FIBA World Championship: Silver
- EuroBasket 1979: Gold
- 1980 Summer Olympics: Bronze
- EuroBasket 1981: Gold
- 1982 FIBA World Championship: Gold
- EuroBasket 1983: Bronze
- EuroBasket 1987: Silver
- 1988 Summer Olympics: Gold
Post coaching career
In his later years, Gomelsky was the president of the Russian Basketball Federation and CSKA Moscow. In 1995, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame. In 2008, he was named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors.
The EuroLeague's annual Alexander Gomelsky EuroLeague Coach of the Year award is named after him, and so is Alexander Gomelsky Universal Sports Hall CSKA.
Every year the Gomelsky Cup is organized by CSKA in honor of its legendary coach.
Personal life
The Gomelsky family has been a driving force behind development of the Soviet/Russian basketball. Gomelsky's younger brother, Evgeny, is also a well-known basketball coach, and his son, Vladimir, also worked as a basketball player and coach. His son Gomelsky ran a sports association school in his father name, leading to several female Olympic basketball players. He was survived by his four sons and four grandchildren. His wife Tatiana, also a basketball player and coach, died from cancer. Is Jewish.
See also
- FIBA Basketball World Cup winning head coaches
- List of select Jewish coaches
- List of FIBA EuroBasket winning coaches
- List of EuroLeague-winning head coaches
Bibliography
- A. Ya. Gomelsky (1985). Team Management in Basketball (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. Archived from the original on 24 February 2007. Retrieved 28 March 2007.
References
- YIVO | Sport: Jews in Sport in the USSR Archived 29 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Yivoencyclopedia.org. Retrieved on 31 October 2016.
- Aleksandr "Sascha" Gomelsky. Jewishsports.net. Retrieved on 31 October 2016.
- Professional Basketball Club CSKA Moscow. Cskabasket.com. Retrieved on 31 October 2016.
External links
- Alexander Gomelsky at acb.com (in Spanish)
- Alexander Gomelsky at halloffame.fiba.com
- Alexander Gomelsky at hoophall.com
- 1928 births
- 2005 deaths
- ASK Riga coaches
- Communist Party of the Soviet Union members
- Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
- Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
- Recipients of the Order of the Red Star
- ASK Riga players
- EuroLeague–winning coaches
- FIBA EuroBasket–winning coaches
- FIBA Hall of Fame inductees
- International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees
- Jewish basketball players
- Men's basketball players
- Limoges CSP coaches
- Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
- PBC CSKA Moscow coaches
- Point guards
- Russian basketball coaches
- Russian men's basketball players
- Jewish Russian sportspeople
- Shooting guards
- Soviet basketball coaches
- Soviet men's basketball players
- Soviet Jews
- Basketball players from Saint Petersburg
- Soviet expatriate basketball people in Spain
- Soviet expatriate basketball people in France
- Deaths from leukemia in Russia
- Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery
- Soviet expatriate basketball people
- Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union
- Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Olympic medalists in basketball
- Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics
- Coaches at the 1980 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union
- Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union
- Coaches at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- 20th-century Russian sportsmen