SWC75
Bored Historian
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Much was made today of the great year LeBron James had- winning his first NBA title with the Miami Heat and now the Olympics. Strangely nothing was said about the big year Anthony Davis had had- winning the NCAA title and now getting to play on the Olympic team with the players who were surely his heroes going up. He even had the ball in the end after getting the last rebound.
It led me to wonder who many players for the US teams over the years had had the experience of winning two titles- NCAA or NBA- and Olympic in the same year. Naturally, I had to look it up.
The first Olympic basketball tournament took place in 1936- before there was an NCAA tournament or an NBA. By the time the world was ready for another Olympics in 1948, we had both but the professionals were not allowed in. Instead the NCAA champions, (Kentucky) and the AAU champions, (the Phillips 66ers, including former Oklahoma State star Bob “Foothills Kurland”, the first good 7 footer) were blended together to form the Olympic team, which went on to win the Gold Medal. That Kentucky team was the first “Fabulous Five”: Cliff Barker, Ralph Beard, Alex Groza, Wallace Jones and Kenny Rollins. They won the 1948 NCAA championship, helped with the 1958 Olympics, then followed up with the 1949 NCAA title and then moved almost as a unit, (Joe Holland, a Kentucky reserve and Olympic alternate, replaced Rollins), into the NBA to play for a team created for them, the Indianapolis Olympians. The fairy tale ended when Bread and Groza were found guilty of shaving points in college and kicked out of pro ball. The Olympians folded soon afterwards.
In 1952 they used the same procedure and no less than six members of Kentucky’s 1952 NCAA champions played on the victorious Olympic team: Charles Hoag, Bill Houghland, Dean Kelley, Clyde Lovellette, Bill Leinhard and John Keller. This time the NBA didn’t create a team for them.
After that, the Olympic teams were (mostly college) all-star teams. The following players played on both the NCAA and Olympic champions in the same year:
1956 Bill Russell and K.C. Jones of San Francisco
(Russell won the state title his last two years in high school, the NCAA title his last two years in college, the Olympic title and 11 NBA titles in 13 years with the Celtics. Nobody has ever won like he did.)
1960 Jerry Lucas of Ohio State
1964 Walt Hazzard of UCLA
1968 None, (the top players boycotted but we won anyway)
1972 We lost.
1976 Quinn Buckner and Scott May of Indiana
1980 We didn’t go.
1984 Patrick Ewing of Georgetown
1988 We lost
At this point we realized we couldn’t send college players to beat the rest of the world: the Olympics was now allowing professionals to represent their country. Thus, we created the “Dream Team”. But a college player could still make the team before beginning his pro career, as Anthony Davis did this year.
1992 Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippins of the Bull, Christian Laettner of Duke
1996 Scottie Pippin (Bulls- Jordan didn’t play)
2000 No one from the Lakers of Michigan State
2004 We didn’t win
2008 No one from the Celtics or Kansas
2012 LeBron James of the Heat and Anthony Davis of Kentucky.
So the answer to the question of how many players have won “twin titles” in the same year is 24, (if anyone was wondering- or even if they weren‘t).
It led me to wonder who many players for the US teams over the years had had the experience of winning two titles- NCAA or NBA- and Olympic in the same year. Naturally, I had to look it up.
The first Olympic basketball tournament took place in 1936- before there was an NCAA tournament or an NBA. By the time the world was ready for another Olympics in 1948, we had both but the professionals were not allowed in. Instead the NCAA champions, (Kentucky) and the AAU champions, (the Phillips 66ers, including former Oklahoma State star Bob “Foothills Kurland”, the first good 7 footer) were blended together to form the Olympic team, which went on to win the Gold Medal. That Kentucky team was the first “Fabulous Five”: Cliff Barker, Ralph Beard, Alex Groza, Wallace Jones and Kenny Rollins. They won the 1948 NCAA championship, helped with the 1958 Olympics, then followed up with the 1949 NCAA title and then moved almost as a unit, (Joe Holland, a Kentucky reserve and Olympic alternate, replaced Rollins), into the NBA to play for a team created for them, the Indianapolis Olympians. The fairy tale ended when Bread and Groza were found guilty of shaving points in college and kicked out of pro ball. The Olympians folded soon afterwards.
In 1952 they used the same procedure and no less than six members of Kentucky’s 1952 NCAA champions played on the victorious Olympic team: Charles Hoag, Bill Houghland, Dean Kelley, Clyde Lovellette, Bill Leinhard and John Keller. This time the NBA didn’t create a team for them.
After that, the Olympic teams were (mostly college) all-star teams. The following players played on both the NCAA and Olympic champions in the same year:
1956 Bill Russell and K.C. Jones of San Francisco
(Russell won the state title his last two years in high school, the NCAA title his last two years in college, the Olympic title and 11 NBA titles in 13 years with the Celtics. Nobody has ever won like he did.)
1960 Jerry Lucas of Ohio State
1964 Walt Hazzard of UCLA
1968 None, (the top players boycotted but we won anyway)
1972 We lost.
1976 Quinn Buckner and Scott May of Indiana
1980 We didn’t go.
1984 Patrick Ewing of Georgetown
1988 We lost
At this point we realized we couldn’t send college players to beat the rest of the world: the Olympics was now allowing professionals to represent their country. Thus, we created the “Dream Team”. But a college player could still make the team before beginning his pro career, as Anthony Davis did this year.
1992 Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippins of the Bull, Christian Laettner of Duke
1996 Scottie Pippin (Bulls- Jordan didn’t play)
2000 No one from the Lakers of Michigan State
2004 We didn’t win
2008 No one from the Celtics or Kansas
2012 LeBron James of the Heat and Anthony Davis of Kentucky.
So the answer to the question of how many players have won “twin titles” in the same year is 24, (if anyone was wondering- or even if they weren‘t).
