Games of the XIVth Olympiad — 1948

London, England • July 30 – August 13, 1948

---

An easy United States march to the gold proved in the first post-World War II Olympiad that the U.S. remained the world leader in basketball. Obviously, a war-torn Europe had not had the opportunities to advance the game like the United States and South America. In fact, five of the eight teams in the quarterfinals were from the Americas, and a sixth, Argentina, almost upset the U.S. in the preliminaries.

(USA Basketball Photos) 1948 USA RESULTS (8-0) USA 86 Switzerland 21 USA 53 Czechoslovakia 28 USA 59 Argentina 57 USA 66 Egypt 28 USA 61 Peru 33 USA 63 Uruguay 28 USA 71 Mexico 40 USA 65 France 21 *1948 OLYMPIC GAMES FINAL STANDINGS 1. United States (8-0) 13. Cuba (4-3) 2. France (5-2) 14.Iran (2-5) 3. Brazil (7-1) 15.Argentina (4-4) 4. Mexico (5-2) 16. Hungary (3-5) 5. Uruguay (5-3) 17.Italy (4-4) 6. Chile (4-4) 18.China (5-3) 7. Czechoslovakia (4-4) 19. Egypt (2-6) 8. Korea (3-5) 20. Great Britain (0-7) 9. Canada (6-2) 21. Switzerland (2-6) 10.Peru (4-4) 22. Iraq (0-7) 11.Belgium (5-3) 23. Ireland (0-6) 12.Philippines (4-4)

The Phillips 66ers, winners of the 1948 national AAU title, met the 1948 NCAA champs, University of Kentucky, in the final game of the Olympic Trials. The 66ers edged Kentucky,
53-49, and Bud Browning of the 66ers was named head coach, and University of Kentucky legend Adolph Rupp was selected as his assistant.

During a pre-Olympic tour in Scotland, Browning and Rupp, each believing his own members of the team played best as a unit, concocted a strategy of unit substitution — one unit of five 66ers and one unit of five Kentucky Wildcats.

Relying on the two coaches’ unit plan, Switzerland was beaten 86-21 as Alex Groza led all scorers with 19 points, and several days later, nine Americans scored in a 53-28 win over Czechoslovakia. Still utilizing the unit plan as much as possible against Argentina, the starting 66ers five forged a 14-9 lead. When the second group of Kentucky players were substituted, Argentina rallied and by half led 33-26. The original starting crew returned at the start the second half, but eventually it had to be revised because of foul trouble. With three minutes remaining and the score even, 55-55, Kenneth Rollins sank a free throw, Jack Robinson added a field goal and Gordon Carpenter added one free throw to clinch the USA’s 59-57 victory. Rollins and Carpenter led the U.S. with 12 points each.

Egypt proved no match for the U.S. in a lopsided 66-28 U.S. win, and with Wallace Jones leading the way with 12 points, the U.S. crushed Peru 61-33. Kurland scored 19 points as the Americans handed South American champion Uruguay a 63-28 setback, and the U.S. moved within a victory of the Olympic gold after discarding of Mexico, 71-40, as Groza scored 19 points.

Facing France in the finals, Browning started his five 66ers. Only leading 9-4, the unit system was abandoned and Browning began substituting one player at a time. At half the U.S. was in command 28-9, and the Americans went on to record an easy 65-21 victory over France. The USA’s scoring was led in the gold medal game by Groza and Raymond Lumpp who tallied 11 points each.

1948 USA Men’s Olympic Games Roster

NAME	POS	HGT	WGT	AGE	SCHOOL	HOMETOWN
Clifford Barker	F	6-2	185	27	University of Kentucky	Satsuma, FL
Don Barksdale	C	6-6	200	25	Oakland Bittners (UCLA)	Los Angeles, CA
Ralph Beard	G	5-10	176	20	University of Kentucky	Louisville, KY
Lewis Beck	G	6-0	165	26	Philips 66ers (Kansas)	Pendleton, OR
Vincent Boryla	G	6-3	190	21	Denver Nuggets (Univ. of Denver)	Englewood, CA
Gordon Carpenter	C/F	6-7	220	21	Phillips 66ers (Arkansas)	Lakewood, CA
Alex Groza	C	6-7	220	21	University of Kentucky	San Diego, CA
Wallace Jones	C/F	6-4	205	22	University of Kentucky	Lexington, KY
Robert Kurland	C	7-0	220	23	Phillips 66ers (Oklahoma St.)	Bartlesville, OK
Raymond Lumpp	G	6-0	170	25	New York University	East Williston, NY
R.C. Pitts	F	6-5	200	29	Phillips 66ers (Arkansas)	Baton Rouge, LA
Jesse Renick	G	6-2	185	30	Phillips 66ers (Oklahoma St.)	San Francisco, CA
Kenneth Rollins	G	6-0	170	24	University of Kentucky	Charleston, NC
Jack Robinson	G	6-0	180	21	Baylor University	Fort Worth, TX
HEAD COACH: Omar Browning, Phillips 66ers (Bartlesville, OK)
ASSISTANT COACH: Adolph Rupp, University of Kentucky
MANAGER: Louis Wilke, Phillips 66ers (Bartlesville, OK)

1948 USA Men’s Olympic Games Cumulative Statistics

NAME	G	FGM-FGA	PCT	FTM-FTA	PCT	PF	PTS/AVG
Alex Groza	7	35-		8- 14	.571	19	78/ 11.1
Robert Kurland	7	27-		11- 15	.733	17	65/ 9.3
Don Barksdale	6	20-		14- 19	.737	16	54/ 9.0
R. C. Pitts	4	13-		5- 6	.833	3	31/ 7.8
Raymond Lumpp	5	14-		8- 10	.800	11	36/ 7.2
Wallace Jones	6	19-		5- 9	.556	11	43/ 7.2
Gordon Carpenter	5	13-		9- 12	.750	6	35/ 7.0
Vincent Boryla	5	11-		6- 10	.600	11	28/ 5.6
Jesse Renick	7	17-		5- 7	.714	13	39/ 5.6
Lewis Beck	7	13-		7- 11	.636	3	33/ 4.7
Kenneth Rollins	6	10-		4- 5	.800	5	24/ 4.0
Clifford Barker	5	7-		5- 12	.417	13	19/ 3.8
Ralph Beard	7	10-		6- 12	.500	7	26/ 3.7
Jack Robinson	5	6-		1- 3	.333	6	13/ 2.6
USA TOTALS	8	215-		94-145	.648	141	524/ 65.5
OPP. TOTALS	8	81-		94-166	.566	132	256/ 32.0

“[Rupp] turned out to be my closest friend,” Barksdale said. “We went to London and won all 12 games and got the gold medal.” But he had to brush off indignities just about every step of the way. . . Later, coach Rupp told Barksdale, “Son, I wish things weren’t like that, but there’s nothing you or I can do about it.” Barksdale agreed. He lived by a very simple philosophy. He wasn’t interested in protest; he was interested in playing basketball. He had faced prejudice before, and he knew that he would face it again.

I’ll leave it there.  Take from it what you will.