Sam Balter
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Competitor for  United States |
||
| Men's basketball | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Gold | 1936 Berlin | Team competition |
Samuel "Sam" Balter, Jr. (October 15, 1909 – August 8, 1998) was an American basketball player.
Contents |
[edit] Career
He competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics. As a Jew, he had some hesitation about playing in the Olympics hosted by Hitler's Germany, but was persuaded when he was assured by Avery Brundage that there would be no Nazi propaganda at the games.[1]
He was part of the American basketball team, which won the gold medal. He played two matches, but not the final match in which the US team won the gold medal. He was one of a number of Jewish athletes who won medals at the Nazi Olympics in Berlin in 1936.[2]
Before the Olympics, Balter played college basketball at UCLA and for an amateur basketball team sponsored by Universal Pictures.
Balter later turned his celebrity into a career as a Los Angeles sportscaster beginning his career on radio before moving into television.[3] Balter was the broadcast announcer for the Los Angeles Stars of the American Basketball Association before the ABA-NBA merger.[4]He also appeared in a number of movies and television shows, always portraying a radio announcer or sportscaster.
[edit] Personal life
Balter was married and had a daughter. He died as a result of complications from abdominal surgery on August 8, 1998.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Kahn, Carrie (August 8, 2008). "My Jewish Grandpa's Triumph At Hitler's Olympics". http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93400660. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
- ^ "The Nazi Olympics (Berlin 1936)—Jewish Athletes; Olympic Medalists". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/olympics/detail.php?content=jewish_athletes_medals&lang=en. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
- ^ a b "UCLA Hall of Famer Sam Balter Dead at 88". Los Angeles Times. August 10, 1998. http://articles.latimes.com/1998/aug/10/sports/sp-11805. Retrieved October 14, 2010.
- ^ Los Angeles Stars Team Memories at RememberTheABA.com
[edit] External links
- Olympics Profile
- Sam Balter at Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
|
|
|||||
  |
This article about an Olympic medalist of the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This biographical article relating to a United States basketball player, coach, or other figure born in the 1900s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1909 births
- 1998 deaths
- Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players
- American Basketball Association broadcasters
- Basketball players at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- College basketball announcers in the United States
- Deaths from surgical complications
- Jewish basketball players
- Los Angeles Stars
- Olympic basketball players of the United States
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- UCLA Bruins men's basketball players
- United States men's national basketball team members
- Olympic medalists in basketball
- American Olympic medalist stubs
- American basketball biography, pre-1910 birth stubs
