Alexander Belov

For the Olympic canoeist, see Aleksandr Belov (canoeist). For the Soviet soldier, see Alexander Belov (sergeant). For the Olympic ski jumper, see Aleksandr Belov (ski jumper).

Alexander Belov

Personal information
Born	(1951-11-09)9 November 1951 Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	3 October 1978(1978-10-03) (aged 26) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Soviet / Russian
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
NBA draft	1975: 10th round, 161st overall pick
Selected by the New Orleans Jazz
Playing career	1967–1978
Position	Center
Number	14
Career history
1967–1978	Spartak Leningrad
Career highlights and awards
As player 2× FIBA European Selection (1971, 1972) 2× FIBA Saporta Cup champion (1973, 1975) Soviet League champion (1975) FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991)
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com
FIBA Hall of Fame as player
Medals Men's Basketball Representing the Soviet Union Summer Olympic Games 1972 Munich 1976 Montreal FIBA World Cup 1974 Puerto Rico 1970 Ljubljana FIBA EuroBasket 1969 Italy 1971 West Germany 1975 Yugoslavia European U-18 Championship 1968 Spain Under-18 1970 Greece Under-18

Alexander Alexandrovich Belov (November 9, 1951 – October 3, 1978) was a Soviet basketball player who won the gold medal with the senior Soviet Union national basketball team at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, scoring the game-winning basket in the gold medal game. Belov died from a very rare disease – cardiac sarcoma, in 1978, at the age of 26. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. He was enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.

Club career

Born in Leningrad, Belov was the star player of Spartak Leningrad, leading the club to the Soviet Union League title in 1975, and to three European-wide 2nd-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup finals, in 1971, 1973, and 1975, winning the last two. In 2016, the club was renamed to Kondrashin Belov, in his honor.

1975 NBA draft

In the tenth round of the 1975 NBA draft, the New Orleans Jazz selected Belov with the 161st pick of the draft; like the vast majority of Soviet players drafted into North American sports leagues, he would never end up playing for the team that drafted him. It would not be until 1989, that the first Soviet player, Lithuanian-born Šarūnas Marčiulionis, would play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

National team career

Belov won four gold medals with the senior Soviet Union national team. The highlight of his career occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, where he scored the game winning point in the Basketball Final against USA.

External links

• (in Russian) Biography
• FIBA Hall of Fame page on Belov