Even before start of the FIBA World Cup 1959, the tournament had the potential to be one of the most controversial ever.
The best national teams in the world started to hold a tournament every four years since 1950 and fight for the world throne. However, one-year postponement already caused many protests in the basketball world. The reasons were bizarre.
Consequences of the World War II were still around, but not in Chile, the country that took over the organization of the FIBA World Cup 1959. However, everything was far from great. Due to delay in the works on the big hall in Santiago, this championship was played in the winter of 1959, instead of in the summer of 1958. The final round was played in an outdoor football stadium in front of more than 15.000 people.
In the end, the best 13 national teams on the planet gathered from January 16 to 31, in Chile. Who came with volunteers, and who lost a “gold” medal because of politics, you will find out everything in this article.
Only two teams from Europe
The FIBA World Cup 1959 was marked by a strange choice of participants. As the host, Chile had a guaranteed place. And not only that. They didn’t even have to play in the group stage as they were automatically qualified for the final round.
United States were also on the list as Olympic champions. Brazil and Uruguay earned their place as the two best teams from South America, while only two teams came from Europe using the same principle: the Soviet Union and Bulgaria.
The list had to be filled with special invitations, and Chile sent them to the addresses of Argentina, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico from the soil of the American continent. Formosa (today’s Taiwan), Philippines and United Arab Republic (the community of today’s Egypt and Syria) from Asia.
The absurd competition system automatically guaranteed the host the final round, while the other 12 teams were divided into three groups of four teams each. In addition to the teams that advanced as expected, such as USA, Brazil, Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Puerto Rico, Formosa was quite a surprise.
Political reasons and scandal in the final round
At the beginning, the final round of the World Cup was not even close to what we have the opportunity to watch today. The best seven teams qualified, where they played against each other, and the one with the most wins would become the world champion.
Due to the consequences of the World War II, which were still fresh, politics could not bypass the FIBA World Cup played in Chile.
If that had not happened, today we would be talking about Soviet Union as the world champion from 1959. It was a team that did not record a single defeat in the first five games in the final round. Before last game against Formosa, they were forced by their country to withdraw.
One call changes everything
Soviet Union was supposed to play the last game against Formosa. With a win they could reach a perfect score (6-0) in the final round and thus claim the championship title. However, Moscow ordered that the team not play that game for political reasons.
In addition to being left without gold, the Soviet Union’s national team was also eliminated from every story about a medal with that move, and with a 5-1 record, they finished in fifth place in the official standings.
The same happened with the Bulgarian team, which also withdrew from the competition. They did not have as good record as the Soviet Union, but had a chance with a win against Formosa to bring another medal to Europe. However, that didn’t happen.
In this way, the World Cup champion for 1959 became Brazil. They experienced only one defeat in the final round, and that was against the Soviet Union. The USA team finished second, with two losses, while a bronze medal went to host Chile, although they had only two wins in the final round. Formosa finished in fourth place with the same record like Chile.
American casting: Workers from the air force unit went to the FIBA World Cup
Moving the World Cup from autumn to winter is something that did not suit the USA national team. Due to the beginning of AAU, the prototype of today’s NBA league, they were not able to send the best team to Chile. For the same reason, there were no college players in combination either. Therefore, the chances for a medal from the start were significantly lower than expected.
At first, the Americans refused to even appear at the tournament in those terms. In the end, they decided to find a solution. In a rather unusual way, they put together a roster that went to South America with the goal of winning a medal.
An advertisement appeared in the Air Force newspaper for volunteers who would like to perform for the United States national team at the world’s largest tournament. At the practice in December 1958, 24 volunteers gathered for trial tests. Interestingly, no player on the list was taller than 195 centimeters. Two of the best players, Robert Jeangerard and Eddy White, got injured just a day before leaving for Chile.
Even with such a roster, the United States national team managed to win a medal at that World Cup 1959. This was largely due to the fact that the Soviet Union was eliminated from the fight for the highest position.
Historical game (for a bronze medal): Chile – Formosa
After the host of the tournament did not participate in the first round like all the other national teams, the clash against Formosa team was the first for Chile at the FIBA World Cup 1959. In the end, it will turn out to be crucial in the battle for one of the medals.
After the home team had a respectable lead by 35:27 at halftime, Formosa stepped up in the second half and managed to reach overtime. The score was 71:71. In those moments, both teams had a lot of foul troubles. Chile was left without five players, including the two best ones. Juan Thompson and Ruffin Berned scored 47 points combined in that match.
Chile has six available players in those moments. If you think that is small number, then you will be shocked by the fact that Formosa finished the game with four players on the court! Six of their players were fouled out during the match.
One of the remaining was James Tsu-li Chen, who kept Formosa in the game with 30 points. However, Chile managed to celebrate in the end, which later brought them a medal. It was the second medal for them at the World Championships.
The mentioned Chen was the best scorer of the tournament with an average of over 20 points. Jerry Vida, a member of the United States national team, played the best game of the tournament against United Arab Republics. He scored 31 points. In moments when there was no three-point line, it was excellent performance.
Brazilian Amaury Pasos was chosen as the MVP, and Wlamir Marques from Brazil was also in the All-Tournament team. He managed to do the same thing five years earlier and became the first basketball player in history to finish twice in All-Tournament team. Puerto Rican Juan “Pachin” Vicens was the best point guard, while Bulgarian Atanas Atanasov and Janis Krumins from Soviet Union completed the list.
Brazil, as the reigning champion, undertook to organize the FIBA World Cup four years later. About that tournament, as well as all the others until the one that awaits us, you can read in the coming days on the “Basketball Sphere” website.