The 1992 Summer Olympics are remembered for giving the world the greatest basketball team ever assembled. Yes, we are talking about Team USA’s “Dream Team” which featured the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Charles Barkley.
Team USA dominated the competition by winning every game on their way to a gold medal. The Dream Team also defeated their opponents by an average of 43.8 points per game.
Yes, everyone remembers the basketball team from the United States, but if I brought up the team from Lithuania, would you remember them? Probably not, as the team didn’t feature any NBA stars (Sarunas Marciulionis played for the Golden State Warriors but was not a star), but you should since the team did capture the bronze medal at the 1992 Olympic Games.
The story we want to bring to your attention isn’t necessarily how the Lithuanian team performed on the basketball court. Instead, it’s the story of how they were able to play in the 1992 Olympics, thanks to a famous rock band.
The Grateful Dead Sends Team Lithuania To The Olympics
The Lithuania men’s basketball team almost didn’t make the trip to Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, to play in the 1992 Summer Olympics. This would have been tragic to a country that loved the game of basketball and had a history of being quite good at the game.
In fact, Lituania twice won the Baltic state European Basketball Championship in 1937 and 1939. The country joined the Soviet Union in World War II and stayed until 1990, when it restored its sovereignty from the Soviet Union.
This means players from Lithuania played on the Soviet Union Olympic team, including the 1988 Games, where Team USSR defeated Team USA 82-76 in the semifinals before going on to win the gold medal. On that 1988 Olympic team, four of the five starters were Lithuanian.
So, to have the basketball team from Lithuania not participate in the 1992 Summer Games would be a travesty. What was the reason for Lithuania possibly not being able to play in the Olympics?
The answer is simple: no money. After breaking away from the Soviet Union and becoming an independent nation, the country didn’t have a lot of money, especially for basketball.
So, Team Lithuania was not going to be able to play. It would have stayed that way, but the public relations manager of the rock band, The Grateful Dead, read an article about Team Lithuania’s situation in the newspaper.
The public relations manager forwarded the story to the band members, including Jerry Garcia. The Grateful Dead was a band that lived for freedom, as was showcased in their music. Once they read the story, the band members wanted to help out. Oh, and they liked basketball, as well.
The Grateful Dead sponsored Team Lithuania and even sent them tie-dyed T-shirts in red, yellow, and green, which are Lithuania’s national colors. The shirts featured an image of a skeleton slam-dunking a basketball.
This was a great gesture by The Grateful Dead to give a talented group of players a chance to play on the world’s biggest stage. This also gave the NBA a preview of a future NBA player on the roster: Arvydas Sabonis.
As mentioned earlier, Team Lithuania would win the bronze medal in the Olympic Games. They may not have won a gold medal, like Team USA, but when Team Lithuania accepted their medals, they did it in style.
Team Lithuania wore their Grateful Dead T-shirts. We imagine the rock band had a smile on their faces when Team Lithuania reached the podium.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
