Alexander Gomelsky, 77; Illustrious Russian Basketball Coach

Alexander Gomelsky, considered the father of modern basketball in the Soviet Union, who built the team that handed the U.S. its first Olympic defeat in the sport, has died after a long illness. He was 77.

Gomelsky coached the Soviet Union to four Olympic medals, including gold in Seoul in 1988, when his team ended the 21-game winning streak of the United States. His team won a silver medal in 1964 and bronze in 1968 and 1980.

Gomelsky’s teams also won world championships in 1967 and 1982 and seven European championships from 1959 to 1981.

Born Jan. 18, 1928, in the northwestern Russian town of Kronshtadt, the 5-foot-5 Gomelsky began coaching in 1945 at age 17. He may be best remembered in the West for an Olympic team that he didn’t coach.

Gomelsky referred to the 1972 Soviet squad as “my boys.” But the KGB, fearing that the Jewish coach would defect to Israel, revoked his visa and prevented him from traveling to the Olympics in Munich, according to a biography on the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame’s website.

The Soviet Union, with Vladimir Kondrashkin as coach, won the 1972 gold medal in one of the most controversial endings in sports history. When time ran out, the U.S. celebrated its apparent 50-49 victory. The referees, however, put time back on the clock. Time ran out again, but the referee awarded the Soviets another chance, which they used to win the game.

It was the U.S.’s first Olympic loss, a moment Gomelsky called the most exciting and disappointing of his life, because he was not there to see it.

In the Soviet league, his teams won 15 league titles.

Gomelsky, who more recently served as president of the Russian professional team CSKA Moscow, also coached in Spain, France and the United States. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.