On May 4, 1935, in the first European basketball championship in Geneva, the Latvian national team beat the Spanish national team 24:18 (16:8) in the final game. The first champions were recorded in the history of basketball (from the left in the picture): Mārtiņš Grundmanis, Džems Raudziņš, Aleksejs Anufrijevs, Rūdolfs Jurcinņš, Visvaldis Melderis, Jānis Lidmanis, Herbert Gubiņš and Eduard Anderson. The coach is Valdemārs Baumanis.
10 national teams participated in the first European Championship, which competed according to a complex two-minus system.
The Latvian team included ten basketball players – Rūdolfs Jurcinņš, Eduard Anderson, Džem Raudziņš, Andrejs Krisons, Edgars Rūja (all “University Sports”), Jānis Lidmanis, Mārtiņš Grundmanis, Visvaldis Melderis (ASK), Aleksejs Anufrijevs (“Starts”) and Herberts Gubins (“Gong”). During the tournament, Chrisson and Ruja were not registered for any game (at that time, seven basketball players could participate in the match). In the first matches, Melderis was also left in the reserve, about whose participation in the final match there are conflicting reports.
In the first round, the Latvian national team beat the Hungarian national team – 46:12 (20:7). Center player Jurcinņš (23) scored half of the team’s points, he was supported by Anufrijevs (10), Lidmanis (9), Raudziņš (2), Grundmanis (2), Anderson and Gubiņš.
In the draw, out of three teams, ours got a ticket to the semi-finals, but the Swiss and Italian teams had to fight each other in the quarter-finals. In the semifinals, Latvia beat Switzerland with 28:19 (16:12). Points scored: Anufrijevs 12, Jurcinņš 10, Lidmanis 4, Andersons 2.
In the final game on May 4, the Latvian team faced the Spanish national team, which had beaten Belgium (25:17) and Czechoslovakia (21:17) in the first games. At the beginning of the game, the Latvians made great use of the powerful jump of center player Jurciņas. After the center throw play, which was performed after each thrown basket, the ball regularly came to the disposal of the Latvian team and, playing smartly, a decisive advantage was achieved – 8:0! In the continuation, the Spaniards did not get closer – 24:18 (16:12). The protocol showed that Jurcinņš scored 11 points, Grundmanis 4, Lidmanis 3, Anufrijevs 2, Andersons 2 and Raudziņš 2. Valdemārs Baumanis testified that Melderis was registered for the final game instead of Raudziņš.
After many years, the coach of the Latvian national team, Valdemārs Baumanis, emphasized that the victory was deserved: “I managed to find five players who complemented each other perfectly. The result was a unit that worked together equally effectively in attack and defense. These five players were: in defense Mārtiņš Grundmanis and Eduards Anderson, in the center Rūdolfs Jurcinņš, in attack Jānis Lidmanis and Aleksejs Anufrijevs. In 1935, the Latvian team not only won, but with its game showed the European powers France, Italy and Spain what beauty lies in basketball. Our game was based on the American system, which was so impressively taught to us by the sports specialists of this country, who worked in Latvia after the First World War. It should be added here that the Latvians were gifted students. The victory of the Latvian team in Geneva was a huge surprise for the entire sports Europe. All major sports newspapers wrote about us. Diplomatic representatives of many countries also watched the competition, as the League of Nations was operating in Geneva. Latvian ambassador Feldmanis dedicated significant words to our players after the victory: “What the diplomats of the Free State of Latvia achieved in Geneva in 15 years, you surpassed in a few days.”
The destinies of the first champions are well described by the mills of history that Latvians were dragged into in the middle of the 20th century. Visvaldis Melderis died in the battles of the legion in Latgale in 1944, Aleksejs Anufrijevs – in the battles of the Red Army in Kurzeme in 1945, Mārtiņš Grundmanis committed suicide in the prisoner of war camp in Riga in 1945, Rūdolfs Jurcinņš died in 1947 in exile in Siberia. After the war, Jānis Lidmanis (died November 29, 1986 in Melbourne) and Džems Raudziņš (December 13, 1979 in Perth) settled in Australia, but Valdemārs Baumanis – USA (died April 24, 1992 in Chicago), Eduards Anderson spent many years in exile in Siberia, and as the only one of the first champions, he spent the end of his life in Riga (died on November 29, 1985).
