Stolen Glory The U.S., the Soviet Union, and the Olympic Basketball Game That Never Ended eBook Taps Gallagher, Mike Brewster
Download As PDF : Stolen Glory The U.S., the Soviet Union, and the Olympic Basketball Game That Never Ended eBook Taps Gallagher, Mike Brewster 
Why has Collins, the sparkplug of the '72 team and now the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, and his former teammates--all of whom are still alive--continue to insist the gold medals were wrongly awarded to the Soviet Union?
The Game that never ended!
To understand, it helps to go back to Benton, Illinois just for a moment, where Collins would imagine countless times what it would be like to sink a historic winning basket. In his mind, he was playing in the state championship for the Benton High Rangers or in the NCAA title game for Illinois State (the alma mater of his high school coach and the school Collins would attend, too). Or, just maybe, he would hit those shots someday in the NBA finals. The whip-thin, 130-pound high school sophomore would always use the same routine as he practiced shooting that pair of free throws that would make history Bounce the ball three times. Spin it in his hands. Shoot.
But Collins never could have imagined what would transpire in the wee hours of September 10, 1972, in Munich, West Germany, just days after the kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists, an atrocity that led Olympic officials to consider cancelling the rest of the Games. With three seconds remaining on the clock, Collins stood at the free throw line for the United States of America, with his team, after mounting a heroic comeback, down by one point to the Soviet Union in the Olympic gold medal game. Collins, as it happened, couldn't even see straight. Moments earlier, after making a spectacular open-court steal from one of the best Soviet players, he had been knocked out cold as he drove the lane for a potential game-winning layup.
Even though their loyalties had seemed divided throughout the game, the 6,500 spectators crammed into Munich's basketballhalle cheered wildly as Collins made both free throws to put the U.S. ahead, 50-49. Olympic gold seemingly belonged to the Americans. But after the Soviets' first unsuccessful attempt at scoring during the last three ticks of the clock, they were given another chance to inbound, because of reasons still disputed to this day. When the Soviets failed on their second attempt, the ball harmlessly clanging off the backboard, the U.S. players erupted at midcourt, jumping up and down with their arms raised in triumph. This was the era, long before the strict stadium security of today, when fans would storm the court or playing field after a championship game, and sure enough they swarmed the American team. One fan tried to pull off Tom Henderson's jersey; another stole Iba's wallet. ABC's Frank Gifford, calling the game for TV viewers back in the States, announced that the U.S. had capped an unlikely comeback. The game was over. Collins, the man, had fulfilled his boyhood dream, and on the biggest stage of all. He had sunk two foul shots that instantly made history.
Stolen Glory The U.S., the Soviet Union, and the Olympic Basketball Game That Never Ended eBook Taps Gallagher, Mike Brewster
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Stolen Glory The U.S., the Soviet Union, and the Olympic Basketball Game That Never Ended eBook Taps Gallagher, Mike Brewster Reviews
I'm old enough to remember this Olympics. As an avid hoops fan, I really enjoyed this book for the most part. The only thing that bothered me is that the writers chose to leave out discussion of Hank Iba's racism in the story. He called the Black players "boy" to their faces (he noted he was too old to change...). The selection process was clearly influenced by the "attitudes" of some of the Black players (Kermit Washington, a 20 pts per game, 20 rebound star from American University was left off the team). This was discussed in the Washington Post at the time, but it is barely mentioned here. The recounting of the actual game leaves you breathless...very well done. In short, read this wonderful story, but do your own background research to garner all of the details.
Review
In the 1972 Summer Olympics, just two days after the murder of 11 people cast a pall on the Munich Olympics, the United States and the Soviet Union played the gold medal game in men’s basketball that had a very bizarre ending and resulted in the first basketball loss for a United States team when the Soviet Union scored at the buzzer for a 51-50 win on its third attempt after two free throws put the U.S. ahead.
This book, published on the fortieth anniversary of one of the most controversial basketball games in Olympic history, is a great recap of not only that game, but also of how both the American and Russian teams were put together and their journeys to get to this game. The personal stories are very good, especially those of American players such as Doug Collins, the player who made the two free throws to put the US up 50-49 with three seconds left.
The authors also write about the background of the two nation’s basketball programs, the coaches and their styles and also some history as well. There is also a good chapter on the tragedy of the attack on the Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village. I felt that was just as important a chapter to the book as it set the mood and tone of the arena during the gold medal game.
The controversial ending, which resulted in the Soviet Union getting three chances for the last shot, is covered in an objective manner by the authors, even though the personal stories and recollections are from the Americans, who are obviously very upset with the result. The closest that the authors show any bias is when they are explaining why the president of the international basketball federation, FIBA, is ordering the clock to be reset. This was clearly against the rules and the authors explained why, but some readers may believe this is biased toward the Americans. I didn’t believe so and this is just as objective as the rest of the book.
The silver medals are still sitting in a vault waiting to be claimed by the U.S. The players to a man state in the book that they will never accept them and after reading this book, the reader will certainly understand why they have taken this stance. This book is a fast paced excellent read that any basketball fan will enjoy, and if an American basketball fan, will be able to understand the anger of the players.
If you are a basketball fan who is old enough to remember the final in the 1972 Olympics, you'll know what an absolute train wreck of a finish the game had.
That makes it an excellent subject for a book. Authors Mike Brewster and Taps Gallagher must have agreed, because they compiled a look back it in "Stolen Glory."
Let's review here for a minute. The United States had taken a one-point lead over the Soviet Union with three seconds to go, thanks to Doug Collins' two free throws.
The Soviets somehow had not one, not two, but three chances to win the game. There was total confusion, language barriers among the participants, rules infractions, an international basketball figure sticking his nose into matters, and threats concerning international competition.
It's not really a spoiler to say the Soviets won on Try Number Three. The United States protested but lost the vote that fell along Cold War lines by country. The American players are still angry about it, 40 years later. A couple have it in their wills for their relatives never to accept the silver medal.
Brewster and Gallagher get big credit for talking to everyone on the team, plus some of the other coaches and officials that were part of the American team. It was an odd time for basketball in the U.S., since there was a war between the National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association, and several players had taken rich contracts as soon as the school year ended rather than waiting for the Olympics to end before turning pro. There were still some good players around, such as Doug Collins and Bobby Jones. But America didn't have its absolute best, and the time was rapidly coming where the rest of the world was starting to show signs of catching up with us. That's a trend that continues to this day.
Most of the players on the '72 team today are quite frank about their feelings about that team. It was coached by Henry Iba, one of the legends of the game but who preferred a slow-down style that wasn't a good fit for the talent on hand. Iba, sadly, will be remembered for the Olympic game he lost rather than the two Olympic finals he won in 1964 and 1968. The players also give plenty of details about the entire tryout experience, including a stay in Hawaii that featured three practices a day and living quarters that were five steps below spartan.
There are two drawbacks here. The Soviet side of the story essentially is ignored. There is a comment taken from a documentary from one of the Soviet players, but that's about it. It would add a bit of perspective to the story to hear from them.
Meanwhile, the last major chapter of the book consists of profiles of most of the principals. After an introduction, each subchapter reads something like a transcript of the interview done for the book. Since the important details are already in the narrative, this all feels like padding. That's not an issue for the edition, but might draw a complaint at the paperback version.
Still, "Stolen Glory" works quite well. International basketball has gone through some fascinating changes in 40 years, and this is a knowledgeable look at what happened on that amazing night in Munich in 1972.
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