Jānis Krūmiņš
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Raiskums Parish, Latvia | 30 January 1930
Died | 20 November 1994 Riga, Latvia | (aged 64)
Nationality | Latvian |
Listed height | 2.20 m (7 ft 2+1⁄2 in) |
Listed weight | 141 kg (311 lb) |
Career information | |
Playing career | 1954–1969 |
Position | Center |
Career history | |
1954–1964 | Rīgas ASK |
1964–1969 | VEF Rīga |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Medals |
Jānis Krūmiņš (30 January 1930 – 20 November 1994) was a
A Russian poll that was conducted in 2006, named Krūmiņš as the 3rd most popular Soviet men's basketball player of all time, after Arvydas Sabonis and Vladimir Tkachenko.[1]
Early life and career
Jānis Krūmiņš was born on 30 January 1930, in Raiskums Parish, Cēsis District, Latvia. His father was a big strong man, who died when Jānis was still a boy. At the age of 13, Krūmiņš had to start working, as a collector of tree resin. Very soon, he became an efficient worker, partly because his height (he was 2 meters (6'7") tall by the age 14) allowed him to reach where others failed. He liked his work, and later was hesitant to turn into a professional basketball player, saying that he could always get injured and lose his job as a basketball player, but not as a resin collector. As a well-built giant, Krūmiņš attracted the attention of many sports coaches, who tried to get him into wrestling, boxing, and athletics. Famous Soviet athletics coach Viktor Alexeyev even brought him in for a month to an athletics training camp. All of those attempts failed, because of a lack of interest from Krūmiņš.[2][3]
In 1953, Krūmiņš was discovered by
Another mundane daily problem was his height, which hindered his ability to find clothes and shoes that fit properly. Luckily, Krūmiņš was spotted by
Club career
All of the long and intense training efforts of Krūmiņš and
Krūmiņš remained a laid back player over all of those years, as he continued to spare smaller and weaker opponents from his best. However, he was quite emotional and active in the key games that his teams played, and he played with full effort against players that were similar to him in size. Krūmiņš had a rare free throw shooting style — as he shot free throws underhanded, rather than the usual overhanded free throw technique. However, he was still able to make 90% of his free throw attempts on average.[2][3]
National team career
Krūmiņš was included into the senior
Personal life
Krūmiņš was shy around people, including women.[
References
- ^ ЛУЧШИЕ ИГРОКИ ВЕКА (in Russian). Sport Express. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
- ^ ISBN 5-8183-0374-8.
- ^ a b c d e Янис Круминьш (in Russian). Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2009.
- ^ a b c "Jānis Krūmiņš". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.
- ^ "Visu laiku garākie basketbolisti" (in Latvian). 18 March 2008. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "EuroLeague Retrospective. The Inaugural 1958 Season Introduced The European Version Of George Mikan — Jānis Krūmiņš". Medium.com. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
- ^ "Ianis KROUMINCH (URS)". Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
- ^ "Yan KRUMINS (URS)". Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ "Krumins at work". baltic-course.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
External links
- FIBA Profile 1
- FIBA Profile 2
- Photo: Krūmiņš (left) vs. Jean-Claude Lefebvre (in Russian)
- "Krumins at work" (in Russian).