Zenonas Puzinauskas
Zenonas Puzinauskas ; March 4, 1920 – July 16, 1995[1]) was a Lithuanian basketball player. He won two gold medals with the Lithuania national basketball team during EuroBasket 1937 and EuroBasket 1939.[2][3]
 Zenonas Puzinauskas in 1939 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Born | March 4, 1920 Kaunas, Lithuania | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | July 16, 1995 (aged 75) Beverly Shores, Indiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 198 lb (90 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
Zenonas finished Kaunas Jėzuitai Gymnasium and graduated from Vytautas Magnus University. From 1935, he started to play basketball for Kaunas "Grandies" club. He played for the Lithuania national basketball team twice (1937, 1939) and became Europe champion both times. Aside from being the youngest player on the team, he was also a scholar athlete.
In 1944 he moved to Austria and later to Germany. He worked as a translator in the United States Army and played for Kempton Šarūnas Lithuanian emigrants basketball team. He was an active war refugees' sport organizer, in 1947, in Augsburg, he was nominated as Lithuanian emigrants' Physical Education and Sports Association chairman. He spoke and read Lithuanian, Russian, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, English and had a strong command and understanding of ancient Greek and Latin.
In 1951 he moved to the United States and worked at the Young Man's Christian Association (YMCA), Chicago department. Later he worked for the Red Cross. He also was active in emigrants activities. His wife was Ona Puzinauskas and they had one daughter, Dalia K Puzinauskas (Wendt).
Sources
- United States Social Security Death Index, FamilySearch.
- European Championships for Men, Lithuanian Basketball Research.
- Zenonas Puzinauskas, in «Chicago Tribune», July 22, 1995.
- Jungtinių Amerikos Valstijų lietuviai. (II t.) – Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos centras, Vilnius, 2002
- Vidas Mačiulis, Vytautas Gudelis. Halė, kurioje žaidė Lubinas ir Sabonis. 1939–1989 – Respublikinis sporto kombinatas, Kaunas, 1989
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