USA BASKETBALL HISTORY
USA MEN’S WORLD CUP TEAM 1959 RESULTS
SANTIAGO, CHILE • JANUARY 16-31, 1959
The 1959 World Championship was originally scheduled to be held in the fall of 1958, but delays in constructing the arena forced the champi- onship to be delayed to January and to be played outdoors. Unfortunately, this was in the middle of the basketball season in the U.S. Unable to use collegians or AAU players, initially, the U.S. declined to participate, but after being told this would ruin the competition, agreed to send an Air Force squad. The team was selected after an advertisement for volunteers appeared in an Air Force newspaper. While 24 players as- sembled in December for tryouts at Andrews Air Force Base, the 1959 USA squad had no players taller than 6’5’. Making matters worse were injuries to Robert Jeangerard and Eddie White a day before departing. Surprisingly, the U.S. emerged unbeaten from the preliminary round after defeating Argentina, 87-73, Formosa, 81-73, and the United Arab Republic, 103-58. Advancing to the quarterfinals, Dick Welsh scored 20 points as the U.S. disposed of Bulgaria 63-58. Trailing Puerto Rico 32-25 at half, the U.S. rallied and, on Bob Hodges’ driving layup with 45 seconds left, managed to hold on and record a 54-53 victory. Vayda paced the U.S. with 17 points. Facing Formosa for the second time, the U.S. led by just one point at half but went on win 85-69, as Hodges and Welsh each tallied 22 points. The Soviet Union posted its first win over the U.S. in international basketball competition, 62-37. Playing in front of 30,000 fans in Santiago’s open-air stadium, both teams struggled to score early, however, the USSR took advantage of U.S. fouls and moved out to a 20-5 lead. Lead- ing 25-14 at half, the Soviets dominated the second half. Facing Chile, the U.S. again trailed at half, 34-32, but behind the play of 1956 Olympian Jeangerard, who had been sidelined for most of the tournament with a broken hand, the USA rallied for a 64-55 victory. Hodges and Welsh each scored 19 points for the U.S. in the win. Despite standing 5-0, the Soviet Union never advanced to the finals. Refusing to recognize or play Formosa, FIBA ruled that the USSR and Bulgaria would forfeit their games to Formosa and be ineligible to compete for the remainder of the competition. Brazil claimed the world title by besting the U.S. 81-67. A U.S. victory would have earned the Americans their second straight world title. How- ever, Brazil proved too fast and too much. The United States led 10-2, but by half Brazil had taken control and led 40-37. Leading by a single point late in the game, Brazil went on a 12-2 scoring run to take control 60-49, and then cruised to the 81-67 victory. Brazil later beat Chile 73-49 to claim the gold medal, the U.S. earned the silver and Chile earned bronze.
1959 USA MEN’S WORLD CUP TEAM ROSTER
1959 USA RESULTS (7-2)
NAME
POS HGT WGT AGE AFFILIATION (SCHOOL)
HOMETOWN
Argentina Formosa
W, 87-73 W, 81-73 W, 103-58 W, 63-58 W, 54-53 W, 85-69 L, 37-62 W, 64-55
Dick Baker Jim Coshow
F C C G
6-4 6-6 6-5 6-3 6-4 6-4 6-4 6-2 6-2
195 215 225 190
25 24 25 26 24 25 25 25 25
U. S. Air Force (Loyola, CA) U. S. Air Force (Washington) U. S. Air Force (California) U. S. Air Force (East Carolina) U. S. Air Force (Colorado) U. S. Air Force (Tennessee State) U. S. Air Force (Washington) U. S. Air Force (South Dakota St.) U. S. Air Force (North Carolina) U. S. Air Force
Los Angeles, CA
Seattle, WA
United Arab Rep.
Hank D’Antonio Bob Hodges Robert Jeangerard Henry McDonald
Bulgaria
Scotland Neck, NC
Puerto Rico
Wilmette, IL
Formosa
John F. Miller Ronald Olsen Virgil Riley Jerry Vayda Dick Welsh Eddie White
Soviet Union
F F F
195
Bremerton, WA Dell Rapids, SD Bayonne, NJ Ontario, CAN Lexington, NE
Chile Brazil
L, 67-81
201 180 185
G G
U. S. Air Force (USC) U. S. Air Force (UCLA)
FINAL STANDINGS
HEAD COACH: Charles (Buzz) Bennett, U. S. Air Force MANAGER: Col. Ralph L. Stevenson, U. S. Air Force CAPTAIN: Robert Jeangerard
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Brazil (5-1)
United States (4-2)
Chile (2-4)
Formosa (2-4) Puerto Rico (1-5) Soviet Union (5-1)* Bulgaria (2-4)* Philippines (4-2)
1959 USA MEN’S WORLD CUP TEAM CUMULATIVE STATISTICS
NAME
G/S
FGM-A
PCT
FTM-A
PCT
REB
PTS
9. Uruguay (2-4) 10. Argentina (3-3) 11. Egypt (1-5)
Vayda Welsh Hodges Olsen Coshow
9 9 9 8 9 8 7 5 3 7 3
41- 43- 35- 13- 18-
23- 26- 30-
162/ 18.0 148/ 16.4 109/ 12.1 48/ 6.0
12. Canada (3-3) 13. Mexico (0-6) *Final standings determined by point differential between tied teams.
5- 5- 4- 3- 3- 6- 0- 0-
47/ 5.2 39/ 4.9 31/ 4.4 21/ 4.2 18/ 6.0 10/ 1.4 8/ 2.7
Riley
7- 2- 9- 6- 2- 2-
McDonald D’Antonio Jeangerard
Miller Baker White
Injured
USA TOTALS OPP. TOTALS
9 9
249- 228-
143- 126-
641/ 71.2 582/ 64.7
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