Modestas Paulauskas (born 19 March 1945) is a renowned Soviet and Lithuanian basketball coach and former player, celebrated as one of Lithuania’s greatest athletes. At just 20, he became the youngest EuroBasket MVP and was named Lithuanian Sportsman of the Year seven times between 1965 and 1972. Paulauskas led the Soviet Union national team to Olympic Gold in 1972 in Munich. Honored internationally, he was selected among FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991 and inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2021, recognizing his lasting impact on basketball worldwide.
Club career
Paulauskas spent his whole club career with Žalgiris Kaunas, despite getting attention from teams based in Western Europe and the National Basketball Association (NBA). He could not join them due to various reasons, one of such is Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union at that time, and it was very hard to travel abroad USSR. The other reason was he never actually wanted to leave his homeland -Lithuania. He was also asked to join Žalgiris Kaunas's main rival, CSKA Moscow, but he declined.4
National team career
Paulauskas was a part of the senior Soviet Union national basketball teams that won the bronze medal at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, and the gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games.5 Paulauskas became the captain of the senior Soviet national team in 1969.6
Coaching career
After retiring from playing basketball competitions, Paulauskas worked as a coach of the Soviet Union junior national teams from 1977 to 1989. In the early 1990s, he was the head coach of his native club, Žalgiris Kaunas.7 After that, he coached basketball in schools, both in Lithuania and in Russia.8
Notes
Further reading
- (in Lithuanian) INTERVIU: M.Paulauskas: "Noriu būti reikalingas" (FOTO). Eurobasket.lt.
- (in Lithuanian) Modestas PAULAUSKAS. Kauno diena.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Modestas Paulauskas.References
Lithuanian: Modestas Juozapas Paulauskas Russian: Модестас Йозапас Феликсович Паулаускас /wiki/Lithuanian_language ↩
Stankovic, Vladimir. "Modestas Paulauskas, the first Lithuanian "King"". Euroleague.net. Retrieved 25 March 2013. http://www.euroleague.net/features/voices/2012-2013/vladimir-stankovic/i/111065/modestas-paulauskas-the-first-lithuanian-king ↩
"Modestas Paulauskas kartu su Nashu ir Pesičiumi įtrauktas į FIBA Šlovės muziejų". BasketNews.lt (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 30 March 2021. https://www.basketnews.lt/news-150614-modestas-paulauskas-kartu-su-nashu-ir-pesiciumi-itrauktas-i-fiba-sloves-muzieju.html ↩
Butkus, Saulius (7 April 2015). "Į NBA kviestas M. Paulauskas: jei būčiau išvykęs, būtų nukentėję mano artimieji". DELFI (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 21 June 2017. https://www.delfi.lt/krepsinis/naujienos/i-nba-kviestas-m-paulauskas-jei-buciau-isvykes-butu-nukenteje-mano-artimieji.d?id=67635566 ↩
Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Modestas Paulauskas". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. /wiki/Bill_Mallon ↩
Andzelis, Paulius. "M.Paulauskas: "Marškinėlių pakėlimas – didžiausias įvertinimas žaidėjui"". Žalgiris.lt. Retrieved 8 September 2015.[permanent dead link] http://www.zalgiris.lt/lt/naujienos/id/9466/ ↩
Khodorkovskii, Boris. Баскетбол. Три секунды и тридцать лет. evasport.ru http://www.nevasport.ru/articles.php?id=2753 ↩
Nagornyh Elena (17 November 2008) Уроки Паулаускаса. rg.ru http://www.rg.ru/2008/11/17/trener.html ↩