Raimondas Šarūnas Marčiulionis (born June 13, 1964, in
KaunasKaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
,
Lithuanian SSRThe Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Lithuanian SSR, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union...
,
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) is a retired
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n professional basketball player. He was one of the first Europeans to become a regular in the North American
National Basketball AssociationThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
(NBA). In the
1988 Seoul Olympics Basketball TournamentBasketball at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place at the Jamsil Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea. The United States won the gold medal in the women's competition, thus repeating their performance from the 1984 tournament. In the men's tournament, the Soviet Union took home their second gold medal in...
, together with teammate
Arvydas SabonisArvydas Romas Sabonis is a retired Lithuanian professional basketball player and a businessman. He was an eight-time European Player of the Year, winning the Euroscar Award six times, and the Mr...
, he led the
USSR national teamThe Soviet national basketball team was the basketball side that represented the Soviet Union in international competitions. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the successor countries all set up their own national teams...
to a gold medal in basketball.
Pro career
Marčiulionis started his pro basketball career with
Statyba VilniusBC Lietuvos rytas is a professional basketball club based in Vilnius, Lithuania playing in the Lithuanian Basketball League , the VTB United League, and the Eurocup...
in the USSR League, the forerunner of the
VTB United LeagueVTB United League is an international professional basketball league that was founded in 2008. Its goal is to unite the leading basketball clubs of Eastern Europe and Northern Europe together into one league. The league is sponsored by VTB Bank. In its inaugural 2009–10 season, it featured clubs...
in 1981.
Marčiulionis was drafted by the
Golden State WarriorsThe Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
in the 6th round of the
1987 NBA DraftThe 1987 Draft of the National Basketball Association was held on June 22, 1987 in New York City, New York.This draft is notable for the selection of two future members of the NBA 50 Greatest Players list, David Robinson and Scottie Pippen. Other notable selections include Reggie Miller, Kevin...
. He moved to the
NBAThe National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
in 1989 and he played four years with the Warriors, finishing as the runner-up for the
Sixth Man of the Year AwardThe National Basketball Association's Sixth Man of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the league's most valuable player for his team coming off the bench as a substitute . A panel of sportswriters and broadcasters from throughout...
in both 1992 and 1993. Marčiulionis became one of the first Europeans to get significant playing time in the NBA, helping to lead the way for the internationalization of the league in the late 1990s. After missing a year and a half with a leg injury, he was traded to the
Seattle SuperSonicsThe Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. Following the 2007–08 season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as...
in 1994, then traded to the
Sacramento KingsThe Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are currently members of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
in 1995, and he finished his NBA career with the
Denver NuggetsThe Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
in the 1996-97 season.
Lithuanian national basketball team
Following
the restoration of Lithuanian independenceThe Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania or Act of March 11 was an independence declaration by the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic adopted on March 11, 1990...
in 1990, Marčiulionis almost single-handedly resurrected the
Lithuanian national teamThe Lithuanian national basketball team is the representative for Lithuania in international men's basketball. Lithuania won bronze medals in three out of five Olympic tournaments it participated in....
. He contacted prospective players, encouraged several to join, selected the uniforms, negotiated a shoe deal, and arranged for sponsorships. The trademarked 'Slam Dunking Skeleton, Skullman' t-shirt design was created by and is owned by N.Y. sports artist Greg Speirs of skullman.com. Speirs became the major sponsor when he donated 100% of his profits from his design to fund the team and to Lithuanian children's charities amounting to at least $400,000. The team went on to win a bronze medal at the
1992 Summer OlympicsThe 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
.
Marčiulionis was again a bronze medalist with Lithuania at the
1996 Athens Olympic Basketball TournamentBasketball contests at the 1996 Olympic Games were held from July 20, 1996 to August 4, 1996. Games took place at the Morehouse College Gymnasium and the Georgia Dome. For the second straight Olympic games, the American men's team composed almost entirely of NBA players won the gold medal...
. In 1995, he was named the
Most Valuable PlayerIn sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
of the
1995 FIBA European ChampionshipEuroBasket 1995 final tournament stage was XXIX European basketball championship and was held in Athens, Greece from 21 June to 2 July, 1995. This European championship was the first one that saw the successful return of Lithuania national basketball team to the tournament, since its last triumph...
, after leading Lithuania to a silver medal in the tournament. He also won the silver medal at the
1987 FIBA European ChampionshipThe EuroBasket 1987 was held in Greece between June 3 and June 14, 1987. Twelve national teams entered the event under the auspices of FIBA Europe, the sport's regional governing body...
. In 1987, 1989, 1990, and 1991, he was voted as the best sportsman in Lithuania.
Personal
Despite a language barrier during his NBA career (
WarriorsThe Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
coach
Don NelsonDonald Arvid "Don" Nelson is a former NBA player and head coach. He coached the Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Golden State Warriors....
hired his son
DonnDonnie Nelson is the General Manager and president of basketball operations for the NBA team the Dallas Mavericks. Donnie attended Worcester Academy for High School. He is the son of Don Nelson, the former head coach of the Golden State Warriors...
as an assistant chiefly to serve as an interpreter for Marčiulionis), Marčiulionis was a devoted teammate and active in the communities he played in. In the aftermath of the
1989 San Francisco earthquakeThe Loma Prieta earthquake, also known as the Quake of '89 and the World Series Earthquake, was a major earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area of California on October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m. local time...
, Marčiulionis appeared at the site of a commuter train accident wearing his Warriors warm up outfit and helped by pulling out trapped passengers and administering first aid.
In addition, his wife Inga enrolled at
Merritt CollegeMerritt College is a two-year community college located in the Oakland Hills in Alameda County, California. The school's enrollment is approximately 6,000 students. The college is named after physician Dr...
, a junior college in the Oakland hills, and she walked on to their women's basketball team and was a star player there for two seasons. Inga became one of 147 women in women's college basketball history to score 50 or more points in a college game while at Merritt, and today is the head coach of Merritt's women's team.
Marciulionis and Inga are divorced, but Inga still continues to live in the United States and continues her work at
Merritt CollegeMerritt College is a two-year community college located in the Oakland Hills in Alameda County, California. The school's enrollment is approximately 6,000 students. The college is named after physician Dr...
.
Post playing career
In 1992, Marčiulionis opened the Šarūnas Hotel in
VilniusVilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
. In 1993, he founded the
Lithuanian Basketball LeagueThe Lietuvos krepšinio lyga is Lithuania's premier professional men's basketball league, composed of 12 teams.- History :...
(LKL) and also became its president. In 1999, Marčiulionis founded the
North European Basketball LeagueNorth European Basketball League - was short-lived basketball league founded in 1998 by Šarūnas Marčiulionis. This league was first commercial project of regional league in Europe, and initially intended for participation of best basketball teams from 5 countries - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia,...
(NEBL) and also became its commissioner. The NEBL would later be absorbed into today's
Baltic Basketball LeagueBaltic Basketball League is a Baltic states basketball league founded in 2004.Currently, the league is divided into two: the Elite division and the Challenge Cup division. The 10 strongest Baltic basketball clubs participate in the Elite division. The rest of the teams compete in the Challenge Cup...
. Today, he is one of the most successful businessmen in Lithuania.
He is also currently the president of the Šarūnas Marčiulionis Basketball Academy.
External links