Oscar Schmidt

Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt (born February 16, 1958) is a retired Brazilian professional basketball player. He is also known as Oscar Schmidt in Spain, where he played for Fórum Valladolid for the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons, and simply Oscar, or Mão Santa (Holy Hand), in his homeland. Schmidt played the small forward position, was 2.05 m (6 ft 8​3⁄4 in) tall and weighed 107 kg (236 lbs).[1][2] He was born in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

For other people with the name or a similar name, see Oscar Schmidt (disambiguation).
This name uses Portuguese naming customs: the first or maternal family name is Bezerra and the second or paternal family name is Schmidt.
Oscar Schmidt
Schmidt, in 2006.
Personal information
Born (1958-02-16) February 16, 1958
Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
NationalityBrazilian
Listed height6 ft 8.75 in (2.05 m)
Listed weight236 lb (107 kg)
Career information
NBA draft1984 / Round: 6 / Pick: 131st overall
Selected by the New Jersey Nets
Playing career1974–2003
PositionShooting guard / Small forward
Number6, 11, 14, 18
Career history
1974–1978S.E. Palmeiras
1978–1982E.C. Sírio
1982–1990JuveCaserta
1990–1993Pavia
1993–1995Valladolid
1995–1997S.C. Corinthians Paulista
1997–1998Barueri
1998–1999Mackenzie
1999–2003C.R. Flamengo
Career highlights and awards
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
FIBA Hall of Fame as player
Medals
Representing  Brazil
Men's Basketball
FIBA World Cup
1978 Manila
FIBA AmeriCup
1989 Mexico
Pan American Games
1987 Indianapolis
1979 San Juan
FIBA South American Championship
1977 Chile
1983 Brazil
1985 Colombia
1979 Argentina
1981 Uruguay

He is considered to be the all-time leading scorer in the history of basketball, with 49,737 career points scored (club play, plus national team play combined).[3] He is also a record holder for the longest career span of a professional basketball player, and the top scorer in the history of the Summer Olympic Games.

He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. On August 20, 2010, Schmidt became a FIBA Hall of Fame player, in recognition of his play in international competition.[4] On September 8, 2013, Schmidt was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.[5]

Athletic career

Club career

While playing with E.C. Sírio of the Brazilian Basketball Championship, Schmidt won both the South American Club Championship and the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in 1979.

He was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in the sixth round of the 1984 NBA Draft, and had several other opportunities to play in the NBA, but declined them all in order to continue to play for Brazil's senior national team (until 1989, NBA players were not allowed to play for national teams).

Schmidt won the Italian Cup with JuveCaserta in 1988. He was the Top Scorer of the Italian Basketball League 7 times (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992). He also led the Spanish Basketball League in scoring in 1994, while he was a member of Valladolid.

While playing in Italy, he earned a fan in future NBA star Kobe Bryant, who called Schmidt one of his childhood idols[6] and later said Schmidt could have been one of the greatest in the NBA if he had played there.[7]

He returned to his native Brazil in 1995, to play once again in the Brazilian Basketball Championship with S.C. Corinthians Paulista, and was the league's top scorer 8 times (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003). He retired on May 26, 2003.

National team career

With the senior Brazilian national basketball team, Schmidt played in five Summer Olympics (the second player to do so after Teófilo Cruz) and was the top scorer in three of them. However, he never went past the quarterfinals. In the 1980 Summer Olympics, he played seven games and scored 169 points, for a 24.1 average.

He again scored 169 points in seven games in the 1984 Summer Olympics. His best Olympic performance was the 1988 Summer Olympics. He scored 338 points, for an average of 42.3 points per game.

In 1992, he scored 198 points in eight games, and in 1996, he scored 219 points in 8 games. In 38 career Olympic basketball games, Schmidt scored a record of 1,093 points, for an average of 28.8 points per game.

He is the all-time career leader in total points scored in the FIBA World Cup, having scored a total of 906 points in 34 games, for a scoring average of 26.7 points per game. He won the bronze medal and made the All-Tournament Team at the 1978 FIBA World Cup, and made the All-Tournament Teams of both the 1986 FIBA World Cup and the 1990 FIBA World Cup, which he also led in scoring, averaging 34.6 points per game.

Schmidt played in the gold-medal match of the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis. The US national team, composed of college players at those games, featured two All-Americans in David Robinson (Hall of Fame member) and Danny Manning, two NCAA Championship Final Four MVPs, in Pervis Ellison and Keith Smart, and other future NBA players, such as Rex Chapman and Dan Majerle. Brazil faced a 68–54 halftime deficit. Schmidt finished with 46 points, in a 120–115 win.

Post athletic career

In 2004, Schmidt started his career in management. He was the CEO of "Telemar Rio de Janeiro", a Brazilian professional basketball team which won the "Campeonato Carioca" (Rio de Janeiro State Championship) in 2004, and the Brazilian Championship in 2005.

In 2006, Schmidt, along with other Brazilian basketball greats such as Paula and Hortência, (another Hall of Fame member), led the NLB: Nossa Liga de Basquete ("our basketball league"), an attempted rival to the Brazilian Basketball Championship. However, the league folded a year later.

Personal life

On May 13, 2013, Schmidt had brain surgery to excise a malignant tumor.[8] At first, nobody knew about it except for his family. The press found out about the disease fifteen days after the surgery at a dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of the two-time World Champion senior men's Brazilian National Team. Schmidt did not appear as he was recuperating from daily chemotherapy sessions. The disease is now in remission.[8]

In 2016, he was one of the guests at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, alongside other Brazilian celebrities such as model Gisele Bündchen, actor Gustavo Goulart, and singer Caetano Veloso, among others.

Club teams
  • S.E. Palmeiras: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1974–78
  • E.C. Sírio: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1978–82
  • JuveCaserta: Italian Second Division: 1982–83
  • JuveCaserta: Italian Basketball League: 1983–90
  • Pavia: Italian Second Division: 1990–91
  • Pavia: Italian Basketball League: 1991–92
  • Pavia: Italian Second Division: 1992–93
  • Valladolid: Spanish Basketball League: 1993–95
  • S.C. Corinthians Paulista: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1995–97
  • Barueri: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1997–98
  • Mackenzie: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1998–99
  • C.R. Flamengo: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1999–03

Honours and awards

Olympic Records
  • All-time leading scorer: 1,093 points
  • Most Points in a series: 338
  • Highest average in series: 42.3
  • Most Points in a Game: 55
  • Oldest player to score 40 or more points: 38 yrs and 155 days (scored 45 points)
  • Tied for most appearances by a men's basketball player: 5 (Teófilo Cruz, Andrew Gaze, Juan Carlos Navarro)

Individual

As a member of club teams
  • 4× São Paulo State Championship Champion: (Palmeiras 1974; Sírio 1978, 1979, Mackenzie 1998)
  • 3× Brazilian Championship Champion: (Palmeiras 1977; Sírio 1979; Corinthians 1996)
  • South American Club Championship Champion: (Sírio 1979)
  • FIBA Intercontinental Cup Champion: (Sírio 1979)
  • 2× Italian Second Division Champion: (Juvecaserta 1983; Pavia 1991)
  • Italian Cup Winner: (Juvecaserta 1988)
  • 2× Rio de Janeiro State Championship Champion: (Flamengo 1999, 2002)

Brazilian national team

See also

References and notes
  1. Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt Nickname(s): Mao Santa Height: 6-9 (206 cm) Weight: 236 lbs (107 kg).
  2. Oscar Schmidt Weight: 236 lbs (107 kg).
  3. halloffame.fiba.com Oscar SCHMIDT (2010 Class) Individual Highlights: Archived 2014-03-18 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "FIBA announces 2010 Hall of Fame Class". FIBA. 2010-08-20. Archived from the original on 2010-10-19.
  5. "Basketball Hall of Fame 2013". 2013-09-07.
  6. "Kobe Bryant turns to David Beckham for advice on Achilles injury", Eric Pinkus, Los Angeles Times
  7. "Oscar Schmidt Story: The Greatest Player Ever?", The Lead
  8. "Casey", "Tim" (9 September 2013). "Oscar Winner". "Sports on Earth". Retrieved 5 June 2015. In the spring, he had his second brain tumor surgery in two years. He is now on chemotherapy five days a month...
  9. "Destruidor de recordes: dez façanhas de Oscar Schmidt nas Olimpíadas". sportv.globo.com (in Portuguese). February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
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