Name Alfreds Krauklis | Role Basketball Player | |
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Died November 20, 1991, Riga, Latvia | ||
Alfrēds Krauklis (8 December 1911 – 20 November 1991 in Riga) is a former Latvian basketball player and coach, one of the Latvian national basketball team (Latvian: Latvijas basketbola izlase) leaders in 1930’s, and winner of silver medal in FIBA EuroBasket 1939. Once he stopped playing, he became a coach and sports event organizer.
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Player
Krauklis played in 28 games as the captain of the Latvian national team that won a silver medal in FIBA EuroBasket 1939 (in Kaunas, Lithuania). After World War 2 he played on the Latvian SSR team (1945–1949). Beginning from 1940 he worked as a player-coach. As a member of BK Rīga Starts ( 1933, 1938, 1943, 1944) and BK Daugava (1945–1948) he became the champion of Latvia for 8 times.
In a 1990s interview, Krauklis said: "Frankly saying – these three Baltic states raised the European basketball. Now they say that its Spanish, and so what? Let them say... And I say – it's our merit!".
Coach
From 1949–1958 Krauklis organized and managed BK Rīga „Spartaks” (in 1953 for a short period of time he was managing BK Rīga ASK). In 1958 on the basis of team BK Rīga Spartaks he formed the professional team BK VEF Rīga, with which he was connected until 1975. As the head coach of BK VEF Rīga, he won bronze medals in the USSR Championship (1960). He coached the Latvian SSR team (20 games) and won places at Spartakiades of Peoples of USSR. He was nominated as a Meritorious coach of USSR.
He also worked in Latvian youth basketball for 25 years, coaching VEF Rīga Children’s team and a youth sports school. The sports school was later named after him. Riga annually holds an international basketball tournament for youth, the Alfrēds Krauklis memorial tournament.