Feliksas Kriaučiūnas

Feliksas Kriaučiūnas

Feliksas Kriaučiūnas in the late 1930s
Personal information
Born	(1911-08-18)August 18, 1911 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	October 28, 1977(1977-10-28) (aged 66) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality	Lithuanian / American
Listed height	5 ft 11.4 in (1.81 m)
Listed weight	178 lb (81 kg)
Career information
College	Notre Dame DePaul
Medals Representing Lithuania Men's basketball FIBA EuroBasket 1937 Riga Team competition 1939 Kaunas Team competition Women's basketball 1938 Rome Team competition

Feliksas Kriaučiūnas (Americanized his name as Phil Krause; August 18, 1911 – October 28, 1977) was a Lithuanian American basketball player and coach. He won two gold medals with Lithuania national basketball team and silver medal with Lithuania women's national basketball team.

Biography

Feliksas studied and played for University of Notre Dame team, along with his brother Moose Krause. Later he moved to DePaul University and played for their university team. In 1935, along with other Lithuanian Americans, he started teaching Lithuanians how to play basketball. He was Lithuania national basketball team player-coach and team captain during EuroBasket 1937 and EuroBasket 1939. As soon as World War II begun in 1939, Kriaučiūnas and his brother traveled back to the United States. Kriaučiūnas played a total of 19 games, scoring 65 points. He also was the head coach of Lithuania women's national basketball team during the first ever women's EuroBasket in 1938 where Lithuania won silver medals. He also firmly contributed in developing nowadays basketball in Lithuania.

State awards

• Order of Vytautas the Great Officer Cross (1937)

See also

• List of FIBA EuroBasket winning head coaches

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Vidas Mačiulis, Vytautas Gudelis. Halė, kurioje žaidė Lubinas ir Sabonis. 1939–1989 – Respublikinis sporto kombinatas, Kaunas, 1989