Oscar Schmidt

For the United States Navy sailor and Medal of Honor recipient, see Oscar Schmidt, Jr..

Oscar Schmidt

Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt (born February 16, 1958) is a retired Brazilian basketball player. He is also known as Oscar Schmidt Bezerra 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. At his peak, he was 2.05 m (6 ft 8 in) tall and weighed 102 kg (225 lb). He was born in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

He scored 49,702 points in his career on a professional level, a record.

Athletic career

He played in five Olympics (the second person to do so after Teófilo Cruz) and was the top scorer in three of them. However, he never went past the quarterfinals. In 1980 he played 7 games and scored 169 points for a 24.1 average. He again scored 169 points in 7 games in 1984. His best Olympic performance was the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He scored 338 points for an average of 42.3 points per game. In 1992 he scored 198 points in 8 games, and in 1996 he scored 219 points in 8 games. In 38 career Olympic basketball games, Schmidt scored 1093 points for a record 28.8 points per game average.

He scored 49,703 points in his top-level career, the most ever.^[1]

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

He was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1984, and had several other opportunities to play in the NBA, but declined them all in order to maintain his "amateur" status and continue to play in Brazil's national team (until 1989 NBA players were not allowed to play for national teams). He retired on May 26, 2003.

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

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

On August 20, 2010, Schmidt was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of his play in international competition.^[2]

Clubs

• Palmeiras, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Sírio, São Paulo, Brazil
• Caserta, Italy
• Pavia, Italy
• Forum/Valladolid, Spain
• Corinthians, São Paulo, Brazil
• Bandeirantes, São Paulo, Brazil
• Barueri, São Paulo, Brazil
• Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Honours

• All-time leading scorer with 49,703 points
• FIBA Hall of Fame inductee (2010 class)

As a member of Team Brazil

Medal record
Men's Basketball
Competitor for  Brazil
FIBA World Championship
Bronze	1978 Manila	National team

• sixth place in Pre-Olympics Tournament in San Juan (Puerto Rico - 1974)
• three times South American champion (Chile - 1977; Brazil - 1983; Colombia - 1985)
• World Championship's bronze medal (Philippines - 1978)
• second place in South American championship (Argentina - 1979; Uruguay - 1981)
• bronze medal in 1979 Pan-American Games (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
• fourth place in Pre-Olympics Tournament (San Juan, Puerto Rico - 1980)
• fifth place in 1980 Summer Olympics Games (Moscow, USSR)
• World Championship's eight place (Colombia - 1982)
• champion in American Pre-Olympics Tournament (Sao Paolo, Brazil - 1984)
• ninth place in 1984 Summer Olympics Games (Los Angeles, USA)
• World Championship's fourth place (Spain - 1986)
• gold medal in 1987 Pan-American Games (Indianapolis, USA)
• champion in American Pre-Olympics Tournament in Montevideo (Uruguay - 1988)
• fifth place in 1988 Summer Olympics Games (Seoul, South Korea)
• bronze medal in America's Cup (Mexico - 1989)
• World Championship's fifth place (Argentina - 1990)
• bronze medal in Pre-Olympics Tournamente (Portland, USA - 1992)
• fifth place in 1992 Summer Olympics (Barcelona, Spain)
• bronze medal in American Pre-Olympics Tournament (Buenos Aires, Argentina - 1996)
• sixth place in 1996 Summer Olympics in (Atlanta, USA)

As a member of clubs

• World Championship (Sírio - 1979)
• South American League (Sírio - 1979)
• Brazilian Championship (Palmeiras - 1977; Sírio - 1979; Corinthians - 1996)
• Sao Paulo Championship (Sírio - 1979, 1980; Palmeiras - 1974; Mackenzie - 1998)
• Italian Cup (Caserta - 1988)
• Italian Championship Serie A-2 (Caserta - 1983; Pavia - 1991)
• Rio de Janeiro Championship (Flamengo - 1999, 2002)
• second place in Brazilian Championship (Flamengo - 2000)
• second place in South American League (Corinthians - 1996, 1997)

See also

• List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games

Notes

1. ^ Oscar
2. ^ "FIBA announces 2010 Hall of Fame Class". FIBA. 2010-08-20. http://www.halloffame.fiba.com/pages/eng/hof/news/p/newsid/42798/arti.html. 

External links

• Official website (Portuguese)
• Profile at interbasket.com
• Profile at the Brazilian Basketball Federation (Portuguese)

Persondata
Name	Schmidt, Oscar
Alternative names
Short description	Basketball player
Date of birth	February 16, 1958
Place of birth	Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Date of death
Place of death