Gold Cup of the City of Bremerhaven
The City of Bremerhaven Gold Cup was a basketball tournament initiated by the US armed forces in Bremerhaven that took place from 1964 to 1983.
In total, the basketball competition for men's teams was held eighteen times. Participated in the tournament were selected teams of the US military stationed in Europe with high-performance former college players, as well as various club teams and national teams from Europe, including Eastern Europe. From 1964 to 1969, women's teams from the USA and Europe also played a tournament winner.
Like the Albert Schweitzer Tournament (AST) for national basketball teams of male youth, which takes place every two years in Mannheim, the Bremerhaven tournament was founded by the US military as an initiative to promote German-American basketball friendship and was held seven years before the Responsibility was handed over to the German organizers and the founder of the Gold Cup of the City of Bremerhaven .
Winners list
In the men's category, the USSR national team won the tournament three times. The Netherlands, Austria and Germany as well as the US military selection teams each made two entries in the list of winners. The teams ZSKA Moscow and VfL Osnabrück were the only two club teams that were able to win the tournament against the strong competition of the participating national teams. In 1976 a national basketball team from Israel took part in the tournament.
- Winner list of the Bremerhaven basketball tournament of the US Army - Gold Cup of the City of Bremerhaven
Men's tournament:
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Women's tournament:
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Motivation of the US organizers
Considerations by Pit Garner and Bob Sieben from the Special Service of the US armed forces stationed in Bremerhaven led to the first international basketball tournament Bremerhaven being held in Bremerhaven in 1964, with the aim of establishing a regular basketball tournament and establishing relationships with the citizens of Bremerhaven to improve in the Federal Republic and in Europe. For the US soldiers and their families, the tournament was a welcome attraction during the year. By engaging well-known club teams and national teams, the public should be interested in the event. In the USA there was always extensive coverage of the tournament.
Framework and conditions of the US organizers
The annual tournament was associated with considerable organizational and financial expenditure. Until 1970 the US armed forces were the organizers. All participating teams were looked after by the US armed forces, housed and fed as guests in barracks. As there were no costs for board and lodging for the participating teams, invitations to one of the international tournaments were in great demand - the organizers were never able to consider all inquiries from the international basketball community. The game was played according to FIBA rules over the full playing time.
Support from the DBB
On the German side, Paul G. Pätzel , from 1947 to 1976 sports editor at the Nordsee-Zeitung in Bremerhaven, was also the founder and long-time editor of the magazine Basketball , since 1963 also Vice President of the German Basketball Federation (DBB), partner of the responsible US organizers and promoter of the tournament idea.
The US location
1964 to 1970 was played in a basketball hall on the US military area, on the main road between Bremerhaven and Weddewarden . The facilities and ambience of the sports hall were comparable to those of a US college team. The guest teams were housed in the immediate vicinity.
After the end of the Second World War , this so-called staging area of the US military - the barracks was named Carl Schurz barracks in 1973 - housed units of the US Army , US Air Force and US Navy . The US garrison in Bremerhaven was located in an enclave that was autonomously administered by the US armed forces , an area between Bremen and Nordholz . The garrison , with air base , were required by the US to supply their military organizations in Europe by sea, via Bremerhaven to be able to handle. This logistics task was taken over by the transport and support units stationed in the staging area . However, units were also stationed that operated relocatable radar stations and radio relay networks or were responsible for communication between nuclear weapons bases in the European zone. Until 1945 the area had been used by the German Wehrmacht or, before that, by the Reichswehr for military purposes.
Gold Cup of the City of Bremerhaven
From 1971, the Bremerhaven City Association and the City of Bremerhaven, in cooperation with the Bremerhaven – Cuxhaven district group of the German Olympic Society, took responsibility for the tournament. The city of Bremerhaven's gold cup was donated. The game was now played in the Kolb Hall. In 1974 the Kreissportbund Bremerhaven participated in the tournament organization. An organizing committee, in which representatives of 1. BC Bremerhaven had a vote in 1955, was determined. It was then decided to play in the large, modern Bremerhaven town hall . This changed the framework and basis of the tournament fundamentally. The financial burdens and the associated risks increased. Initially, the tournament was secured through grants from the state and the local economy. For the gold cup tournament planned for 1984 there was no sufficient guarantee for the fulfillment of the upcoming financial obligations, so that the competition could not be continued.
Since then, the interest in the performance and result-oriented basketball sport has remained in Bremerhaven. The most successful Bremerhaven team are the Eisbären Bremerhaven , a men's team in the top German division, in the basketball league (BBL).
Participation of the DBB national teams
The German Basketball Federation always followed the invitations of the Bremerhaven tournament organizers with its A, B and / or junior national teams, and was often represented by two national teams in the field of participants. Overall, the DBB A national team took part in thirteen tournaments in Bremerhaven (In 1970, 1972, 1975 and 1978, the DBB A team fulfilled other obligations). From 1967 to 1983, Bremerhaven was the international venue where the senior national team most frequently played an international match against national teams from other countries, but also played against numerous first-class club teams from the FIBA's Europe Zone . In 1969, Dr. Miloslav Kriz was responsible as head coach, and in 1980, national coach Bernd Röder, the German national team was able to finish the tournament as the winner.
Individual evidence
- ↑ International basketball tournament Bremerhaven, 1964 to 1983 . Sports Complete website - sports and sporting events, data basketball. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- ↑ DBB mourns Paul G. Pätzel - Former DBB vice-president and initiator of the magazine Basketball died at the age of 92 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Website of the German Basketball Association. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- ↑ The Seefliegerhorst / Land Bremerhaven-Weddewarden . Site relics in Lower Saxony and Bremen. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- ↑ Home venues of the DBB national basketball team . Private website Hans-Joachim Mahr. National basketball team statistics. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
- ↑ National coach - From 1953 to today: national coach men. ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Website of the German Basketball Association. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
