Pétur Guðmundsson (basketball player)

Pétur Guðmundsson
Player information
Full name	Pétur Karl Guðmundsson
birthday	October 30, 1958
place of birth	Reykjavík, Iceland
size	218 cm
position	center
college	Washington
NBA draft	1981 , 61. Pick Portland Trail Blazers
Clubs as active
1977–1980 Washington Huskies ( NCAA ) 1980–1981 Valur Reykjavík 1981–1982 Portland Trail Blazers 1982–1984 ÍR Reykjavík 1985–1986 Tampa Bay Thrillers ( CBA ) 1986–1987 Los Angeles Lakers 1987–1989 San Antonio Spurs 1989–1990 Sioux Falls Skyforce (CBA) 1990 New Haven Skyhawks ( USBL ) 1990–1992 UMF Tindastóll 1992 Sioux Falls Skyforce (CBA) 1992–1993 Breiðablik UBK Kópavogur 00000 00000
National team 1
1978-1992	Iceland	53
1 As of September 6, 2015

Pétur Karl Guðmundsson (born October 30, 1958 in Reykjavík ) is a former Icelandic basketball player . The nearly eight feet tall Pétur Guðmundsson is considered to be the first Icelandic basketball player in the history of the most highly endowed professional league NBA in the United States . In the 1980s, Guðmundsson completed a total of 150 missions for three different NBA clubs.

Career

After graduating from high school in Mercer Island, Pétur Guðmundsson got a place at the University of Washington in Seattle , where he played for the university team Huskies in the NCAA from 1977 . His teammates included the future NBA professional and huskies trainer Lorenzo Romar under trainer Marv Harshman, who then also trained the two German NBA professionals Detlef Schrempf and Chris Welp . After Pétur Guðmundsson was not registered with the Huskies in the 1980/81 season, he was nevertheless selected in the third round of the 1981 NBA draft at 61st position by the Trail Blazers from Portland (Oregon) .

In the NBA 1981/82 Pétur Guðmundsson started his NBA career also in the northwestern United States and completed 68 missions before the Trail Blazers transferred him to the Detroit Pistons after the end of the season in the summer of 1982 in a player swap. The Pistons ultimately had no use for Pétur Guðmundsson and released him from his contract just under a week before the start of the season. After Pétur Guðmundsson had played for Íþróttafélag in his hometown for two years , he returned to the United States in the mid-1980s, where he was active in the Minor League Continental Basketball Association (CBA). This was sometimes not easily possible because he needed a “work permit” ( German  work permit ), which was not granted to him in the minor league. A good six weeks after he was denied a work permit, he finally got a new contract in the NBA in March 1986 with the reigning NBA champion Lakers from Los Angeles . For the Lakers, Pétur Guðmundsson had eight appearances in the NBA 1985/86 alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when the Lakers missed a title defense and in the Western Conference finals the Houston Rockets , including the "Twin Towers" Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon were inferior.

In the following NBA 1986/87 Pétur Guðmundsson remained without use for the Lakers, who transferred him in February 1987 together with, among others, Frank Brickowski in a player swap to the Spurs in San Antonio . The Spurs put Pétur Guðmundsson in the NBA 1987/88 in 68 games, but after eight appearances in the NBA 1988/89 he was released in March 1989 with the Spurs. Then Pétur Guðmundsson played in the CBA for the newly founded Skyforce in Sioux Falls and in the summer league USBL on the east coast for the Skyhawks from New Haven (Connecticut) . But he did not succeed in recommending himself again for a contract in the NBA. After Pétur Guðmundsson had been active for UMF Tindastóll from Sauðárkrókur in his Icelandic homeland for two years , he returned briefly to the Sioux Falls Skyforce in 1992. After his career in late 1993 as an active basketball player in his native Icelandic is Pétur Guðmundsson operated mainly in his second home in the US state of Washington . In the early 2000s he also worked for the Icelandic Basketball Association and as a basketball coach for some time. During this time he was also named Iceland's 20th Century Basketball Player in 2001.

Web links

• Petur Gudmundsson - Player profile on basketball-reference.com ( English )
• KKÍ.is: Pétur Karl Guðmundsson: Ferillinn í úrvalsdeild - Profile and statistics on the websites of the Icelandic Association ( Icelandic )
• Petur Gudmundsson - Overview of participation in international FIBA tournaments on archive.fiba.com (English)
• Petur Gudmundsson - LinkedIn Profile

Individual evidence

1. ↑ A-landslid karla: Leikjafjöldi leikmanna. KKÍ , accessed June 17, 2016 (Icelandic, list of record-breaking national players). 
2. ^ Men's Basketball Media Guide 2011–2012: Washington Husky Records. (PDF (1.5 MB)) University of Washington , 2011, p. 24ff. , accessed on September 5, 2015 . 
3. ↑ SPORTS PEOPLE; Work Permit Denied. The New York Times , February 1, 1986, accessed September 5, 2015 (English, repro). 

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .