Jānis Krūmiņš

The Latvian basketball legend Jānis Krūmiņš was born on 30 January 1930 in Latvia. The 220-centimeter-tall center was the European equivalent of NBA’s George Mikan. Krūmiņš was the first true dominant European center, despite the fact that he began his basketball career very late, after being discovered by ASK Riga coach Alexander Gomelsky in 1953. Krūmiņš was 23 years old when he first picked up a ball. Until that, he was living a regular life, working in a forest as a lumberjack and collector of tree resin. Two years later, he was already making a name for himself in the Soviet Top League, helping ASK win the league title.

In 1958, Krūmiņš made his EuroLeague debut and in total, he played 4 seasons in this competition. Eventually, the Latvian giant became the most dominant EuroLeague center in history. No other player in history has been able to win three consecutive EuroLeague titles and Finals MVP awards combined. Krūmiņš was a dominant force on the court, and largely thanks to his efforts, ASK reached the EuroLeague Finals four seasons in a row. After first 4 seasons in the competition, Krūmiņš was the EuroLeague all-time best scorer with 440 points. The Latvian center had a great consistency during his European journey, being among the Top 20 scorers in 4 EuroLeague seasons and Top 10 in three of those seasons.

During his career, Krūmiņš played for ASK Rīga (1955-1963) and VEF Rīga (1964-1969) teams, eventually retiring at the age of 39. He was also the leading Soviet Union national team player from 1956 to 1964. In his EuroLeague and international games from 1956 to 1964, Krūmiņš scored 831 point in 73 games.

After retirement, Krūmiņš worked as a metalworker, living a quiet family life with his wife and three kids. He died on 20 November 1994, at the age of 64.

ACCOLADES

EuroLeague champion (1958, 1959, 1960)
EuroLeague Finals MVP (1958, 1959, 1960)
EuroBasket (1959, 1961, 1963)
Olympic Games (1956, 1960, 1964)
FIBA World Cup (1959)
Soviet Top League (1955, 1956, 1957, 1958)
Soviet Top League (1962, 1964)
Soviet Top League (1959, 1961, 1963, 1966)

EUROLEAGUE STATISTICS

SOVIET TOP LEAGUE STATISTICS

OLYMPIC GAMES STATISTICS

FIBA WORLD CUP STATISTICS

EUROBASKET STATISTICS