by Henry L. Liao
He is to international basketball what Pele is to world soccer.
His name: Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt, the all-time scoring leader in Olympic men’s basketball history.
The Brazil-born Schmidt racked up 1,093 points in 38 Olympic games.
In a record-sharing five Olympic appearances – 1980 Moscow (Soviet Union), 1984 Los Angeles (USA), 1988 Seoul (South Korea), 1992 Barcelona (Spain) and 1996 Atlanta (USA) – the 6-8 3/4 forward averaged a mind-boggling 28.8 points every time out.
A two-time Manila visitor during Brazilian club Emtex’s guest participation in the Philippine Basketball Association in 1977 and in his national team’s stint during the 1978 World Basketball Championship (now known as the FIBA World Cup), Schmidt was the highest point-producer in three Olympic Games – 41.9 ppg in 1988, 24.8 ppg in 1992 and 27.4 ppg in 1996.
Until now, Schmidt, the son of a German father and a Brazilian-Yugoslav mother, still owns the all-time single-game Olympic scoring mark of 55 points, which he registered in Brazil’s 118-110 loss to Spain in 1988.
Schmidt, now age 66, was a sixth-round draft choice (No. 131 overall) of the New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets during the 1984 National Basketball Association draft but he never played in the American professional league.
Simply known as Oscar (or Mao Santa meaning Holy Hand) in his homeland, Schmidt secured roundball employment in Brazil (1974-82), Italy (1982-93), and Spain (1993-95). After eight more seasons in his second tour of home duty with four different clubs, where he was the local league’s top scorer each time, Schmidt hung up his jersey in late May 2003.
Unofficially, Schmidt is considered the all-time leading scorer in basketball history with 49,737 career points scored (club play and national team play combined). He is also the record holder for the longest career span by a basketball athlete in the world with 28 seasons although all-time Italian great Dino Meneghin, a 6-9 center, also played 28 seasons (1966-1994) during his sterling career.
Schmidt was named one of the 50 greatest players in FIBA history in 1991. He (along with Meneghin) was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame on August 20, 2010, in recognition of his scintillating performance in international competitions. Schmidt was also inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 8, 2013.
Schmidt underwent brain surgery on May 13, 2013, to remove a malignant tumor. The disease remains in remission until now.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Andrew Barry Casson Gaze ranks second on the all-time Olympic men’s scoring ladder with 789 points in an Olympic-record 40 games and a record-tying five stints.
The star of the Aussies’ Olympic campaign in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000, Gaze, a 6-7 shooting guard, was the No. 1 scorer during the 2000 Sydney Games with a 19.9-point average in eight outings.
Gaze, who played collegiate ball at Seton Hall University, saw action in the NBA for two seasons (1993-94 Washington and 1998-99 San Antonio).
Both Schmidt and Gaze suited up in five Olympics for their respective countries.
The Melbourne-born Gaze made it to the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2013.
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