Tournaments. General team

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Vasilyev Stepan Vasilyevich

Sections: Where the play begins
Veterans: Vasilyev Stepan Vasilyevich

Vasilyev Stepan Vasilyevich (1886-1972)

Born December 11, 1886. As member of the society for facilitating moral, mental, and physical development Mayak, initiated the first basketball matches, played himself and helped in umpiring. Gained the title “grandfather of Russian basketball”, and “Russian Neismith”. Good gymnast, football player, Stepan Vasilyev witnessed the origins of the first workers’ sports club in Russia Putilovets, contributed great efforts and energy into the activities of Vseobuch (a system of general compulsory education), for more than thirty years headed the chair of physical education of the Textile Institute. In the gym of this institute in the 1960’s our Spartak played its games. In December 1906 Vasilyev was participant of the first basketball match of Mayak. Here is how he recalls the event: "Players were allocated to teams in an interesting way, by a 10-point system. My head was unanimously appraised 10 points, A.Burykin was 9.9, N.Nizovtsev was 9.8 and so on. Thus, we made four equivalent teams, with the same average score. Each of the teams – and they were called by the color of the shirts – chose a captain: the purples elected Vasilyev, the greens elected Shchegolev, the whites opted for Nizovtsev, and the reds picked Didrichs. In December 1906 these teams held a one-round contest between themselves, which ended in the victory of the purples. Thereafter, Stepan Vasilyevich Vasilyev was at the origins of the Leningrad organization Spartak. It can be said that the “grandfather of Russian basketball” was directly related to our team.

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