NO 3 GEORGE DANCIS
6 feet 6 inch Forward/Centre
1956 Olympic Games
It was 1949 and the very tall and athletic young man boarded the boat bound for Australia. He was alone and was a refugee. His mother and father and younger brother were unable to come with him. His mind drifted back to the ravages of war in his beloved home country of Latvia and his beautiful home city of Riga from which he and the family had fled before the advancing Soviet troops. The Second World War occupation of Latvia by the Germans and then the subsequent so called liberation by the Soviets had seen his family flee to Germany in the hope that they would find protection and a new life in the allied occupation of Europe. He and his family had survived. Now as he stood on the ships deck and gazed out over the water he was looking ahead in wonderment about what his new life and new country would be like. He even had a moment to think to himself whether he would be able to play basketball, the game he had become to love. Time would tell.
Juris (George) Dancis was born November 28th in Riga,Latvia in 1932. He and his family the suffered under the German invasion of Latvia during the Second World War. Times were hard and it was not an easy life for the youngster or his family. His family fled to Germany before the Soviet invading troops in 1944.
In 1945 after the war a lot of refugees were placed in DP (Displaced Persons) Camps in Germany. George and his family were placed in a refugee camp of about 3,000 people in Wurzburg, Bavaria. Life was hard and at times boring as families applied for and waited for clearances to migrate as immigrants to countries outside Europe. Enterprising sports people put up basketball boards and rings to help the youngsters in the camps fill in their time and to keep them fit and healthy.
In due course quite a few basketball teams were established and competitions between camps started. George attended the high school in the main camp, and started to play basketball in the junior team and then the senior teams. In 1949 George(who was of working age) left as a migrant for Australia while his mother and his younger brother Mike were delayed in Italy. Their father’s departure for Australia was delayed on health grounds. George lived in Melbourne. George’s brother Mike and his mother sailed to Australia in November 1949.Mike and his mother lived in the Migrants Camp at Bathurst,NSW where they worked locally to raise funds so that their father could join them. Unfortunately their father died in Europe shortly after he received permission to come to Australia.
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George Dancis’s Incoming Passenger Card
(Courtesy G. Dancis)
The Dancis family moved to Adelaide in 1951.
After arriving in Adelaide with his family George started playing for the Adelaide YMCA and the Old Boy’s Institute (OBI) club.
The following year the Latvians started their own team which included George. George played for ALS and then ASK for 14 years from 1950 to 1964 when he retired.
The battles between ASK and the Budapest Club in South Australia were legendary, with George Dancis, Tom Tilliks and Inga Freidenfelds battling against the Hody brothers (John and Les), Andre Eiler and "Yanchi" Hoyk.
The Latvians won the unofficial Australian Club Championships in 1959 and 1960.
In 1950 South Australia finished second in the Australian Championships and for the first time Georgewas named in the Australian Team, though the team did not play anyone.He did play on an Australian team against The Harlem Globetrotters in Adelaide and Melbourne in 1953. He also played against the visiting US Airforce team during this time.
George played on the SA team that won the States first Australian Men’s Championship in 1953 in the new Forestville Stadium. He participated in an number of games for SA against Victorian teams leading up to the 1956 Olympics. These games meant driving the Melbourne and back on weekends.
”Finish work, get in the car, drive to Melbourne, play basketball, drive back and then go to work the next day. Not difficult!” understates George.
After the 1955 Australian Championships George was selected on the Australian Olympic Basketball Squad. This meant getting naturalised in a hurry. ”The local lord mayor put me in the front of the queue,” recalls George.
Because he was 6’6” tall and of solid build George was one of the “bigmen” on the Olympic team. He was renowned for his rebounding, rolling hook shots, and his tough screening. It must be conceded that in this era there were very few big men in the sport and by today's standard a 200cm tall player is just as likely to be an average size shooting guard but we can only judge on the impact a player had during his era and George dominated his position.
A relative lack of experience and international competition meant Australia's Olympic team in 1956 was seriously disadvantaged, but Georgemore than held his own against the size and skills of opponents in the Melbourne Olympics giving further evidence of why he was such an outstanding player for his club, State and Australia.
Some highlights of the 1956 Olympic Games for George were the Opening Ceremony at the MCG and seeing the best basketball players in the world performing. George recalls, “Sadly we did not play the USA. We would have got a hiding, but what an experience!”
George’s individual statistics at the Melbourne Olympics: 26 fouls, 108 rebounds (60 defensive, 48 offensive), played 212.4 minutes, made 49 baskets from 104 attempts at 47.1%, made 14 from 27 free-throws at 51.8%,and scored 112 points.George was theleading rebounder for all teams in the tournament with 108 rebounds ahead of the legendary Bill Russell of the USA who had 103 rebounds. He was also the Australian team’s leading point scorer with 112 points.
After the Games, George under the guidance of legendary SA coach Eric Erkins and coach Vern Thomas played on the SA men’s team which won the Australian Championships in 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960.
George was selected on the 1960 Australian Men’s Olympic Basketball Team for the Rome Olympics. The Olympic Team mainly trained in Adelaide for three months prior to leaving for Rome. Interstate players came to live and work in Adelaide for that period.
George was excused from much of the physical-fitness training as he was a builder-concretor by day and was very fit and strong.The 1960 team only had a Coach and a Manager.
The 1960 team played in the Olympic Qualifiaction Tournament in Bologna, Italy and did not qualify for the finals in Rome. George gave a very good account of himself at the Games as he was a regular starter on the team and the leading rebounder. Against the bigger opposition George’s size and rebounding were essential. The team did suffer from the European refereeing and George got into constant foul trouble, often early, and this made things even more difficult at times.
After returning from Rome George continued to play for the Latvians in the SA competition until he retiredfrom playing basketball in 1964.
George is now retired and lives in Adelaide, South Australia.
George Dancis was an outstanding pioneer and leader in Australian basketball in its infancy on the international stage.
He was inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame as a Player in 2006.
George Dancis playing for SA shoots over the NSW defence in 1955
(Courtesy of G. Dancis)
George in his Olympic uniform
(Courtesy G. Dancis)
George Dancis at home with his trophies
(Courtesy G. Dancis)