No 44 EDDIE PALUBINSKAS
6 feet 2 inch (188cm) Guard
1972, 1976 Olympic Games
In the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games Australia was battling it out against Mexico a team that loved to play up-tempo basketball and contained the shooting genius Guerrero. The Australian team wanted to slow the game down but the opposite happened. Those at the game witnessed perhaps the greatest shoot-out in Olympic basketball history. Guerrero and the shooting sensation from Australia Eddie Palubinskas hammered away both shooting “the lights out”. At half-time the Mexicans led 58-57. In the second half the Australians got behind by twelve points late in the game but tied the scores 107-107 at fulltime. The Aussies triumphed 120-117 in overtime and both teams received a standing ovation from the crowd. Palubinskas had scored 48 points (no three point line at this time), making 20 baskets from 24 attempts at 83% in one of the finest shooting exhibitions in Olympic basketball history. (Guerrero scored 40 points for Mexico). Those who knew Palubinskas were not surprised by Eddie’s performance as they knew what he could do and how he had practised shooting for hour after hour as a youngster.
Edward Sebastian “Eddie’ Palubinskas was born 17th September 1950 in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. His early sporting career covered many sports (but not yet basketball). When he was 14 he fractured his ankle in an Aussie Rules football game and spent four months on crutches. His interest turned to basketball when Paul Brettell came to Eddie’s school at Narrabundah High School. Eddie explains, “Paul was NSW representative player so in our eyes he was big time. He bought with him a sense of urgency and an understanding of what needed to be done to put us on the map.” Paul recalls, “I told Eddie when he was fifteen during one time out that if someone was in a better position on the court that he should pass the ball to them to which he looked me in the eye and said if I pass it to someone else and they shoot they will probably miss. If I shoot it myself it will almost certainly go in. He never lacked confidence.”
Much of Eddie’s early basketball was on outdoor asphalt courts and fan shaped backboards and no nets on the rings. But they played in-door at the Methodist Hall. “It was indoors, had glass backboards and nets. I remember sleeping under the nets I was so pumped about how great it was to play hoops,” says Eddie.
Eddie’s father was Lithuanian and loved basketball and he arranged for Eddie to play with a Lithuanian club team “VILKAS” and took him to the games. Eddie describes himself as nothing special at the time but soon he was the leading scorer in the competition. He also practised his shooting relentlessly in his backyard and usually refused to come in for dinner until he had made his routine of shots. Eddie continues, “The natural progression was when I heard that Rodney Wulff who played for the ACT juniors and seniors got a scholarship to play in the States. That appealed to me as my family had little money and could not afford to send me to College. I spent a year writing to Colleges all over the US asking for a scholarship.”
By the end of the 1960s Eddie was showing his great potential playing Club basketball and representative basketball in Canberra ACT. His dedication to practice and skill in shooting the basketball impressed everyone. He was an outstanding junior player in Club basketball in the ACT and was chosen to play for the ACT senior team by Coach Ron Harvey at a very young age. Ron takes up the story. “Eddie was a magnificent athlete-he excelled in track and field and any sport in which he showed an interest. He was selected to play for the ACT senior team at the National Championships when he was sixteen. Mid-way through the second half against WA I said to him to get in the game and get rid of the WA zone defence with his shooting....the rest is history...after the game Ken Cole spoke to him and Eddie headed to Saint Kilda.”
In 1969 Eddie moved to Melbourne to enhance his skills and his ambitions.He soon became “Australian Basketballer of the Year”.He played in Melbourne with the Saint Kilda Club where he learned from Ken Cole the Head Coach at that time. It was a great time. Basketball was intense, high scores were the norm and rivalry was hot.
Eddie remembers.“Coley was super. He drank too much coca cola though. We had great practices. He was a player’s coach. He knew the psyche of a player and how to treat them. Yeah he was controversial. So was I. It stirs the pot. I had a super time playing with Saint Kilda. Of course I dominated the scoring with those guys as well. Don’t know why, it just happened. It was the mind set. I was going to make you pay for attempting to stop me. That’s what I thought basketball was about......scoring!”
From Melbourne Eddie got a scholarship to the United States to play supposedly for Utah State University but ended up at Ricks Junior College where he had tremendous success breaking all kinds of records. At Rick’s Junior College in Rexburg, Idaho he led the nation in free-throw percentage (92.4%). He holds the record at that college with 14 consecutive free-throws in a single game and a run of 43 consecutive free-throws during the season. He also broke seven of the scoring records at the school. He was selected as an All American at the Junior College level.
In 1972 Eddiewas selected to the Australian Team for the Munich Olympics after spending two years in Junior college which prepared him well for the 1972 Olympic Games. At the 1972 Olympics he top scored in six of the nine matches for Australia and was the backbone of the Australian scoring. He missed being the top individual scorer at the Olympics by one point. Eddie’s scores in the Olympic tournament were: 25 (Spain), 27 (Czechoslovakia), 21 (Japan), 10 (USA), 23 (Cuba), 16 (Brazil), 16 (Egypt), 28 (West Germany), 24 (Poland). The Australian Team secured its best result to that time when it claimed 9th place.
After the Munich Olympics, Eddie was recruited to Louisiana State University (LSU) in the South Eastern Conference (USA) where he was to become a star and a nationally recognised player. He played at LSU for two years where he averaged 18.6 points per game and was selected to the All-SEC Coaches Team.
After graduation from LSU in 1974 Eddie played for Australia at the World Championships in Puerto Rico where he again led Australia in scoring. The Aussies claimed 12th place at the Championships.
In 1975 Eddie was drafted in the National Basketball Association (NBA)by the Atlanta Hawks in the 3rd round. He was then traded to the New Orleans Jazz and drafted in the 8th round by the Utah Jazz in the ABA. He did not play any professional basketball and became eligible to be selected for Australia for the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
In the Montreal Olympics he finished as the leading scorer in the tournament and led Australia to 8th place, the best placing to that time. One legendary game in those Olympics was when in the overtime game against Mexico Palubinskas scored 48 points at 83% shooting percentage (20/24) and 100% from the free-throw line and this was in the day of no three point line which only begun in 1986.“I shot 83% from the floor and 100% from the line and scored the last 14 points in overtime. I guess I was possessed. I like being in that zone," says Eddie. Eddie’s scores in the Montreal Games were: 28 (Cuba), 29 (USSR), 48 (Mexico), 28 (Canada), 30 (Japan), 30 (Italy), 26 (Cuba).
On Lindsay Gaze, Eddie comments, “Lindsay and I got on well. I sensed I made him mad at times when I did not pass it to another player or continue the Shuffle offense. When the ball got to me the flow usually stopped. Don’t know why? I just thought that’s how it was designed.”
Since 1976 Palubinskas has primarily lived in the United States and his life has revolved around coaching basketball at all levels from high school to university. His short time away from living in the United States involved him being the National Coach of Team Handball in Bahrain. He also returned to Australia as a Club player-coach for a short period.
Palubinskas began his coaching career in 1986 when he became an assistant coach at Brigham Young University -Hawaii. He stayed there for two years then joined the staff at LSU as an assistant coach.
Following his stint at LSU Eddie coached for four years at Central Private High School (1992-96) and thenas an assistant at the LA Lakers for the 2000-01 NBA season when the Lakers won the NBA title. Eddie was particularly noted for coaching Shaquille O’Neil in free-throws.He continues to coach through his academy and consults as a shooting coach to WNBA players, teams as well as NBA players, and national teams (including the Opals).
In 2008 Eddie established the National Basketball Shooters Association with the mission to change the way the world shoots the ball. “Since I figured out the science of shooting perfection I have been shooting the ball at 99% from the free throw line. I was injured in 1981 after a head on car collision in Utah and I had the time to spend on diagnosing and calculating human errors in shooting accuracy. I was hospitalized for fourteen days and the accident took two years out of my playing career” recalls Eddie.
Today Eddie continues to play in national and senior Masters Games all over the world at the age of age 60 and is still going strong. On July 11, 2010 he set two new Guinness Book world records, adding to a couple he previously had. In 2005 in Washington D.C. he shot 1206 free throws out of 1265 in one hour with six balls and six rebounders. This bettered his previous record with one ball of 867/880 free throws in one hour. He also made eightfree-throws blindfolded in two minutes in 2009 at the NBA all star jam in Phoenix Arizona.His new records include seventeen made free throws in one minute with a blindfold. The most consecutive free throws he has made is 1,124 (in 2010 at the age of 59). He won $27,000 in about 27 minutes converting 75 of 75 free throws and 68 of 75 three pointers in a Las Vegas national shooting contest. In alternating partner shooting he made 56 baskets in one minute beating Los Angeles Lakers Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown’s record of 26 in one minute. Included in Eddie’s list of achievements was a shooting exhibition record at the NCAA Final Four where he made 684 consecutive shots, including 101 three pointers.
Eddie had a complete hip replacement in 2003 and three months later he was playing full court basketball and continues to this day to be as active as possible. Although officially retired Eddie enhances his investment income with basketball teaching, coaching and occasional exhibitions. He continues to make instructional DVD’s, and produces literature and articles on basketball.
“I have had a great career and loved every minute with basketball. It’s been a great blessing and Australia is a big part of my legacy and development,” says Eddie.
Eddie Palubinskas will be always be recognised as one of the best shooters and players in Australian Olympic basketball history. He continues to provide inspiration to many players.
Eddie Palubinskas was inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame as a player in 2007.
Eddie Palubinskas in action with his famous jump-shot
(Courtesy of E. Palubinskas)
Eddie Palubinskas playing for Australia against a visiting US College team (The Australian Basketballer Magazine)
Eddie Palubinskas in Australian uniform (The Australian Basketballer Magazine)