GENNADY VOLNOV - 101 Greats of European Basketball
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Gennady<br />
Volnov<br />
383
Europe’s<br />
winningest<br />
player<br />
The history <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong> basketball<br />
doesn’t have anyone quite like Gennady<br />
Volnov. He played at six FIBA<br />
EuroBaskets and won six gold medals!<br />
He also won four Olympic medals and<br />
two from the World Cup, giving him 12<br />
trophies won in the three most important international<br />
competitions. It’s true that Kresimir Cosic<br />
<strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia had 14 medals in the same competitions,<br />
but Volnov outdid him at the club level. While<br />
Cosic was never a EuroLeague champ, Volnov won<br />
continental titles with CSKA Moscow in 1961, 1963<br />
and 1969.<br />
Gennady was born in Moscow on November 28,<br />
1939, and he passed away in Moscow on July 15,<br />
2008. He was a versatile player and, as Sergei Belov<br />
used to say, ahead <strong>of</strong> his time. At 2.01 meters tall,<br />
Volnov played three positions: shooting guard, small<br />
forward and power forward. His natural position was<br />
close to the rim due to his physical features. He was a<br />
great rebounder, but also shot well from long range.<br />
Aside from his qualities as a player, he was a natural<br />
leader and served as the captain for both CSKA and<br />
the USSR national team for many years.<br />
The career <strong>of</strong> Gennady Volnov – his friends called<br />
him Genka – started in 1956 with Burevestnik, a<br />
humble club from Moscow. In 1959, at 20 years old,<br />
he moved on to CSKA Moscow along with Anatoly<br />
Astakhov and Armenak Alachachan. That very same<br />
year, he made his debut with the national team at<br />
the EuroBasket in Istanbul. There he won his first<br />
gold medal, even though, since he was a rookie, his<br />
contribution was not prominent. In fact, Volnov averaged<br />
3.8 points per game and he didn’t even take<br />
the floor in the decisive games. The following year, he<br />
took part in the 1960 Olympics in Rome and there he<br />
saw a genius <strong>of</strong> the game. Watching American player<br />
Oscar Robertson, a super-modern guard at the time,<br />
opened for Volnov new perspectives on how to play.<br />
He understood that basketball was not only about<br />
shooting and physical strength, but also about imagination<br />
and creativity, that the game could be fun<br />
without the systems created by the coach.<br />
I saw Volnov for the first time at the 1961 EuroBasket<br />
in Belgrade, even though I must admit that I had<br />
my eyes on Janis Krumins, the first giant <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball. At 2.18 meters tall, Krumins looked like a<br />
colossus and attracted eyes everywhere he went. In<br />
Belgrade, with an average <strong>of</strong> 11.7 points, Volnov won<br />
his second gold medal. He repeated that feat in Wroclaw<br />
in 1963 (10.7 ppg.), Moscow 1965 (12.6 ppg.),<br />
Helsinki 1967 (11.1 ppg.) and Naples 1969 (7.0 ppg.).<br />
In between EuroBaskets he also shined at World<br />
Cups in 1963 in Rio de Janeiro (bronze, 14.1 points<br />
with a high <strong>of</strong> 20 against the USA) and Montevideo<br />
1967 (gold, 11.1 ppg.). At the Olympics, he won four<br />
medals and, together with Belov, he is the basketball<br />
player with the most Olympic medals. In addition to<br />
the silver in Rome he won another in Tokyo in 1964<br />
(9.8 ppg.), in Mexico 1968 (7.4 ppg.) he took the<br />
bronze, and the peak <strong>of</strong> his Olympic career was the<br />
1972 gold in Munich (6.8 ppg.).<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Gennady Volnov<br />
V
Vladimir Stankovic<br />
Glorious comeback<br />
After the 1969 EuroBasket in Naples, due to lack<br />
<strong>of</strong> communication with coach Aleksandar Gomelskiy,<br />
Volnov left the national team and at 30 years old he<br />
practically put an end to his career because he didn’t<br />
want to play for any team other than CSKA. He did<br />
not play in the 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana, where<br />
the USSR won the bronze medal, and he was not at<br />
the 1971 EuroBasket in Germany either, even though<br />
the coach there was Vladimir Kondrashin. However,<br />
for the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Kondrashin realized<br />
that a charismatic and experienced player like<br />
Volnov could help the team. Gennady accepted and<br />
wore the Soviet jersey again. He didn’t play much,<br />
but Kondrashin wasn’t expecting double-doubles<br />
from him either. He needed Volnov as a locker room<br />
leader. Volnov obliged and even scored some points:<br />
12 against Senegal and Poland, 11 against the Philippines,<br />
6 against Germany and 2 against Italy. After<br />
sitting out against Yugoslavia and Cuba, in the historic<br />
final against the USA, he didn’t score, but his 4<br />
fouls showed his fight on defense. The USSR won the<br />
gold medal after the famous replaying <strong>of</strong> the last 3<br />
seconds, on a basket by Alexander Belov. The 1972<br />
Olympic silver medals are still in the vaults <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Olympic Museum in Lausanne waiting for the American<br />
players to pick them up.<br />
After Munich, Volnov decided to put an end to<br />
his brilliant career and started to teach chemistry<br />
at a military academy. He played basketball with<br />
the CSKA veterans and helped the young players by<br />
showing them the tricks in his repertoire. He was a<br />
very polite man, calm and never lost his temper when<br />
opponents hit him hard, because that was the only<br />
way to stop him.<br />
384<br />
385
EuroLeague champ three times<br />
With 12 medals in the three most important international<br />
competitions, 10 Soviet League titles and<br />
three <strong>European</strong> crowns with CSKA, Volnov is one <strong>of</strong><br />
the winningest players in the history <strong>of</strong> <strong>European</strong><br />
basketball. His first EuroLeague title came in 1961<br />
against ASK Riga, to break that Latvian team’s domination<br />
after it won the first three editions <strong>of</strong> the competition,<br />
somewhat unexpectedly, between 1958 and<br />
1960. In the first game <strong>of</strong> the final, played in Riga, the<br />
ASK squad <strong>of</strong> Gomelskiy lost 62-89! Volnov scored 18<br />
points for CSKA. ASK won the second game in Moscow,<br />
but just by 5 points (66-61). Volnov scored 13<br />
points for CSKA, which won its first <strong>European</strong> title.<br />
The second title arrived in 1963 after three games<br />
against Real Madrid. The Spaniards won the first<br />
game in Madrid 86-69 with 6 points from Volnov. In<br />
the second game, CSKA won by the same 17 points,<br />
91-74, as Volnov scored 8. The following day the third<br />
game to decide the series was played. In that one, on<br />
August 1, 1963, in front <strong>of</strong> 20,000 fans, CSKA won<br />
99-80. Gennady Volnov scored 26 points and was the<br />
hero <strong>of</strong> the game.<br />
The third crown for CSKA and Volnov came in<br />
Barcelona, on April 24, 1969 – against Real Madrid<br />
again. CSKA won 103-99. It was a game full <strong>of</strong> drama<br />
that featured two overtime periods. Belov, who was<br />
a player/coach for CSKA, spent all 50 minutes on the<br />
court. Center Vladimir Andreev played the game <strong>of</strong> a<br />
lifetime (37 points, 13 rebounds) and Volnov had 12<br />
points and 2 <strong>of</strong>fensive rebounds in 37 minutes.<br />
After Volnov’s death, Belov stated that Volnov<br />
had not been properly appreciated at home. Belov<br />
described Volnov as “the pioneer <strong>of</strong> modern Soviet<br />
basketball.” Many others thought justice had not<br />
been done when, in a major survey for the best<br />
starting five ever in Soviet basketball, Volnov was not<br />
selected.<br />
One thing is sure, however. This born winner belongs<br />
among the greats.<br />
<strong>101</strong> greats <strong>of</strong> european basketball<br />
Gennady Volnov<br />
V