RARE SIGNATURE OF RUSSIAN STAR ALEXANDER BELOV d.1978

Significant and important 1974 USA vs USSR Basketball Championship Series Press Kit.

Held in conjunction with Expo'74, the World's Fair which was held in Spokane, Washington from May-Oct. 1974, the basketball tournament series consisted of six games, played from Sept. 3 to Sept 10 at the L.A. Sports Arena, Seattle Coliseum, Spokane Coliseum, Greensboro Coliseum, and ending with the final game at the Capital Centre in Landover Maryland.

The contest pitted College All-Stars from the U.S. vs. the Russian National Team.

The United States team included Junior Bridgeman, Quinn Buckner, Ken Carr, future MLB pitcher Tim Stoddard, David Thompson (Basketball HOF’er), Monte Towe, and others.

Six of the players, including Carr, Thompson, Towe, and Stoddard, were from the 1974 NCAA Champion North Carolina State basketball team, and the team was coached by NC State coach Norm Sloan.

Russian players included several holdovers from the controversial 1972 gold medal game in Munich, including Alexander Belov, who made the disputed winning basket in that game.

See scans. Press kit includes the basketball schedule, series information, player rosters and bios on the U.S. and Russian teams on the left side of the press folder, and various information on the Expo'74 on the right side of the folder.

This press kit also contains a media scoresheet and a program from the final game played on Sept. 10, 1974 at the Capital Center. (see schedule). The scoresheet, available only to the media (and done on an NBA Official Scorers Report sheet) shows the U.S. defeating the USSR 82-72 behind 30 points from David Thompson. Alexander Salnikov scored 20 and Alexander Belov 16 for the Soviets.

The program measures 6" x 9" and contains the autographs in vintage ink of seven players who played in the game, including Americans Mo Rivers, Tim Stoddard (who would go on to play Major League Baseball), Phil Spence, Ron Lee, Quinn Buckner, and David Thompson (Basketball HOF’er). All have signed next to their name on the program, except Rivers who emphatically signed his name very large on the USSR page with "U.S.A" added.

Of utmost significance is a player signing on the USSR page next to his name - Alexander Belov. Belov, as mentioned, scored the dispute goal in the Munich gold medal game just two years earlier. Belov is a rare basketball autograph. He died unexpectedly 38 years ago, in 1978, at the age of 26 from a very rare disease, cardiac sarcoma. He was recognized as one of the greatest Russian and International basketball players ever.

The signatures are in excellent condition, and were obtained by the original owner/collector, a member of the media, after the game in 1974 in Maryland. No doubt this collector, while obtaining signatures of some of the American players, had specifically sought out Belov for his autograph, due to his fame (infamy?) and notoriety resulting from his basket in the disputed 1972 gold medal game two years earlier.

36 + pages/pieces in all contained in the folder. Overall excellent condition. Some minor wear/corner creasing on the folder itself, some toning on the edges of the media scoresheet. The program is excellent as is the rest of the packet. See all scans.

A great basketball souvenir, a Cold War US-USSR Tournament press kit, including a scoresheet from the final game and program from the final game, autographed by several US players plus the rare basketball signature of the noted Russian player Alexander Belov.

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