Oscar Daniel SCHMIDT

Oscar Schmidt, who is known only by his first name in his native Brazil, began playing basketball at age 14 in his hometown of Natal. He later became Brazil's greatest player ever and one of the most potent offensive threats ever to play basketball. Schmidt was 2.03 metres (6-8) tall, but relied primarily on his superb outside shot. In the 1979 Pan American Games he won bronze and in the 1987 Pan American Games, Schmidt led Brazil to an upset of the United States in the final, scoring 46 points. Schmidt plays professionally in the Italian league. He was drafted in the sixth round of the 1984 NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets but never played in the United States. Oscar has been the leading scorer in every league in which he had played. In 1988, 1992, and 1996 he was the leading scorer at the Olympics, and his average of 42.3 points/game in 1988 is an all-time Olympic record. In that year, he also set an Olympic single-game record with 55 points against Spain, and he has seven on the ten highest scoring games in Olympic history.