Why is the Lithuanian Basketball Team Wearing Tie-Dye?
And what's the connection to The Grateful Dead?
Hello!
Wimbledon and the Euros may be over, but now we can shift our sports energy to the Olympics!
And not long ago I saw something that I earmarked to research just in time for the Olympics – the connection between the band The Grateful Dead and Lithuania’s Olympic Basketball Team.
How are these two groups connected?
I was curious…
I remember the 1992 Olympics really for one thing – the Dream Team.
That was the name given to the the biggest names from the NBA who were selected to represent the US in the men’s Olympic basketball team.
They had Michael Jordan. Magic Johnson. Larry Bird!
1992 was the first time the US Olympic team featured professional players – and expectations were high.
The US had an impressive lineup of athletes heading to Barcelona, but only the Dream Team got the commemorative cups at McDonald’s1.
But while the US Dream Team had the money and the stars, another country was dreaming of competing in Barcelona – Lithuania.
Americans may consider basketball their sport, but they aren’t the only ones.
Basketball is huge in Lithuania – and has been for nearly a century.
It all started with Frank “Pranas” Lubin, considered “the grandfather of basketball” in Lithuania.
Lubin was an American of Lithuanian descent, and played college basketball at UCLA from 1928-31.
He earned a spot on the US Olympic team in 1936, and took home the gold medal that summer.
Lubin was then invited to come to Lithuania, where he both coached and played for their national team.
The 6’7 Lubin helped Lithuania win the European championships in 1937 and 1939 – and grow the popularity of basketball in the country.
But when World War II broke out, Lubin had to return to California.
The Soviet Union formally annexed Lithuania, and sent thousands of Lithuanians to Siberia.
But the Lithuanians’ passion and talent for basketball continued to grow, and their talents helped the Soviet team win medals for men’s basketball at the Olympics for decades.
Though some of these players were talented enough to be drafted by the NBA, Soviet restrictions meant they were unable to come to the United States.
Then at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the Soviet men’s basketball team (which featured four starters from Lithuania) upset Team USA2 in the semifinals, and then won the gold medal.
Things were changing in the Soviet Union – and for Lithuanian players.
In 1989, Lithuanian basketball star Sarunas Marciulionis was allowed to move to California to join the Golden State Warriors.
Marciulionis also helped make connections so fellow Lithuanian Arturas Karnisovas was able to come to the US to play college basketball.
The following year, Lithuania declared itself a sovereign state from the Soviet Union.
Soviet troops attempted to seize power, but after much turmoil3 and bloodshed, eventually recognized Lithuanian independence in September 1991.
Lithuania now had its independence – but they did not have the money they needed to sponsor an Olympic basketball team.
Which brings us to preparations for the 1992 Olympics…and the strange connection Lithuanian basketball has to the Grateful Dead.
On March 24, 1992, the Grateful Dead were on tour in Detroit – at the same time the Golden State Warriors were in town to play the Pistons.
The Grateful Dead, like the Warriors, were from Northern California, and the band’s publicist Dennis McNally invited the team to attend the Dead’s concert in Detroit.
Sarunas Marciulionis was raising money for the Lithuanian team, and was encouraged to go to the Dead’s show by Donnie Nelson, then a scout with the Warriors who had been instrumental in bringing Marciulionis to the NBA.
“We didn’t have big concerts in Lithuania back then in big arenas. I never experienced anything like that,” Marciulionis said.
Nelson also thought this might be an opportunity for Marciulionis to get help raising money for Lithuania’s Olympic basketball team.
“Donnie said, ‘Those guys are from Oakland. Maybe they can kick in something,’” Marciulionis said.
Though Marciulionis didn’t know much about the band or their music, he gave McNally a letter, asking if the Grateful Dead’s philanthropic foundation would support the Lithuanian Olympic team.
“They’re free-minded people. We had just become a free country. There was a freedom connection,” Marciulionis said.
“Maybe they would catch that feeling for a new country that wanted to build a new history and a basketball history?”
Though this was an unusual request for the foundation, the band decided to send the team $5,000.
“The Lithuanian basketball team, these aren’t homeless people. This isn’t a soup kitchen,” said Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir.
“But at the same time, here’s something that can do a lotta good for a lotta people.
“That whole country of Lithuania can have a spirit of national identity, and these people can go to the Olympics.”
The band’s check was presented at a Warriors game, a gesture that would encourage others to donate.
The publicity also attracted two vendors who sold Grateful Dead merchandise, Mike Fitzgerald and Martin Leffer.
Mike “Fitzy” Fitzgerald, had an interesting connection to both the Grateful Dead and the Warriors. He was a Deadhead, who owned an apparel company that focused on collegiate cross-licensing with the Grateful Dead – and his father owned the Warriors.
Fitzy collaborated with Martin Leffer, whose company Not Fade Away, had been supplying merchandise (including the famous tie-dyed T-shirts) for the Dead since 1984.
“When I met Sarunas, he explained to me what was going on,” Leffer said.
“It really touched my heart.”
Fitzy provided the team with tie-dye shorts embroidered with the Lithuanian flag, warm-up suits, and polo shirts.
Leffer then hired artist Greg Spiers to design Lithuania’s T-shirt, which included the (now famous) Lithuanian Slam-Dunking Skullman.
Spiers’s design was his interpretation of a team rising from nothing.
“Like a Phoenix from the ashes to slam-dunking a flaming basketball to bronze victory. It's not a dead skeleton, but represents rebirth and a new life,” Speirs said.
“It was not only a victory in Olympic sports, but it was as if it were an overall triumph over communism itself.”
Although some drew comparisons between Spiers’ skeleton and the Dead’s skeleton Bertha, Spiers insists otherwise.
“It’s a Greg Speirs piece,” said the artist, who grew up wearing tie-dye T-shirts in the 1960s.
“It’s never been Grateful Dead art. It’s always been Greg Speirs art.”
But Spiers’ design felt so connected to the Grateful Dead that legend (and several media outlets) gave the band more credit than they deserved.
Even the band’s publicist said in a 2022 interview that the band was credited with “genius marketing” even though they didn’t fund the project or include band logos on the first round of memorabilia.
“It is a much less romantic version of the story,” McNally admitted.
Though the band’s $5000 donation was surely appreciated, it was a long way from the $200,000 the team needed to raise.
“That’s the story that everybody constantly ignores. It was just Grateful Dead serendipity … We got a lot of credit that we didn’t deserve,” said McNally.
But raising funds wasn’t the only challenge the Lithuanian basketball team faced.
They also had to qualify for the Olympics.
In order to compete at the Olympics, they had to win the FIBA European Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Spain in June 1992.
“The conditions were not too good,” Marciulionis told USA Today.
“It was hot. There were twelve people in one apartment. We had one shower, one bathroom. You really had to be patient.
“We had to suffer, but it was for a good cause.”
Lithuania went undefeated in the tournament, securing their spot to participate under the Lithuanian flag at the Olympics in Barcelona.
“We did not know our power, how strong we were,” Lithuanian player Rimas Kurtinaitis said.
“That tournament showed that we are really good. We beat all the European teams … After this, we started to believe we can do something in the Olympic games.”
And when the team arrived in Barcelona, their “funny looking” outfits certainly attracted attention – but so did their skills on the court4.
The Lithuanian team beat Brazil to advance to the semifinals, but then had to face the powerful USA Dream Team, who defeated the Lithuanians 127-76.
Although they lost their chance to compete for gold, the Lithuanian team had one more game ahead – playing for 3rd place — against the “Unified Team”, which included 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics.
And Lithuania won the bronze, defeating their former comrades, 82-78.
“The locker room after the game was the single biggest celebration I have ever experienced in athletics,” said Donnie Nelson.
“Everybody at once, without orchestration, joined together in the national anthem. Halfway through the song, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.”
When it came time for the medal ceremony, the team was visited by an Adidas rep who insisted they wear their sponsor-issued green shirts to accept their medals.
But Sarunas Marciulionis had other ideas.
“We were very proud to wear those shirts,” Marciulionis said.
“Life used to be pale, no colors, no excitement. It was like a black and white movie where we lived … Now this was something fresh, something different.”
“We showed up for that medal ceremony all in tie-dye, all smiling, all happy and laughing and free,” Karnisovas told the Houston Chronicle.
“We had our president in the locker room, taking his shirt off, putting the tie-dye shirt on, and showering with champagne.”
The joy of the Lithuanian team was infectious – and fans around the world wanted to get their hands on the team’s tie-dyed T-shirts.
“You never saw anything like that in sports before,” designer Spiers said.
Leffer had to buy new printing presses and source dye from other companies to keep up with demand.
“If one fashion item could encapsulate this moment in time, it was those shirts,” said Jon Weinbach, who co-wrote and co-produced the 2012 documentary, The Other Dream Team, about the 1992 Lithuanian men’s basketball team.
“You had the blending of worlds of politics and pop culture and basketball in this really fun, great-spirited way.”
The tie-dyed shirts were later sold by the Grateful Dead, The Golden State Warriors, Ticketmaster, and Leffer’s company, Not Fade Away, with proceeds from the sales given to Lithuanian schools and to the Lithuanian Children’s Fund.
The T-shirts and Spiers’ design were also enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on December 7, 1993.
Then, in 1996, the Olympics came to Atlanta, and the Lithuanian basketball team – and their tie-dyed T-shirts – were back.
And so were the Grateful Dead.
Band members Mickey Hart and Bob Weir held a press conference with Marciulionis, Nelson (then assistant coach of Lithuania), Warriors star Chris Mullin, and former NBA star (and noted Deadhead) Bill Walton to promote the Lithuanian team and sales of their tie-dyed gear.
Lithuania’s tie-dyed shirt design for 1996 replaced the skeleton with the Grateful Dead 13-point lightning bolt imprinted on a basketball.
And Hart even composed the music for Lithuania’s participation in the opening ceremonies.
The Lithuanian team sold more shirts, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity, and even managed to take home another bronze medal.
And then took home the bronze again in 2000.
Let’s see what happens in Paris…
One more thing…
If you happen to have one of the 1992 shirts in your closet, hold on to it.
They are still in demand – and going for big bucks.
I saw this on Ebay for $600!
What a strange trip this story has been — but it sure made me smile!
I hope it made you smile, too.
32 cents changed my life’s path
That’s not a clickbait headline — it’s true!
And I talk about it (and many other things) with the incredible Jo Wallace in her latest Good Girls Eat Dinner podcast.
Find out how curiosity (and communication!) first connected us, and why I believe good old fashioned manners never go out of style.
How can I help?
I’ll keep saying it: Communication matters.
If you want to improve your communication (and get all the good things that come with that), I’m your gal.
So many companies could reap massive rewards – from performance and culture to retention and engagement – by improving their communication.
So, if you know someone who could benefit from some help (as even the most seasoned leaders do), please get in touch and check out my website for more information.
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Stay Curious!
-Beth
Hands up if you had these? I did.
At that time, the NBA players were not allowed to play for Team USA at the Olympics.
See The January Events for more details
Another fun fact: Lithuania’s 1992 Olympic uniforms were designed by renowned Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake
The question I have is why do they tuck their shirts into their shorts? Just curious :-)