Ed Palubinskas

{{Infobox basketball biography

| name = Ed Palubinskas

| image =

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|9|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

| height_cm = 183

| weight_kg = 82

| high_school = Narrabundah College

| college =

Ricks College (1970–1972)
LSU (1972–1974)

| draft_year = 1974

| draft_round = 4

| draft_pick = 61

| draft_team = Atlanta Hawks

| career_start =

| career_position = Guard

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}}

Edward Sebastian Palubinskas (born 17 September 1950) is an Australian former professional basketball player and coach.

Playing career

=High school=

Palubinskas attended Narrabundah College in Canberra, where he practiced different sports (swimming, track and field, football, gymnastics).{{Cite web|last=Delliquanti|first=Don|date=1973-01-08|title=Tiger cub from Canberra|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1973/01/08/tiger-cub-from-canberra|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-10|website=Sports Illustrated Vault {{!}} SI.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305194246/https://vault.si.com/vault/1973/01/08/tiger-cub-from-canberra |archive-date=5 March 2021 }} He started playing basketball at age 14. In Canberra, he played for a team of Lithuanian immigrants.{{Cite web|last=Simpson|first=Malcolm|title=Eddie Palubinskas - Australian Basketball's First Superstar|url=https://www.globalstarholidays.com.au/eddie-palubinskas-australian-basketballs-first-superstar/|access-date=2021-10-10|website=globalstarholidays.com.au|date=7 June 2021 }} After moving to Melbourne, Palubinskas played for the St. Kilda Saints, winning the Victorian Championship in 1970.{{Cite web|title=History Of Basketball - Flames Basketball Club|url=https://websites.mygameday.app/club_info.cgi?c=0-93-64565-0-0&sID=262328|access-date=2021-10-10|website=GameDay}}

=College=

Coach Lindsay Gaze, who back then considered Palubinskas as "the best offensive player in the history of Australia", put him in contact with Dale Brown, who later became his coach at LSU. Palubinskas moved to the US and started his collegiate career at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho in 1970, where he led the US in free throw percentage with 92.4 percents during the 1970–71 season.{{Cite web|last=Worsham|first=Cody|title=LEGENDS: Ed Palubinskas|date=13 July 2015 |url=https://www.tigerrag.com/ed-palubinskas-lsu-free-throw-shooter/|access-date=2021-10-10}} He holds the record for the most consecutive free throws in a game (14) and 43 consecutive for the season.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} He won NJCAA All-American status at Ricks College (which is now BYU-Idaho){{Cite web|title=NJCAA All-Time Men's Basketball All-Americans (1950-present)|url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/34188913/mens-basketball-njcaa|url-status=live|website=NJCAA Men's Basketball Record Book|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010091333/https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/34188913/mens-basketball-njcaa |archive-date=10 October 2021 }} and scored 24 points a game over his two years. In 1972, Palubinskas transferred to Louisiana State University (LSU), after playing in the Munich Olympics where he was the second leading scorer missing the Olympic scoring title by one point. At LSU, Palubinskas had a team-high 18.6 points per game in the 1972–73 season and was selected to the All-SEC Coaches Team. In 1973–74, he was the second leading scorer of the team (18.3 points per game) behind Glenn Hansen. While at LSU, Palubinskas hit 87.5 percent (258-of-295) of his free throws. On 1 March 1973, Palubinskas converted 16 of his 16 free throws against Mississippi State, which put him in first place in the LSU record book.{{Cite web|title=LSU 2020-21 MEN'S BASKETBALL RECORD BOOK|url=http://static.lsusports.net/assets/docs/mb/pdf/21guide.pdf?_gl=1*8zb4g3*_ga*MTgwMzE0MTQxMS4xNjMzODE2NjUx*_ga_H5J0WQLH9X*MTYzMzgyMDg4NS4yLjEuMTYzMzgyMDg5NC41MQ..&_ga=2.46397349.367937742.1633816651-1803141411.1633816651|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-10|website=Louisiana State University|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010001624/http://static.lsusports.net/assets/docs/mb/pdf/21guide.pdf?_gl=1*8zb4g3*_ga*MTgwMzE0MTQxMS4xNjMzODE2NjUx*_ga_H5J0WQLH9X*MTYzMzgyMDg4NS4yLjEuMTYzMzgyMDg5NC41MQ..&_ga=2.46397349.367937742.1633816651-1803141411.1633816651 |archive-date=10 October 2021 }}

=Professional=

Palubinskas was selected in the 1974 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks in the fourth round. He was then traded to the New Orleans Jazz and drafted in the eighth round of the ABA draft by the Utah Stars. Palubinskas never played in the NBA.{{cite web|last1=Levinson|first1=Mason|title=Bring It on LeBron, Says Free-Throw Specialist in Casino Contest|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-27/bring-it-on-lebron-says-free-throw-specialist-in-casino-contest|website=Bloomberg.com|date=27 February 2015|accessdate=27 April 2016}} In Australia, he played for the Caulfield Spartans, scoring a record-breaking 66 points in a championship game in 1976.

National team career

After being the second leading scorer in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Palubinskas was the top overall scorer in 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He set three Olympic scoring records in Montreal, including the record for most points scored in a single Olympics (269), which was broken by Brazilian Oscar Schmidt during the 1988 Summer Olympics.{{cite web|title=Eddie Palubinskas|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/olympics/athletes/eddie-palubinskas-1|website=basketball-reference.com|accessdate=30 July 2016}} The most points he scored in one game during the Olympics was in 1976, when he had 48 against Mexico in overtime.{{cite news|title=Ed Palubinskas, Australia's first basketball great|url=http://corporate.olympics.com.au/news/historical-vignette-ed-palubinskas-australia-s-first-basketball-great|work=Australian Olympic Committee|date=1 January 2009|accessdate=25 June 2011}}

He is a member of the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame.{{cite web|title=Ed Palubinskas|url=http://www.basketball.net.au/hall_of_fame/ed-palubinskas/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405141310/http://www.basketball.net.au/hall_of_fame/ed-palubinskas/|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 April 2015|publisher=Basketball Australia|accessdate=30 July 2016}}

Coaching career

Palubinskas served as an assistant coach at Brigham Young University from 1986 to 1989. In 1991–92, he held the same position at Louisiana State University. At the high school level in the US, Palubinskas was the head coach at Central Private School in Central, Louisiana from 1992 to 1996.{{Cite book|last=Grasso|first=John|title=Palubinskas, Edward Sebastian "Eddie". In: Historical Dictionary of Basketball|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8108-6763-5|pages=282}} He also was a basketball coach at East Carbon High School in Sunnyside, Utah and East High School in Salt Lake City.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2001-03-25|title=A true charity stripe artist|url=https://www.deseret.com/2001/3/25/19577057/a-true-charity-stripe-artist|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-10|website=Deseret News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010001627/https://www.deseret.com/2001/3/25/19577057/a-true-charity-stripe-artist |archive-date=10 October 2021 }}

Palubinskas took a position as shooting coach to Shaquille O'Neal with the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2000–01 NBA season.{{cite web|title=Kaip lietuvio sūnus Palubinskas Shaqą baudas mesti mokė/ Interview with Shaqs coach Palubinskas|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C71rir7ujH0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/C71rir7ujH0 |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|language=lt|website=SportoTV| date=23 July 2013 |accessdate=23 July 2013}}{{cbignore}} Following the Lakers' triumph in the NBA, Palubinskas also received an NBA champion's ring.{{cite web|title=Australijos legenda: lietuvių kilmės genijus, išmokęs mesti baudas Shaquille'ą O'Nealą|url=http://www.15min.lt/24sek/naujiena/lietuva/australijos-legenda-lietuviu-kilmes-genijus-ismokes-mesti-baudas-shaquille-a-o-neala-875-662595|language=lt|website=24sek.lt|accessdate=30 July 2016}} He also worked with Brandon Bass, Dwight Howard,{{cite web|title=Mystery at the charity stripe: What has happened to the free throw?|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2014/03/15/mystery-at-the-charity-stripe-what-has-happened-to-the-free-throw/|website=Chicago Tribune|date=15 March 2014|access-date=27 April 2016}} Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson. He has his own basketball school named The Palubinskas Basketball Academy.{{cite web|title=The Palubinskas Basketball Academy|url=https://www.facebook.com/The-Palubinskas-Basketball-Academy-348431961845822/|website=Facebook.com|accessdate=30 July 2016}} Palubinskas published two instructional video tapes ("Secrets to Perfect Shooting Principles" and "The Shooters' Lab") on shooting technique. In 2004, he published his findings on shooting the basketball in the FIBA Assist Magazine.{{Cite journal|last=Palubinskas|first=Ed|date=2004|title=The Jump Shot|url=https://www.brunoboero.it/documenti/basketball_-_the_jump_shot.pdf|journal=FIBA Assist Magazine|pages=6–11}}

Career highlights

"Mr. Basketball Australia" – 1970
1972 and 1976 All-World Olympic Team
Most points scored in Olympic history (269) – 1976
Guinness book world record- most free throws (18) made in 2 minutes blindfolded in Phoenix AZ. at NBA ALL-Star weekend Guinness World Records 2010: Thousands of New Records in The Book of the Decade!, Craig Glenday, p. 456.
ACT Sport Hall of Fame inductee in 2021{{Cite news|last=Helmers|first=Caden|date=27 November 2021|title=Shaq, shots and Olympic records: Eddie Palubinskas is an Australian basketball trailblazer|work=Canberra Times|url=https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7527087/shaq-shots-and-olympic-records-an-australian-sporting-trailblazer/|access-date=27 November 2021}}

Personal life

Palubinskas was born to a Lithuanian father and a Russian mother.{{cite web|title=Anti-Hack-A-Shaq Coach Palubinskas|url=http://probballreport.com/anti-hack-a-shaq-coach-palubinskas/|publisher=Pro Bball Report|date=25 July 2013|accessdate=4 January 2016}}{{cite web|title=LEGENDS ISSUE: Perfection, at the line and in life, is the goal Ed Palubinskas, the world's greatest free throw shooter, aims for|url=http://tigerrag.com/basketball/legends-issue-perfection-at-the-line-and-in-life-is-the-goal-ed-palubinskas-the-worlds-greatest-free-throw-shooter-aims-for-1|publisher=Tiger Rag Magazine|date=13 July 2015|accessdate=4 January 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906022104/http://www.tigerrag.com/basketball/legends-issue-perfection-at-the-line-and-in-life-is-the-goal-ed-palubinskas-the-worlds-greatest-free-throw-shooter-aims-for-1|archivedate=6 September 2015}} Palubinskas is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.{{cite book |date=1998 |title=Deseret News 1999-2000 Church Almanac |publisher=Deseret News |page=555 |location=Salt Lake City, UT |isbn=1573454915 }}

References

External links

[http://corporate.olympics.com.au/news.cfm?ArticleID=6612 Historical Vignette: Ed Palubinskas, Australia's first basketball great] – Australian Olympic Committee
{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/pa/eddie-palubinskas-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418092704/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/pa/eddie-palubinskas-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-18 |title=Eddie Palubinskas}}

Category:1950 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen

Category:1974 FIBA World Championship players

Category:Atlanta Hawks draft picks

Category:Australian emigrants to the United States

Category:Australian Latter Day Saints

Category:Australian men's basketball coaches

Category:Australian men's basketball players

Category:Australian people of Lithuanian descent

Category:Australian people of Russian descent

Category:Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics