Šarūnas Marčiulionis

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Šarūnas Marčiulionis

Position	Shooting guard
Nickname	Rooney
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg)
Nationality	Lithuania
Born	June 13, 1964 (age 42) Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
Draft	6thround, 127th overall, 1987 Golden State Warriors
Pro career	1981–1997
Former teams	Statyba Vilnius (1981-89) Golden State Warriors (1989–94) Seattle SuperSonics (1994-95) Sacramento Kings (1995-96) Denver Nuggets (1996-97)
Awards	Lithuanian Sportsman of the Year (1987, 1989, 1990, 1991) Eurobasket 1995 MVP

Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball
Gold	1988 Seoul	USSR
Bronze	1992 Barcelona	Lithuania
Bronze	1996 Atlanta	Lithuania

Raimondas Šarūnas Marčiulionis (pronunciation (help·info), born June 13, 1964 in Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union, today Lithuania) is a former basketball player, one of the first Europeans to become a regular in the NBA. Marčiulionis started his basketball career with Statyba Vilnius in the USSR league. In the 1988 Summer Olympics, together with Arvydas Sabonis, he led the USSR to a gold medal in basketball.

Marčiulionis was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in the 6th round of the 1987 NBA Draft. He moved to the NBA in 1989 and played four years for the Warriors, finishing as the runner-up for the NBA Sixth Man Award in 1991 and 1992. Marčiulionis became one of the first Europeans to get significant playing time in the NBA, helping to lead the way for the internationalization of the league in the late 1990s. After missing a year and a half with a leg injury, he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics in 1994, then traded to the Sacramento Kings in 1995, and finished his NBA career with the Denver Nuggets in the 1996-97 season.

Despite a language barrier during his NBA career (Warrior's coach Don Nelson hired his son Donn as an assistant chiefly to serve as an interpreter for Marciulionis), Marciulionis was a devoted teammate and active in the communities he played in. In the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake of 1989, Marciulionis appeared at the site of a commuter train accident wearing his Warriors warmup outfit and helped by pulling out trapped passengers and administering first aid. In addition, his wife, Inga, enrolled at Whittier College, walked on to their women's basketball team and was a star player for two seasons.

Following the restoration of Lithuanian independence in 1990, Marčiulionis almost single-handedly resurrected the Lithuanian national team. He contacted prospective players, encouraged several to join, selected the uniforms, negotiated a shoe deal, and arranged for sponsorships. One notable sponsor was The Grateful Dead; the band had one of its licensees design the distinctive warm-up outfits the team wore that Olympics. The outfits were a tie-dyed design in Lithuania's national colors of green, yellow, and red, with a version of the band's logo and "LIETUVA" (the country's name in its own language) on the front. The team went on to win a bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Marčiulionis was again a bronze medalist with Lithuania in the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 1995, he was named the Most Valuable Player in the European Championship, leading Lithuania to a silver medal. In 1987, 1989, 1990, and 1991 he was voted as the best sportsman in Lithuania.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, Marčiulionis opened the Šarūnas Hotel in Vilnius. In 1993, he founded the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and became its president. In 1999, Marčiulionis founded North European Basketball League (NEBL) and became its commissioner. The NEBL would later be absorbed into today's Baltic Basketball League. He is as of 2007 one of the most successful businessmen in Lithuania.^{[citation needed]}