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In May’s hometown of Sandusky, the Scott May Courts are named in his honor at Jaycee Park.

Walt Bellamy, 1958.

IU Archives.

Walt Bellamy

1960

Hoops Hall-of-Famer (Twice)

BEFORE BASKETBALL’S DREAM TEAM WAS ASSEMBLED FOR THE 1992 OLYMPIC Games, there was an original version.

“This was the authentic Dream Team,” Walt Bellamy once said of his 1960 Olympians. “I’d like to think that we were the best team that has ever played basketball.”

Before pros were allowed in the Olympics, the six-foot-eleven Indiana center was a starter on a team of college and amateur players that crushed all opposition in Rome. The Americans won the gold medal, outscoring eight teams by an average of 102–59.5. Indeed, the United States won by a cumulative 339 points, nearly as big as the 1992 margin (350).

The 1960 team, coached by Pete Newell, featured four members of the Naismith Hall of Fame—Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Jerry Lucas, Bellamy—plus future NBA stars such as Terry Dischinger, Darrall Imhoff, and Bob Boozer. Robertson and West each averaged 17 points a game, and Bellamy averaged 8.1.