Hayri Arsebük

Hayri Arsebük — Biography

Hayri Arsebük was one of the Turkish basketball players who came up in the early years of the Republic. He played for Galatasaray from 1932 to 1936 and then represented the Turkish national team at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the first Games at which basketball was an official medal sport. A power forward, he is among the first Turkish players to appear in Olympic basketball.

The Berlin tournament was held from August 7 to 14, 1936. Twenty-three nations entered, Hungary and Spain withdrew, and 21 teams took the court. Matches were played outdoors on lawn and dirt tennis courts, and rain turned the final into a struggle. Turkey dropped into the consolation round after its first game and was eliminated there by Egypt, 33-23. The United States took gold, Canada silver and Mexico bronze, and the medals were handed out by James Naismith, the inventor of the game.

Arsebük was born on February 8, 1915, and died in 1943.