1936 United States men's Olympic basketball team

The 1936 United States men's Olympic basketball team competed in the Games of the XI Olympiad in Berlin, representing the United States of America, and was coached by Jimmy Needles of the Amateur Athletic Union's Universal Pictures team. 1936 was the first year that basketball was an official medal sport (it had been a demonstration sport in 1904). The U.S. won the first gold medal, defeating Canada 19–8 in a gold medal match played outdoors on a clay and sand court in the rain.

As was the custom at the time, the Olympic trials consisted of a tournament between top teams from the Amateur Athletic Union, the YMCA and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. One notably absent team from the tournament was the 1935–36 Long Island Blackbirds, who had just completed a 25–0 season behind stars Jules Bender, Ben Kramer and Art Hillhouse. The largely Jewish Blackbirds team boycotted the trials due to the games being held in Berlin. LIU president Tristram Walker Metcalfe stated: "Our conviction that the United States should not participate in the Olympic Games since they are being held in Germany has not been altered by the fact that our basketball team is now recognized generally as a possible Olympic representative. Such participation would be indirect, if not direct, contribution of the raising of funds to finance such participation."

As the U.S. team arrived, they were made aware of several FIBA rules that were quite different than what the team was accustomed to in the States. The three second rule had been abolished, limited teams to seven total players, and designated outdoor facilities as the official playing surface. Needles successfully protested another stipulation - that players had to be 6'2" or shorter to compete. To get around the seven player team limit, Needles split the squad into two teams - one featuring the McPherson players and collegian Ralph Bishop and one featuring the Universal players - and alternated them for each match.

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