Alexander Belov

Alexander Belov

Personal information
Born	(1951-11-09)9 November 1951 Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	3 October 1978(1978-10-03) (aged 26) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Career information
NBA draft	1975 / Round: 10 / Pick: 161st overall
Selected by the New Orleans Jazz
Playing career	1967–1978
Position	Center
Number	14
Career history
1967–1978	Spartak Leningrad (Soviet Union)
Medals Men's Basketball Representing the  Soviet Union Summer Olympic Games 1972 Munich National Team 1976 Montreal National Team FIBA World Cup 1974 Puerto Rico National Team 1970 Ljubljana National Team FIBA EuroBasket 1969 Italy National Team 1971 West Germany National Team 1975 Yugoslavia National Team

Alexander Alexandrovich Belov (Александр Александрович Белов) (November 9, 1951 – October 3, 1978) was a Soviet basketball player who won the gold medal with the senior Soviet Union national basketball team at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, scoring the game-winning basket in the gold medal game. Belov died from a very rare disease – cardiac sarcoma, in 1978, at the age of 26. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. He was enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.

Born in Leningrad, Belov was the star player of Spartak Leningrad, leading the club to the Soviet Union League title in 1975, and to three European-wide 2nd-tier level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup finals, in 1971, 1973, and 1975, winning the last two. In 2016, the club was renamed to BC Kondrashin Belov, in his honor.

In the tenth round of the 1975 NBA draft, the New Orleans Jazz selected Belov with the 161st pick of the draft, like the vast majority of Soviet players drafted into North American sports leagues, he would never end up playing for the team that drafted him. It would not be until 1989, that the first Soviet player, Lithuanian born Šarūnas Marčiulionis, would play in the NBA.

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