TBL History and Statistics

[Levenspiel]

another awesome find from @basketci5 on twitter, and "spor tarihimiz" on FB.

1986 Challenge Cup NT;



from left to right:
- Aydan Siyavus (coach), 14-Lutfi Aribogan, 6-(Magara) Levent Senol, 9-Emir, 15-Tamer Oyguc, 5-Cihat Levent, 13-Efe Aydan, 10-Erman Kunter
- 8-Taner, 11-Mehmet Ali Tlabar, 7-Ali (Alico) Limoncuoglu, 12-Omer Buyukaycan, 4-Levent Topsakal

[Levenspiel]

quoting from our dear asdf/critter out on a walk. Too bad he's not active any more.

Omer Buyukaycan(1966) was one of the most talented Turkish basketballers of all time. He was around 194-195 at the age of 15 and was raised as a sg/sf, but then grew 10 cm. in one year and all of a sudden, found himself playing the power forward position. He ended up standing 208-209 cm.-tall. He had the quickness and athleticism of a sg, the fundamentals of a sg+sf+pf+c, a great shooting touch and a very high basketball IQ. Unfortunately, he was extremely lazy and had an indifferent personality. Hence, the failure to live up to expectations.

p.s. In 1997, he joined a weird religious sect and retired from basketball. He resumed playing in 1998 for a short duration, then retired again. This time for good.

His website is: http://www.omeraycan.com
His picture: http://www.omeraycan.com/kimdir.htm (the one on the right)

One more player who deserves to have his name mentioned in the list is Hakan Yorükoglu(1967-194). He was a combo-guard who played for Efes Pilsen, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray among other teams. He was a very athletic and strong player, had a nearly unstoppable good mid-range shot, was quite good in one-on-one and a good penetrator. Moreover, he was a good rebounder for a guard and was one of the better defenders in the Turkish league depite spending much effort in offense. Unfortunately, during most of his career, Turkish basketball was sorely lacking organization, good coaching, money and professionalism. Therefore, his chances of realizing his true potential was very limited.

Among contemporary players, Beno Udrih resembles him most.

A bit of gossip: He used to be married to Zeynepgül Onay. Then they divorced and soon after, Zeynepgül Yorükoglu became Zeynepgül Ene, Orhun Ene's wife. From what I can recall, he never was his former self neither on nor on the court after that incident. To be honest, from what I deducted from his interviews, he appeared to be a very hot-tempered man with an unbalanced personality. I think the only picture I found of him concurs my thought:

http://basketbol.tblstat.net/pd.asp?p=655

I'll write about Levent Topsakal and perhaps some other basketballers when I find the time and opportunity.

[Levenspiel]

A very interesting story about Huseyin Alp.

http://www.bsl.org.tr/bsl/detail/2017/01/12/tbt-basketbolun-unutulmaz-devi-h%C3%BCseyin-alp

below is a fast translation.

The unforgettable giant of Turkish basketball

I hadn't heard about basketball in my life...

Huseyin Alp, born in 1935 in Kangal, Sivas, was a farmer in his village until he was discovered by a Milliyet journalist in October 1962. Upon seeing the story in newspaper, the representatives of ITU sports club promptly go to Sivas, as there was no 2.15m tall basketball player in country at the time and having one could be great advantage. They convince Alp to come to Istanbul, but the 2.15m giant is hesitant and keeps saying "I am not good at sports, I haven't heard of this word basketball in my life, I'm 28 years old, let me return to my village..."

He sees the basketball for the first time in ITU sports hall, in 1962. He starts to practice shooting and free throws with coach Yalcin Granit. He makes his debut in Dec 1962 against Kadikoyspor, scoring 7 points in 16 minutes. Huseyin had never got along well with the referees, and he fouled out in many games. He always complained about unseen fouls done to him "Opponent players used to hang from my arms".

On Sep 16, 1966, Alp moves to Altinordu after an eventful process. He completes the season as the scoring leader of the league with 552 points, and Altinordu becomes the first ever champion of official Turkish basketball league. Altinordu beats Galatasaray 60-48 in Izmir, and "brings basketball to Anatolia". The crowd was ecstatic with joy, especially when the 80m-tall mascot of the team, Ahmet, carried Alp's towel on a stick. Later that year, Altinordu also beat the cup champion Fenerbahce 80-72.

Alp returns to ITU in Aug 1967, accepting a 45000 TL salary (compared to 35000 TL from Altinordu), and leads ITU to their first TBL title. His teammates Kemal Erdenay, Resat Guney, and Cihat Ilkbasaran were also the core of the national team.

hüseyin-alp-millii.jpg

In July 1968, Alp considers going back to Sivas and leading his hometown's basketball team, but later changes his mind and goes back to Altinordu. Alp's second stint in Izmir is not a success, and he goes back again to ITU for the 1969-70 season. These are the years of stability and continuous titles for Alp.

Yalcin Granit on Alp prior to EuroBasket qualifications in Budapest in 1969 "He is unstoppable when he's in court. One of the best centers in Europe. He is our biggest asset and if used properly, he can win big games for us." Alp gathered lots of attention from Hungarian spectators and reporters in Budapest.

During the 1972-73 season, Alp decides to retire from the sport he started too late. His legs were weaker for his upper body and was slowly bothering him. At the end of the season, Alp crowns his career with a final league title. However, ITU managers insist for another season. With four star players from their champion squad called up for the army, and two transferred elsewhere, ITU risks relegation. Alp agrees to stay around for another year and keeps ITU in the league with multiple 40-point games.

hüseyin-alp-milli-takım.jpg


The jubilee game was played in Mar 22nd, 1974 in front of a fully packed arena. His ex-teammates Erdenay, Guney, Gunduz, and Ilkbasaran also play in this game with special permission from their duty in the army. Huseyin Alp scored 16 points. At the end of the day, when asked about his feelings, Alp, true to his roots, says "leaving basketball makes me feel dry like mill without water". When asked about his most unforgettable memory of his 12-year career, Alp shares "We were in Sofia for the Balkan Games. I got sick on the way to Sofia and could not leave the bed for a long time. Just when I could walk, I took the service elevator to my room, but it broke down. The elevator was tiny, for two people, and we were three inside. I was already not in the best mood due to my illness. I don't remember how long we stayed there, but I swore to not take elevators any more". Alp also shares memories in his book "13 years under the basket".

001877.jpg

During his career, in 70s, Alp acted in several movies, mainly playing "giant" roles, but sometimes also in others, such as his successful portrayal of the mafia boss, Besir. So much that following the movie, people start calling him "Baba" (mafia boss) in real life too. His opinions about the film industry, however, was not pleasant: "I have had roles in 3 movies so far. They come, we agree, you start working, you finish, but they do not pay you as they promised. For the last movie, we had a deal for 1000 TL/day for 15 days, but they made me do 15-day worth of work in a single day and sent me out..."

huseyinalp3.jpg huseyin-alp_569303.jpg

Huseyin Alp was an attraction also in the streets. Emin Kemal Ozer, an ex-bball player of the same era, shares a memory "I was walking to Taksim from Galatasaray when I noticed a crowd in the front, a head sticking out in the middle. Crowd was jumping around him, mocking him, really unpleasant scene... I approached and he recognized me. We left together to the arena, and I asked over a couple of glasses of tea - what was going on? he said I was drinking a bottle of soda, and it looked so small in my hands, people started to order more to tea and soda to see me holding them and to laugh. - looking at the tea glasses and bottles, I could see he could not grasp the bottle and had to hold with two fingers."

When he moved to Istanbul, he had left his wife and 1.5 year old son in Sivas. Later on, he brought them to Istanbul and had 4 more children. Basketball was not an money-making job in those days, and Alp had to do second jobs all time, from running a grocery shop to acting in movies and TV commercials. With the money collected from his jubilee game, he planned to start a business and secure the future of his children. But he donated some of this money to Turkish Air Force foundation.

Alp died at the age 48 from cancer, not shown much attention by the bball world of the time. On the anniversary of his death, there were fewer than 5 people beside his grave. the first giant of the Turkish basketball was fast forgotten. Now his name lives on the title of the "Kagithane Huseyin Alp Sports Club". He deserved more.

Adem Çatalkaş
BSL Medya
Jan 12, 2017

[Jazz]

Thanks for posting this!

Very interesting story and very sad that he was overlooked and not given proper respect while he was alive.
Seems like basketball has become rather more lucrative since then as well!

[Levenspiel]

Thanks for posting this!

Very interesting story and very sad that he was overlooked and not given proper respect while he was alive.
Seems like basketball has become rather more lucrative since then as well!

thank you for reading it. Yeah, Alp apparently had 6 titles in the first 7 seasons of the TBL, and I had only heard of his name once or twice, no idea about his story. Playing bball definitely has become a lot more lucrative now, as you know, with million dollar training contracts.

PS. i gotta fix those blank posts, with lost pictures.

[usagre]

Great thread. Learned a lot. Very surprising to learn that basically from 1981-2008 Galatasaray and Fenerbahce were about equal in success. What a difference in the last 10 years.