By JIMMIE TRAMEL Sports Writer on Jul 22, 2012, at 2:52 PM Updated on 7/22 at 2:52 PM
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I’ve got a story in today’s Tulsa World regarding the 40th anniversary of the controversial 1972 Olympic gold medal basketball game between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Blessed with more restarts than a NASCAR race, the Soviets made a last-second basket to deal the U.S. its first loss in Olympic hoops competition, ending a 63-game red, white and blue winning streak.
But, of course, the infamous basketball game wasn’t the most tragic thing to happen at the Munich Olympics.
On Sept. 5, 1972, a militant group killed two members of the Israeli Olympic delegation and abducted nine other Israelis. The West German government attempted to rescue the hostages at the airport one day later. All nine Israelis (and five of the terrorists) died during the attempt.
Speaking in a somber tone, ABC’s Jim McKay chilled television viewers when he relayed the news by saying this: “They’re all gone.”
Enid’s Don Haskins, a former Oklahoma State basketball player and a longtime Texas-El Paso coach, was an assistant coach for the 1972 U.S. Olympic basketball team.
After returning from Munich, Haskins told the Tulsa World he was impacted (how could you not be?) by the sight of looking out a window and seeing the Israelis, blindfolded and chained together, being escorted out of the Olympic village and taken to helicopters so they could be transported to the airport by their abductors.
Said Haskins: “I could hear the Israelis sobbing.”
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