The 1960 U.S. Olympic basketball team was dominating and is considered by many to be the greatest basketball team ever assembled.

In winning gold in Rome, Italy, the U.S. squad won each of its eight games, including a dominating 81-57 victory over the USSR. The U.S. team defeated its opponents by an average margin of victory of 42.4 points a game.

This summer the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Denver Post reporter Irv Moss recently wrote an insightful feature on Burdette Haldorson, a 6-7 forward who was a two-time Olympic gold medalist (1956 and 1960) and a Pan American Games gold medalist (1959). All told, U.S. teams with Haldorson a member went a combined 22-0.

Burdie Haldorson, CU's two-time basketball Olympic gold medalist

By Irv Moss

1960 U.S. Olympic Team

The Denver Post

 

All Burdette 'Burdie' Haldorson had to do was mention Luckett-Nix to sharpen the focus on a six-year span in his basketball career that made him one of Colorado's favorite sons in the sport.

Luckett-Nix was a Cinderella team in the 1955 national AAU basketball tournament. Its lineup included Haldorson and some of his University of Colorado teammates who had just finished third in the NCAA Tournament, CU's second trip to the Final Four.

The Buffaloes lost 62-50 in the NCAA semifinals to eventual champion San Francisco, led by Bill Russell, then defeated Iowa 75-54 to earn third.

Luckett-Nix represented the names of two Boulder businessmen who sponsored entry into the AAU tournament. Fans from throughout the country streamed into Denver to watch the week-long event.

 

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