Helmut Uhlig

Helmut Uhlig (11 November 1942 to 22 July 2014) was a German point guard who played basketball in both halves of divided Germany. Born in Halle, in East Germany, he played for SC Chemie Halle from 1956 to 1963 and took part in the 1963 European Championships for East Germany, where the team finished sixth. He defected to West Germany in 1963 after a European Cup match with his club in Lausanne, Switzerland, and then played for VfL Osnabrück in 1964 to 1969 and 1971 to 1974, winning the national cup in 1967 and the German Championship in 1969, with a spell at USC München from 1969 to 1971. Olympedia describes him as the only German basketball player who took part in the European Championships for both East Germany and West Germany; he was in the West German side that finished ninth in 1971. At the 1972 Munich Olympics West Germany lost its classification match for places 9 to 12 against Australia by one point, 70-69, and then the match for eleventh place against Spain, 84-83. After his playing career he coached TSV Quakenbrück, now the Artland Dragons.