The European North Basketball league is happy to announce another team from Poland – MKS Start Lublin.
Miejski Klub Sportowy START SA Lublin is a men’s basketball team established in 1953. It will mark a 70 year anniversary in 2023.
Start has four podium finishes in the Polish Basketball League (Polska Liga Koszykówki since 1997, also Energa Basket League).
Zdzisław Niedziela was a coach of Start from 1960 until 1980 and led the team to the Poland`s top league.
Lublin team earned three bronze medals in 1965, 1979 and 1980.
The bronze 1970s were highlighted by extraordinary events.
Start Lublin became the first team behind the Iron Curtain (1946-1989) to sign a professional American player.
Kent “Nut” Washington, a starting point guard for the New Rochelle High, was good enough to get a four year scholarship to NCAA Division II Southampton College (1974-1978, a school since absorbed by Stony Brook).
He got drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers and represented them in the 1978 NBA summer league.
A few months later Washington joined the Lublin team, becoming the first black player in the history of Polish sports leagues.
Washington represented Start for three years (1978-1981) and was recognized as the best basketball player of the Polish league in 1980.
Kent also led Zaglebie Sosnowiec to the Polish Cup triumph (1983).
Start was relegated in 1981, returned to the PLK and got relegated again to return in 2014.
Lublin team received silver medals in 2020, trailing only to Enea Zastal BC Zielona Gora.
Lublin is the city with rich history, indeed.
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