Oscar Schmidt

Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt (born February 16, 1958), nicknamed Mão Santa (Holy Hand), is a retired Brazilian professional basketball player.

Schmidt primarily played the power forward and small forward position, was 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) tall and weighed 109 kg (240 lbs).

Along with his home country, Schmidt also played in Italy for JuveCaserta and Pavia, and Spain for Fórum Valladolid.

He was born in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.

He is considered to be the all-time leading scorer in the history of basketball, with 49,737 career points scored (pro club league play, plus senior Brazilian national team play combined).

He is the record holder for the longest career span of a professional basketball player at 29 years.

He is also the top scorer in the history of the Summer Olympic Games, and the top scorer in the history of the FIBA World Cup.

Schmidt began his professional club career in 1974, at the age of 16, with the Brazilian Championship club S.E. Palmeiras.

As a member of Palmeiras, he won the São Paulo State Championship in 1974, and the Brazilian Championship in 1977.

In 1978, he moved to the Brazilian club E.C. Sírio.

As a member of Sírio, Schmidt won the São Paulo State Championship in both 1978 and 1979, and the Brazilian Championship in 1979.

With Sírio, he also won the South American Club Championship, and the FIBA Intercontinental Cup title in 1979.

He scored 42 points in the 1979 FIBA Intercontinental Cup's Final against the Yugoslav First Federal League club Bosna Sarajevo.

Schmidt was the top scorer of the Brazilian Championship in both 1979 and 1980.

In 1982, Schmidt joined the Brazilian club América do Rio.

However, he only stayed with the club for a brief amount of time.

For the 1982–83 season, Schmidt joined the Italian 2nd Division club JuveCaserta.

With JuveCaserta, he played in the first division level Italian League, for the first time in the 1983–84 season.

That same season, Schmidt played in a Pan-European club competition for the first time, as he also played in Europe's third-tier level FIBA Korać Cup's 1983–84 season.

Schmidt led the Italian top division in scoring six times, while he was a member of JuveCaserta (1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1988–89, and 1989–90 seasons).

JuveCaserta eventually retired Schmidt's #18 jersey.

Schmidt played in Europe's 2nd-tier level competition, the FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup (later renamed to FIBA Saporta Cup), for the first time, in the 1984–85 season.

With JuveCaserta, he won the Italian Cup title in 1988.

In the European-wide secondary level 1988–89 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup's Final, Schmidt scored 44 points against the Spanish club Real Madrid.

However, Real Madrid's star player Dražen Petrović, scored 62 points in the same game, and JuveCaserta lost the game, by a score of 117–113.

In 1990, Schmidt joined the Italian 2nd Division club Pavia.

With Pavia, Schmidt led the Italian 2nd Division in scoring, in both the 1990–91 and 1992–93 seasons.

He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991.

With Pavia, he also led the first division Italian League in scoring, during the 1991–92 season.

He was also a member of the FIBA European Selection in 1991.

As a member of Pavia, Schmidt also had his highest scoring single game in the top division Italian League, as he scored 66 points in a 1991–92 season game versus Auxilium Torino, on 30 November 1991.

Pavia eventually retired his #11 jersey.

While playing club basketball in Italy, Schmidt earned a fan in future NBA star Kobe Bryant.

He received the Olympic Order in 1997.

On August 20, 2010, Schmidt became a FIBA Hall of Fame player, in recognition of his play in international competitions.

On September 8, 2013, Schmidt was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

He was inducted into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.

Schmidt played youth club basketball in the youth systems of S.E. Palmeiras and Mackenzie College.

With Palmeiras' youth teams, he scored 2,114 points in 85 games, for a scoring average of 24.9 points per game.

With Mackenzie's youth teams, he scored 1,332 points in 36 games, for a scoring average of 37.0 points per game.