The late Carl Shy was an accomplished basketball player who competed for the 1936 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team at the Berlin Summer Olympics. It was a monumental time as this was the very first U.S. Men’s basketball team ever assembled. Shy, a 27-year-old six-footer who previously played for UCLA, actually earned a place on the 14-man roster at the final tryouts for the team which were held in New York City on March 4 and 5 by the American Olympic Committee. The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal by defeating five different countries, the last of which was Canada in the championship game, 19-8.
During the ‘20s and ‘30s, several companies across the country sponsored amateur basketball squads made up of their own employees to compete in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) sanctioned tournaments. Shy played for Universal Pictures, an American film studio based in Hollywood, California. Universal Pictures sponsored one of the premier amateur basketball teams in the nation. Following graduation from UCLA, Shy went on to play for the Universal Pictures club team with fellow UCLA teammates Sam Balter, Carl Knowles, Don Piper and Frank Lubin. As it turns out, their team wound up winning a national AAU tournament in New York City in the spring of ’36 that allowed them to field half of the 1936 U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball Team. This lot includes several basketball mementos of Shy’s dating all the way back to 1931.
First off, there are three black-and-white, 8 x 10 framed photos of Shy as a member of the Universal Pictures team. The first photo shows him in mid-flight putting up what appears to be a one-handed bank shot. The second photo shows Shy dressed in his Universal Pictures warm-ups holding a basketball underneath his right arm. The third photo is a team shot of the nine-man Universal Pictures club team posing alongside their head coach with a basketball that’s clearly marks “Pac. Coast Champs.”
Secondly, several championship medals that Shy earned along the way are included such as his 1931 AAU award which is a beautifully designed medal that includes raised lettering around the front of that reads: “Amateur Athletic Union of the United States MDCCCLXXXVIII.” On the back of the medal is engraved: “BASKETBALL 1931.” Another medal is a “Southern Pacific Association AAU Championship” award that is engraved on the reverse with “BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 1932 Carl Shy Pasadena majors.” Yet another medal includes raised lettering on the front that reads: “AAU Missouri Valley Association” and is engraved on the back with “Invitation Basketball Tourney K.C. Universal P.A.S. 1935.” A series of four small basketball-designed pendants are included that represent various tournaments in which Shy play from 1932 to 1954. The fourth and final medal in this lot is Shy’s second-place silver medal earned in one of the many AAU-sanctioned qualifiers the Universal Picture team played in on their way traveling to New York City’s Madison Square Garden. This particular medal is engraved on the back: “Men’s Basketball Denver 1936.”
The final piece in this outstanding lot of Carl Shy mementos is a 10-inch tall basketball trophy that he was awarded in 1938 that includes “S.P.A.A.U. CHAMPS” engraved across the base which stands for “Southern Pacific Amateur Athletic Union.”
Includes Letter of Authenticity from the Shy Family.