Oscar Schmidt
Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt, nicknamed Mão Santa, is a Brazilian retired professional basketball player. Schmidt primarily played the power forward and small forward position, was 2.06 m tall and weighed 109 kg. 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 was considered to be the all-time leading scorer in the history of basketball, with 49,973 career points scored, until LeBron James broke this record on April 2, 2024. 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.
He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. 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.
Youth club career
Schmidt played youth club basketball in the youth systems of S.E. Palmeiras and Mackenzie College. With Palmeiras's 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.Professional career
Brazil
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 under coach Cláudio Mortari who signed him. As a member of Sírio, Schmidt won the São Paulo State Championship in both 1978 and 1979, and the Brazilian Championship in 1979. He scored 40 points in the 1979 final and help Sirio win the title against Francana. 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.
JuveCaserta
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 being the leading scorer of the Serie A with 955 points in 34 games. 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 played in Europe's 2nd-tier level competition, the FIBA European Cup Winners' 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.
Schmidt led the Italian top division in scoring six times, while he was a member of JuveCaserta. JuveCaserta eventually retired Schmidt's #18 jersey.
Pavia
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. With Pavia, he also led the first division Italian League in scoring, during the 1991–92 season scoring 1760 pts in 40 games. 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. At that time, Bryant was a young child that was living in Italy, while his father, Joe Bryant, played professional basketball in the country. Bryant called Schmidt one of his childhood idols, and also stated that Schmidt could have been one of the greatest players in the NBA, if he had played in the league.
Overall during his club career in Italy, Schmidt was the Top Scorer of the Italian First Division seven times. In 2017, Schmidt was inducted into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame.
Valladolid
In 1993, Schmidt joined the Spanish ACB League club Valladolid. With Valladolid, Schmidt was the Spanish league's top scorer in the 1993–94 season, with a scoring average of 33.3 points per game, in 33 games played. On 19 March 1994, Schmidt made 11 3-point field goals, in a Spanish League game against Murcia.Schmidt also spent the 1994–95 season with Valladolid. In that season, he averaged 24.0 points per game, in 38 games played. His single-game scoring high in the Spanish League, was in a game that season versus Málaga, in which he scored 47 points, and made all 8 of his 3-point field goal attempts.
In two seasons in the Spanish ACB, Schmidt scored a total of 2,009 points in 71 games played, for a scoring average of 28.3 points per game.
Return to Brazil
Corinthians and Bandeirantes
Schmidt returned to his native Brazil in September 1995, after 13 years in Europe, to once again play in the Brazilian Basketball Championship. His debut came on 12 September 1995 in the São Paulo State Championship scoring 47 points for S.C. Corinthians Paulista against Bozzano/Jales. He was a member of S.C. Corinthians Paulista, from 1995 to 1997. He then signed for Grêmio Barueri Bandeirantes / Mackenzie under coach Marcel de Souza a former teammate in the national team. He played there, from 1997 to 1999, and he consequently finished his club career with C.R. Flamengo, where he played from 1999 to 2003.With Corinthians Paulista, he won the Brazilian Championship in 1996. He was the second scorer in the 1996 São Paulo State Championship averaging 32.2 points and the topscorer in 1997 with 41.9 points per game. During the 1997 National championship he would surpass the mark of 40,000 career points after scoring 41 in a game against Barueri/Bandeirantes.
As a member of Grêmio Barueri Bandeirantes, he won the São Paulo State Championship in 1998, averaging 33.3 points. It was the first in the club's history while Oscar became a Paulista champion again, after 19 years. With Grêmio Barueri Bandeirantes, Schmidt, at the age of 39, scored 74 points in a São Paulo State Championship game on 28 November 1997.
Flamengo
On September 8, 1999 he debuted for Flamengo in a comfortable victory over Municipal and got a standing ovation by the fans. On December 1, 1999, with a free throw, he reached the historic mark of 43,000 career points. On November 30, 2000, he reached 45,000 career points during the Flamengo-Botafogo game in the Rio de Janeiro State Championship.As a member of Flamengo, he won the Rio de Janeiro State Championship in 1999 being the top scorer with 647 pts. He also led Flamengo to the National Finals finishing runners-up, a distinction that the club never had before 1999. Two years later, on April 8, 2001 he came a step closer to become basketball's leading scorer, after he scored 34 pts in the Flamengo-Fluminense match for the National league and he reached 46,014 career points.
On October 27, 2001, he scored 44 pts in the Flamengo-Fluminense match for the RJ State Championship and he finally surpassed the mark of 46.725 pts scored by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becoming basketball's all-timescorer. Oscar had announced that he would retire on 16 May 2002, but a week after a controversial match in which COC/Ribeirao Preto coached by Lula Ferreira eliminated Flamengo in the National Championship quarterfinals with Oscar being expelled by the referee, he took it back admitting to the press that he would play for one more year. Eventuatlly, at the end of 2002 Schmidt helped Flamengo win the Rio de Janeiro State Championship.
Schmidt was the Brazilian Championship's top scorer in each of his last eight seasons playing in the competition. That was in addition to the two times that he had previously led the same competition in scoring, in 1979 and 1980.
Schmidt retired from his club basketball playing career on May 26, 2003, at the age of 45, opting not to play in the upcoming Rio de Janeiro State Championship. His final game was against COC/Ribeirão on May 21, 2003. Flamengo then eventually retired his #14 jersey. Up to that day he had scored 49,703 points, then a world record though it was not recognised by FIBA officially.
During his club playing career, Oscar scored a total of 42,044 points, in 1,289 games played, for a career scoring average of 32.6 points per game. He also scored a total of 236 points in All-Star Games. However, those totals do not include all of the games that he played in during his pro club career, as the data for some of the national cup games, Pan-European games, and all-star games that he played in Europe are not available.