Aug. 14, 1936

During the first Olympic men's basketball tournament, the International Basketball Federation approved a rule in which all players over 6-foot-3 would be banned from play. The rule was withdrawn after the United States, which would have lost three players, objected.

One of those players is "College Joe" Fortenberry, a 6-foot-8 center who scores a game-high eight points in leading the U.S. to an 19-8 victory over Canada in today's final. Fortenberry is one of four U.S. players from McPherson, Kan. The four account for 17 points.

The teams play in a sea of mud in Berlin as the game is played outdoors in a tennis stadium on courts of clay and sand. The U.S. leads 15-4 at halftime, but in the second half, played in a blinding rain, each team scores only four points.

The U.S. will win the next six gold medals as well and stretch its Olympic winning streak to 62 games until it is beaten in a controversial final to the Soviet Union in 1972.