László Hódy

László Hódy started his basketball career in the colors of Szegedi Postás. Then, after moving to Munkaerőtartalékok SE, he became a player of the Bp. Honvéd. In 1952, at the age of 18, he finished in ninth place at the Helsinki Olympics with the national team, then in 1953 he won a silver medal at the European Championship, and in 1954 he became the college world champion in Budapest. In the 1955 European Championship in Budapest, he played outstandingly in the key match against the defending champions, the Soviet Union: he scored twenty points in the 82-68 win at the Népstadion.

His brother, János Hódy, was also a member of the European champion team. Despite the great success, the management did not support the team’s participation in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. At the end of 1956, László Hódy left the country with several friends and his fiancee, later his wife, and later they headed for Australia.

Far from Hungary, he did not break away from basketball: he became a multiple Australian champion with the Adelaide Budapest team. In 1964, Hódy participated in the Tokyo Olympics with the Australian national team. He was the first basketball player to play for two countries at the Olympic games. Hódy, known and respected in his new homeland as Les, finished his sports career in 1972. In 1989, he was voted the best Australian basketball player of all time. In 2012, he became one of the immortals of Hungarian basketball.