Helmut Uhlig

Point Guard Helmut Uhlig was born in Halle in East Germany, but defected to West Germany in 1963 after a European Cup match with his club Chemie Halle in Lausanne Switzerland. He was the only German basketball player who took part in the European Championships for both East Germany (sixth in 1963) and West Germany (ninth in 1971). In East Germany he played with SC Chemie Halle from 1956-63, while in West Germany Uhlig played with VfL Osnabrück in 1964-69 and 1971-74, won the national basketball cup in 1967, and a German Championship in 1969. From 1969-71 he played with USC München.

In 1972 he was on the West German basketball team at the 1972 München Olympics. The team lost both the classification match for the places 9-12 against Australia by one point only (70-69), and also the final match for place 11 against Spain (84-83). After his active career Uhlig started a coaching career with TSV Quakenbrück (now Artland Dragons). His brother Dr. Volker Uhlig became Vice-President of the German Basketball Federation DBB after German reunification.