CHRISTIAN WELP - 101 Greats of European Basketball

A double
Euro-champ
Every player dreams of an important game
with a close score being decided by his basket
in the last seconds. Many dream about
it, but few can say they actually lived that
kind of experience. Christian Welp – who
was born on January 2, 1964, in Delmenhorst,
Germany and passed away on March 1, 2015, in
Seattle, Washington – was one of them. He scored the
most important points of his career during EuroBasket
1993 in his native Germany.
The opponent in the title game was Russia, the big
favorite against a German team that had already made
a surprise run by reaching that final. However, the
hosts wanted more. Down the stretch, the Russians led
63-68, but soon the score was tied at 68-68. A foul by
Michael Jackel over Sergei Babkov allowed the Russians
to jump ahead again, 68-70. German coach Svetislav
Pesic called for a play for Welp. Kai Nurnberger crossed
the halfcourt line, held on to the ball for a few more
seconds and passed to Welp. He was rather far away
from the rim for a player of his size, 2.13 meters, but
Welp was one of those big men who could connect from
anywhere. He hit a perfect shot worth two points, but
it came with a bonus as Mikhail Mikhailov fouled him.
It was a possible three-point play, but the free throw
had to go in first. More than 12,000 fans who packed
the Olympic Pavillion in Munich – which had been the
stage of the infamous three final seconds of the 1972
Olympics final between the USA and the USSR – were
on the brink of a nervous breakdown two decades later.
The score was now 70-70 and three seconds were left
in this game, as well, and their best player was on the
foul line. Keeping a cool head, Welp downed the shot
that made Germany the European champ.
It was one of the biggest upsets ever at EuroBasket.
Pesic, the German national head coach then, told me a
few stories about Welp.
“He was, without a doubt, one of the best centers I
ever coached in my career”, Pesic said. “He had everything
a big man should have: a steady hand, rebounds,
good passing, a sense for the game. He was the complete
package and I am sure he was among the best
pure centers in the world.”
About that famous last play against Russia:
“You don’t have to be a great coach to know that the
decisive shot must be taken by your best man. And our
best man was Christian, a game winner. The plan was
simple: getting the ball to the other side and wait for the
right moment to give him the ball. The rest is history...”
That wasn’t the only masterpiece by Welp at that
tournament. In the quarterfinals against Spain, with a
few minutes to go, the Spaniards were dominating 64-
70, but the hosts came back to tie 72-72 on a bucket
by Welp. When overtime was almost over, the score
showed 77-77, but Welp buried Spain’s hopes with a
basket at the buzzer that sent Germany into euphoria
– and the semifinals.
Sabonis, Petrovic, Welp...
Most biographies about Christian Welp start with
his studies in the United States. First at East Bremerton
high school and later at Washington University, but it
is also true that when Welp landed in the States at 17
years old, most of his talent was already in plain sight.
101 greats of european basketball
Christian Welp
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