Basketball On The Internet.

LES Hody, the first man to represent two different countries in Olympic Games basketball, had to flee for his life during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.

Fortunately he found his way to Australia and finally, more than half a century later, has penned a biography of his life's amazing journey.

The youngest player on the Hungarian team which contested the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki - at a time when basketball still was in its infancy in Australia - 12 years later he ran out onto the floor in Tokyo as an Aussie Boomer.

His journey is an extraordinary one and has prompted an autobiography which captures not only Les' story but also the state of the world in the post-World War II years, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the impact and implications his escape from the country would have on his family.

“I am not the only person to have had an extraordinary life and understand that only some put pen to paper,” Les said.

“My motivation however, is not self-promotion. This is an insight into the history of my life, for my family, friends and the Hungarian and Australian people.

“I hope it will give a little insight into the life of Laszlo, the child, young athlete, escapee, immigrant and dual Olympian.”

Les had helped start the Budapest basketball club in Adelaide, which went on to play in three consecutive South Australian Championship Grand Finals.

In 1961 and 62, Budapest beat A.S.K. - the powerful Latvian-migrant based local club - in the Grand Finals, losing the title in 1963 to South Adelaide.

A.S.K. eventually became part of what today is Southern Tigers while Budapest merged with Norwood, winning the SA Summer Championship in 1967 before assimilation made the club part of the Flames' rich history.

I came from a tall Hungarian migrant family and with six brothers and a sister, we were directed toward basketball by a family friend and mentor Alajois Ugody.

Migrant communities in Australia, displaced by wars and turmoil in their homelands, had an interesting philosophy which seems to differ from today's migrants.

The Europeans built or bought club houses and created sporting teams and cultural societies so they could retain their heritage and foster it in their next generations. It mostly was a weekend revisit of who they were.

The rest of the week was spent assimilating, becoming and embracing being Australian, thankful and grateful for the opportunities this great country afforded them.

It was the birth of multiculturalism, this influx of migrants about helping the further evolution of an Australian culture.

Not sure that's how it is with many of today's more recent arrivals but that's an issue for a different forum.

Ugody directed the Nagys toward basketball and that's where my eldest brothers met Les, already rightly a legend in the sport and now so on two continents.

He quickly became a close friend of the family.

(At a New Year's Eve ball at the Hungarian club, one of my cheekier brothers asked Les' first wife Vera to dance. Vera was very aware of how attractive she was and haughtily told my teenage brother she "didn't dance with a baby". He bowed graciously and apologised, saying he understood but had no idea she was pregnant.)

Les and his brother John had a huge influence on how the game was played, not only in SA but also Victoria, where John eventually moved.

So did Les - he still lives in Melbourne with his wife Eva and daughter Adrianna - though he also had a playing stint with West Torrens (now Forestville) during a return to Adelaide.

Our own legends, men as diverse as Ken Cole and Lindsay Gaze, were influenced by the Hody brothers.

Les' book, 'Not an Ordinary Life' is due for publication in November - that's the cover painting above by Laszlo Vinkler of Les in the foreground with his brother John - and its advance already has won the following reviews.

“I am grateful for the work Les Hody has put in to write his biography. He dedicates much of his story to his basketball experiences, but the way in which he recounts life in Hungary during those dreadful years of his youth and the way in which he describes his family, his business ventures, his love for his brother John and his conversion to Christianity, is a story that could easily be attracted to a Hollywood film maker. It is a story that despite the odds has a happy ending.”

Lindsay Gaze OAM Seven time Australian Olympian player and coach Australian Basketball legend, member of FIBA International ‘Hall of Fame’

‘Not an Ordinary Life’ is packed full of vivid anecdotes, some funny and uplifting, others brutal and sad, spanning eighty years of Les Hody’s life. By taking risks and never looking back he has certainly lived an extraordinary life.

Melanie Zuben, Author

“A compelling and adventurous story that unfolds in Hungary, a country caught up in the frightening political and social issues of the 40s and 50s. Les’ early family life was one of privilege and success, but it quickly changed for the worst when he and his family were branded ‘Enemies of the State,’ persecuted and stripped of everything. Through incredible determination, endurance and luck he reached the pinnacle of European basketball popularity. At the peak of his sporting prowess and despite his status as a European champion and Olympian, Les, at twenty-two, faced one of life’s most difficult decisions. Live a life with little hope in Hungary or escape. With nothing more than the clothes he wore, Les fled Hungary during the violent 1956 uprising against communism, to an uncertain future as a refugee. Les’ courage, his undeniable talent and drive to be the best saw him triumph once again as an Olympian this time for his adopted country, Australia where he began to eke out a new life.”

Dezsõ Dobor AIPS (Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive) Executive Committee Member Member of the Hungarian Olympic Committee

For more details, just click on the link https://www.facebook.com/LaszloLesHody

This might just be the perfect present to slip under the Christmas tree for anyone interested in our basketball history or in our mid-20th century history in general.

Online

Adrian Hurley's Australian Olympic history includes a summary of Les Hody's story, an excerpt of which can be found at the end of this News Corp story link: http://bit.ly/1v1TPOw