​Basketball was first contested as a medal event at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. 21 nations competed, making basketball the largest tournament of the team sports. The games were all played outdoors on dirt grounds, which got rather messy with the rains that came during the final match between the United States and Canada. The United States prevailed and won the gold, with James Naismith, the inventor of the game, personally awarding them the medal.

Surprisingly, there were no U.S. released cards featuring the Olympics (or basketball) that year. There were many sets released throughout Europe, however, with the majority published in Germany. Hitler and the Third Reich used the Olympic games as a propaganda opportunity to project an image of German strength and racial purity to the world. I assume they encouraged the publication of cards and albums, as they are plentiful. 

Some of these cards and sets are common and can be found at a very reasonable price. Others are very scarce and seldom seen for sale, so assessing their value can be difficult. The Jesse Owens cards from these sets are desirable and have helped document and identify some of these rarer releases. I’m going to focus on all the cards known that feature Basketball and will start from the relatively familiar and end with the uncommon. Most of these cards were meant to be adhered to an accompanying album or book, so finding them without residue or in high grade condition can be more difficult.

These cards (and accompanying albums) were released primarily in German shops, typically ones that carried the product(s) of the manufacturer that produced the cards (i.e. tobacco, coffee, household goods). The packs were often sold or given away as sales promotions in separate packs from the album itself, but in some cases, everything would be distributed together. For additional pictures and information for these cards that are part of my collection, visit the Pre-War 1930s page.

​1936 Reemstra Band I & II, Sammelwerk Nr 13&14, Cards #143, #156 & #157 –
The 3 cards from Reemstra are the easiest to find. They were distributed in packs and they were larger cards, with #157 (Philippines vs Mexico) from Band II being the largest at 4.75” x 6.75”. Card #143 featured “Scene from a game” which looks to be a pre Olympic game between German military teams and card #156 features an image of 2 players from the Mexican Olympic basketball team.

1936 Muhlen Franck Olympia Serie 20 #4 –
Muhlen Franck was a German coffee company and was one of the few to release a card set in color. This was one of the few cards that featured Team USA, in a match against the Philippines. The cards and album were sold at coffee shops and the album used frames that had corner flaps, so you wouldn’t necessarily have to glue your card(s) onto the page.

1936 Pet Cremer Olympia #76 –
Pet Cremer was a soap detergent company and the one basketball card in their set also featured the American team, in this case the Gold Medal game between the USA and Canada. It’s harder to find outside an album but typically sells for around the same price or a little more than the Muhlen Franck card.
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1936 Sidol-Werke Siegel & Co., Olympiade Bild 171, Gruppe V -
Sidol Werke was a German shoe polish company and their set consisted of 180 Olympic cards. One of the few cards that was in color, it featured an iconic and often used image of a match between the Philippines and Mexico.

1935 Peter Kölln Deutsche Kämpfer Für Olympia, Serie 4, Bilder 60 -
Peter Kolln was a German oatmeal company and released this set of 60 cards prior to the Olympic games. The players in the photo are just referred to as “German Fighters” so perhaps they were military teams training for the games. This was the only basketball card in the set.

1935 Muratti Cigarettes Brennpukte Des Deutschen Sports Band II #196 -
This card was in Muratti’s 2nd of 3 sets that made up a massive total of 700 cards. This was the very first card in Germany that featured basketball, the photo showing a pre Olympic game between the Army Sports school in Wunsdorf and an unnamed team from Berlin. Note: There were 1932 releases of Netball, a popular European variation of basketball.

1936 Die Olympischen Spiele Stereoscopic Card #54 -
The Die Olympischen Spiele were numbered stereoscopic cards that had images meant to be used with a stereo viewer, which was included in the accompanying album. The cards featured different sports from the 1936 Olympics, one of which was a basketball card, #54, which features a scene from the Poland vs. Mexico game in which they were playing for the bronze medal. The were taken by Heinrich Hoffmann, the official photographer of the Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party. Hoffman was arrested by the United States army in 1945 and was sentenced to prison for war profiteering.

1936 Kaiser’s Coffee Kampfregeln für die Olympischen Spiele #33 –
These “Rules of Combat for the Olympic Games” cards were issued weekly starting in late 1935 and up until the beginning of the 1936 Olympics and featured descriptions and rules for different Olympic sports and events. The complete set consisted of 50 cards.

1936 Braemer & Gull Olympischen Spielen #106 Mexico vs Philippines -
Braemer & Gull was a press photo company and these releases were numbered photo cards with a blank back. There was no accompanying album for the cards. The set consisted of 204 cards, with this being the only one featuring basketball. This card also used the iconic image form the Philippines vs Mexico match.

1936 Kosmos Olympia #175 –
The Kosmos set featured black and white photos from various Olympic sports and the only basketball card in the set had an image not used in any other release, it features a match between Germany & Switzerland. The backs of the cards included a short biography and a special offer to redeem larger 6” x 9” versions of the cards. I have never seen a large version of the basketball card, if it does exist. Kosmos was a tobacco company and the cards and album were sold at tobacco stores. 

1936 Yramos Cigarettes Sommer-Olympiade Serie E #64 –
Yramos was a German cigarette company and produced cards and albums for both the Summer & Winter Olympic games. This card was part of their E Series release in a set of 100 cards and features a game between the Philippines and Mexico.

1936 Ed. Haas Die Sie Sieger Der Olympiade Berlin #72 -
Ed. Haas was a baking powder company and released this card featuring the classic image of the Philippines vs Mexico that was used in other releases, although this card is the smallest version. The set consisted of 128 cards and had an accompanying album to adhere the cards to.

1936 Ed. Haas Die Sie Sieger Der Olympiade Berlin #62 -
This card was a more limited released set than that of the #72 card set with the noted differences being the black border around the image on the front, the verbiage on the back and the card number itself.

1936 Muratti Cigarettes Brennpukte Des Deutschen Sports Band III #196 –
The 3rd band Muratti release is far scarcer than the 2nd one released in 1935. The basketball card features the same image that was used on the Yramos cigarette card.

1936 Theodor Grüneis Passau Xi. Olympiade Berlin # 17 Basketballturnier, Phillipinen Vs Mexiko –
We have come to our last card of all the 1936 releases, and by my account and other’s I’ve talked to, the rarest of the bunch. Grüneis was a tobacco company and there is not much information on these cards they produced. It is from a set of 60, per the back, and the image is unique of the other releases, featuring a match between the Philippines and Mexico. I have only seen one example of this particular card.

Collecting vintage sports cards is typically fueled by feelings of nostalgia. These affections are not necessarily associated with just the memories of our own formative years, however, as many collectors are focused on cards released a generation or two before their own. I personally find myself intrigued by the initial history of sports cards, from their inception as simply marketing tools to their evolution in becoming cherished collectibles. This era is commonly referred to as pre-war, often defined as those cards created before 1939 (the beginning of World War II).

​A lot of attention has been drawn to the baseball cards of this period and the current market pricing and their desirability reflects that. For the collectors that pursue pre-war baseball, there is well established information, comparables and niche communities available online. It was my interest in these cards that eventually led my curiosity towards early examples of cards from other sports, principally the only major sport strictly rooted in the United States - Basketball.

At this point, I had a collection of vintage basketball cards that primarily consisted of the 1969 Topps set and the subsequent 1970s cards, with a few earlier 1957 Topps and even a couple 1948 Bowman. I had never even pondered earlier releases until the moment I found myself admiring some basketball cards from the 1933 Goudey Sport Kings set. This led to the question (and ensuing Google search) that changed the trajectory of my collection -“What was the first basketball card?”

The American issued "cards" I've mentioned here are the only real contenders for this title, as I've yet to find a foreign card the predates 1920. I personally consider the 1903 Joseph Tetlow Princeton card the first true basketball card, but understand those who argue that it is indeed the 1909 Murad Williams College card. The debate will continue, likely forever. :)