Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt – Nicknamed; Mão Santa (Holy Hand)
Must watch: ‘Only Live For The Love of The Game’, Oscar Schmidt Hall of Fame Speech. It was a good life. Listen carefully, filter through his English as his 4th Language difficulties. He renders the emotions recalling his Brazilian youth only wanting to play basketball, and how he first encountered his wife. Oscar played professionally 28 seasons, until he was 45 years-of-age.
Sadely, Oscar died in April 2026 after fighting a brain tumour for 15 years.
Brazilian Basketball Legend
Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt
Title: A Brazilian Champion
Date: June 2026
By Doctor Dunkenstein
I won a Championship in my years in Brazil while playing for the famous great club Fluminense, I shared that Brazilian basketball feat with Oscar, as he too had won a Championship with rival Flamengo. But this was only one of the things we had in common.
Our basketball history extended back to the days when we were both attempting to play for the New Jersey Nets basketball team in the NBA.
A few months ago, in April 2026, I heard the news that Oscar had finally lost his 15 year battle with brain cancer. I was deeply saddened to learn of the news. I shook my head and smiled in disbelief at how long Oscar fought that battle against the grim reaper and inevitable outcome. Years ago, I knew he would not quickly or easily give in to the grim reaper. He would never stop trying to score points, he would never stop trying to live just one more day to toss a basketball at a basket.
Throughout his 28 year professional basketball playing career, no matter what the score or the clock showed to the fans, Oscar always believed there was a chance for a comeback in every game he played. With Oscar’s rapid fire point scoring right hand, he usually was being realistic about your chances for victory. Nobody could score points like Oscar Schmidt. He remains the Olympic all-time scoring leader. His scoring records can fill books.
That’s why he was nicknamed ‘The Holy Hand – gifted by God’.
My debt to Oscar was immense, I am sure God knows about it. I don’t think anyone on earth knows.
He had shattered any illusions that I was at the end of my career in the summer of 1984, as we sat for breakfast for days at a hotel in Princeton New Jersey.
It was 2012 the last time I saw him, it was many years after my 7 year professional career had ended and his life long career came to a stop while playing in Rio de Janiero Brazil. It’s what at this time he was telling me about his health issues. In 2013, he had brain surgery.
Oscar fell in love with basketball as a child, just as I had. By the age of 16, in 1974, he was playing basketball for money in Brazil. If you correctly understood college basketball’s true financial nature and system regarding basketball revenues in the 1980’s; I too was playing basketball for money at the age of 17, as a Freshman at the University of Utah. The difference was the money Oscar played for went into his pocket and the millions of dollars I helped win for the University went into somebody else’s pocket. Oscar was the first person who taught me how to put money into my pocket playing for European basketball. He was a top earning player for years in the Italian basketball League.
Title: For Love of the Game
Date June 2026
by: Doctor dunkenstein
Oscar Schmidt was the first person that shattered my false self-believable illusion that my basketball career was ending, and I wasn’t worth much as a basketball player.
In June of 1984, while I was working at the Dean Smith – Bill Guthridge Carolina Basketball School, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I got news that I was drafted by the New Jersey Nets as the 177th pick in the NBA draft. A few months earlier, I had played in front of some Nets scouts and coaches in Jersey City, they told me it was their intention to bring me into the August tryout camp held in Princetown, New Jersey. They would pay my travel expenses and provide a daily stipend for my participation. I was under no illusion that I would make the NBA professional squad at New Jersey. However, I was informed lots of European scouts would be in attendance and my chance of landing a contract with a European team would be increased if I played well during the Nets camp.
So, I prepared for August and got myself back into top physical and mental basketball shape. It wasn’t far to get into shape as I was in excellent snow skiing shape after spending time in the Utah snowy mountains.
When I arrived at camp, I was ready to play ball. So were 30 other basketball players on the court during that first day at the New Jersey Nets camp. I got my first dose of professional basketball in the locker room after that first practice. An assistant coach walked into the locker room and in front of everyone, handed 10 guys return plane tickets back home. I was somewhat in shock. Now the 30 guys were down to 20. They repeated the same process on day two of the camp. The number was cut to about 12 players. I was happy I was still there at camp.
One other guy who made the cuts and lasted with me until the final camp day was, Oscar Schmidt, a Brazilian basketball player who was playing professionally in Italy at that time, but had come to the Nets camp to get a ‘feel out for the NBA’ and ‘test the waters’ for a potential NBA transfer.
I had no idea how basketball actually worked in Europe. Oscar was a well informed high paid experienced professional European and Brazilian player.
They put Oscar and I on the same teams during the full clock and refereed night games. I think they knew I would be the guy to set screens for him so he could demonstrate how he shot the basketball every time he touched it, and I wouldn’t complain about his ball hog techniques.
After teasing Oscar at breakfast on the second morning of camp that he should pass me the ball at least once during a game, he immediately responded, “no way man, I’m gonna give them 1 point per minute, yes, that’ right, one point every minute, passing is not why I am here, I am here to show them I can score. But hey, sit down, I will buy you breakfast.” Oscar could score points faster than anybody I had ever played with in my life. He was dropping in more than just a single point every minute during our games.
I sat and had breakfast with Oscar Schmidt that day and everyday for the rest of the week. We played together on the court every night, I set the screens, he fired up the shots, and we ate breakfast together everyday. We also won a lot of games that week.
Oscar became a friend. He told me to go to Europe before signing a contract that he was 100% sure I would sign onto a team. I would tell him about the contract offers I was receiving from agents attending the camp in Princeton and on the telephone. He told me that the offers being made here in New Jersey were not my full value. He encouraged me to go after more money.
Money was the main reason Oscar Schmidt did not sign a contract to play in the NBA. The Nets wanted him to play for about $150,000 US. The minimum NBA salary at that time was around $100,000 per year at that time. Oscar was making $250,000 USD per year to play in Italy. He was a well known star and Italian champion. He didn’t pay tax on his salary in Italy. All of his living and international travel expenses were covered by the club above and beyond his yearly contract salary. If he signed an NBA contract, the US government would take 33% tax right off the top. It just did not make dollars and sense for Oscar to accept a contract for less money from the New Jersey Nets just to say he played in the NBA. He promised me I would play for a team in Europe with some of the benefits he reaped and for more money than what was being offered during the camp.
Oscar was correct. I played basketball professionally for two years in Israel for more money and benefits than anyone offered me in the New Jersey Nets tryout camp.
We stayed in touch. I made a good friend. but I still never taught him how to pass as well as he could shoot basketball.
Oscar taught me all of these business details over breakfast each morning. In the evenings, I continued to set lots of screens for him to shoot the ball, he did eventually pass me the ball a few times. I was grateful for the assist and the professional business advice. We became friends.
Many years later, I found myself in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, playing for Fluminense, Oscar and I had moved up to dinner dates and coffee in sidewalk cafes for our friendly conversations and stories. He was a delightfully loveable person who loved playing basketball, as much as I loved playing the game.
I won a Championship in my years in Brazil with Fluminense, I shared that Brazilian basketball feat with Oscar, as he too had won a Championship with rival Flamengo.
A few months ago, I heard the new that Oscar finally lost his 15 year battle with brain cancer. I was deeply saddened to learn of the news.
Oscar shattered any illusions that I was at the end of my career. It was 2012 the last time I saw him, it was many years after my 7 year professional career had ended and his decades life long career came to a stop while playing in Brazil.
Oscar Schmidt basketball trading cards exist,primarily featuring his legendary international career with Brazil, with key rookie cards like the 1986-87 Merchante (often misspelled ‘Smith’) being notable, alongside Panini and other international releases, but his lack of NBA play means cards focus on his FIBA/Olympic dominance, available on sites like eBay and specialized card sites, often graded by PSA/SGC
Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt – Nicknamed; Mão Santa (Holy Hand)
Must watch: ‘Only Live For The Love of The Game’, Oscar Schmidt Hall of Fame Speech. It was a good life. Listen carefully, filter through his English as his 4th Language difficulties. He renders the emotions recalling his Brazilian youth only wanting to play basketball, and how he first encountered his wife. Oscar played professionally 26 seasons, until he was 45 years-of-age. The last word was, ‘Oscar’ remains in the game coaching youth basketball.
Warning: You May Start To Samba Dance if You Remain of This Website.
Fat Hat Collectibles is presenting Sports the Brazilian Way. … … … What’s the Brazilian way to watch sports, turn on soccer/football/futbol on the TV, without commentary and no sound. Listen to relaxing Brazilian Music in the background. Watch how fluid the athletes move. Try it, here, now, you might enjoy it. Simply click the Brazilian Cafe’ Music video button (located above) to the on position, then scroll. It’s been known to make the wife happy as well.
Watch the great athletes ‘dance’ below.
All other videos should be in motion but muted while watching.
Hope you make it to the bottom of this page to enjoy our tribute to the ‘Brazilian’ icon, Great Sports Superstar and lifetime Sports Memorabilia contributor and creator, ‘Oscar”
The website Brazilian music turn off switch is in the new ‘Oscar’s Collector’s Tribute Section’. Oscar took control of the remote control. It’s in his hands now … … … we hope he doesn’t try to toss it from 40 feet away, just like many of his basketball shots he took on the court for 45 years. It’s Oscar’s weekend on FatHatCollectibles.com
Brazilian Basketball Collectible Legends
Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt (February 16, 1958 – April 17, 2026), nicknamed Mão Santa (Holy Hand), was a Brazilian professional basketball player. Schmidt primarily played the power forward and small forward position, was 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) tall and weighed 109 kg (240 lbs). Along with his home country, Schmidt also played in Italy for JuveCaserta and Pavia, and Spain for Fórum Valladolid.[1] He was born in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
Schmidt held the record for all-time leading scorer in the history of basketball until 2024, with 49,973 career points scored (pro club league play, plus senior Brazilian national team play). He is the record holder for the longest career span of a professional basketball player at 29 years. He is also the top scorer in the history of the Summer Olympic Games, and the top scorer in the history of the FIBA World Cup.
He was named one of FIBA’s 50 Greatest Players in 1991. He received the Olympic Order in 1997. On August 20, 2010, Schmidt became a FIBA Hall of Fame player, in recognition of his play in international competitions.[2] On September 8, 2013, Schmidt was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.[3] He was inducted into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.
Youth club career
Schmidt played youth club basketball in the youth systems of S.E. Palmeiras and Mackenzie College. With Palmeiras’s youth teams, he scored 2,114 points in 85 games, for a scoring average of 24.9 points per game. With Mackenzie’s youth teams, he scored 1,332 points in 36 games, for a scoring average of 37.0 points per game.[citation needed]
Professional career
Brazil
Schmidt began his professional club career in 1974, at the age of 16, with the Brazilian Championship club S.E. Palmeiras. As a member of Palmeiras, he won the São Paulo State Championship in 1974, and the Brazilian Championship in 1977.[citation needed]
In 1978, he moved to the Brazilian club E.C. Sírio under coach Cláudio Mortari who signed him. As a member of Sírio, Schmidt won the São Paulo State Championship in both 1978 and 1979, and the Brazilian Championship in 1979. He scored 40 points in the 1979 final (held in January 1980) and help Sirio win the title against Francana.[4] With Sírio, he also won the South American Club Championship, and the FIBA Intercontinental Cup title in 1979. He scored 42 points in the 1979 FIBA Intercontinental Cup’s Final against the Yugoslav First Federal League club Bosna Sarajevo.[5] Schmidt was the top scorer of the Brazilian Championship in both 1979 and 1980.[citation needed]
In 1982, Schmidt joined the Brazilian club América do Rio. However, he only stayed with the club for a brief amount of time.[6]
JuveCaserta
For the 1982–83 season, Schmidt joined the Italian 2nd Division club JuveCaserta. With JuveCaserta, he played in the first division level Italian League, for the first time in the 1983–84 season being the leading scorer of the Serie A with 955 points in 34 games. That same season, Schmidt played in a Pan-European club competition for the first time, as he also played in Europe’s third-tier level FIBA Korać Cup’s 1983–84 season. Schmidt played in Europe’s 2nd-tier level competition, the FIBA European Cup Winners’ Cup (later renamed to FIBA Saporta Cup), for the first time, in the 1984–85 season.[citation needed]
With JuveCaserta, he won the Italian Cup title in 1988. In the European-wide secondary level 1988–89 FIBA European Cup Winners’ Cup’s Final, Schmidt scored 44 points against the Spanish club Real Madrid. However, Real Madrid’s star player Dražen Petrović, scored 62 points in the same game, and JuveCaserta lost the game, by a score of 117–113.[7]
Schmidt led the Italian top division in scoring six times, while he was a member of JuveCaserta (1983–84, 1984–85, 1985-86, 1986–87, 1988–89, and 1989–90 seasons). JuveCaserta eventually retired Schmidt’s #18 jersey.[citation needed]
Pavia
In 1990, Schmidt joined the Italian 2nd Division club Pavia. With Pavia, Schmidt led the Italian 2nd Division in scoring, in both the 1990–91 and 1992–93 seasons. With Pavia, he also led the first division Italian League in scoring, during the 1991–92 season scoring 1760 pts in 40 games (44.0 average). He was also a member of the FIBA European Selection in 1991.[citation needed]
As a member of Pavia, Schmidt also had his highest scoring single game in the top division Italian League, as he scored 66 points in a 1991–92 season game versus Auxilium Torino, on 30 November 1991.[8][9] Pavia eventually retired his #11 jersey.[citation needed]
While playing club basketball in Italy, Schmidt earned a fan in future NBA star Kobe Bryant. At that time, Bryant was a young child that was living in Italy, while his father, Joe Bryant, played professional basketball in the country. Bryant called Schmidt one of his childhood idols,[10] and also stated that Schmidt could have been one of the greatest players in the NBA, if he had played in the league.[11]
Overall during his club career in Italy, Schmidt was the Top Scorer of the Italian First Division seven times (1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1989–90, and 1991–92 seasons). In 2017, Schmidt was inducted into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
Valladolid
In 1993, Schmidt joined the Spanish ACB League club Valladolid. With Valladolid, Schmidt was the Spanish league’s top scorer in the 1993–94 season, with a scoring average of 33.3 points per game, in 33 games played (regular season and playoffs). On 19 March 1994, Schmidt made 11 3-point field goals, in a Spanish League game against Murcia.[12]
Schmidt also spent the 1994–95 season with Valladolid. In that season, he averaged 24.0 points per game, in 38 games played. His single-game scoring high in the Spanish League, was in a game that season versus Málaga, in which he scored 47 points, and made all 8 of his 3-point field goal attempts.[13]
In two seasons in the Spanish ACB, Schmidt scored a total of 2,009 points in 71 games played (regular season and playoffs), for a scoring average of 28.3 points per game.[14]
Return to Brazil
Corinthians and Bandeirantes
Schmidt returned to his native Brazil in September 1995, after 13 years in Europe, to once again play in the Brazilian Basketball Championship. His debut came on 12 September 1995 in the São Paulo State Championship scoring 47 points for S.C. Corinthians Paulista against Bozzano/Jales.[15] He was a member of S.C. Corinthians Paulista, from 1995 to 1997. He then signed for Grêmio Barueri Bandeirantes / Mackenzie under coach Marcel de Souza a former teammate in the national team. He played there, from 1997 to 1999, and he consequently finished his club career with C.R. Flamengo, where he played from 1999 to 2003.[citation needed]
With Corinthians Paulista, he won the Brazilian Championship in 1996. He was the second scorer in the 1996 São Paulo State Championship averaging 32.2 points[16] and the topscorer in 1997 with 41.9 points per game. During the 1997 National championship he would surpass the mark of 40,000 career points after scoring 41 in a game against Barueri/Bandeirantes.[citation needed]
As a member of Grêmio Barueri Bandeirantes, he won the São Paulo State Championship in 1998, averaging 33.3 points. It was the first in the club’s history while Oscar became a Paulista champion again, after 19 years (then with Sirio, in 1979). With Grêmio Barueri Bandeirantes, Schmidt, at the age of 39, scored 74 points in a São Paulo State Championship game on 28 November 1997.[17][18][19]
Flamengo
On September 8, 1999 he debuted for Flamengo in a comfortable victory over Municipal and got a standing ovation by the fans. On December 1, 1999, with a free throw, he reached the historic mark of 43,000 career points. On November 30, 2000, he reached 45,000 career points during the Flamengo-Botafogo game (118-107) in the Rio de Janeiro State Championship.[20]
As a member of Flamengo, he won the Rio de Janeiro State Championship in 1999 being the top scorer with 647 pts. He also led Flamengo to the National Finals finishing runners-up, a distinction that the club never had before 1999. Two years later, on April 8, 2001 he came a step closer to become basketball’s leading scorer, after he scored 34 pts in the Flamengo-Fluminense match (92-90) for the National league and he reached 46,014 career points.[21]
On October 27, 2001, he scored 44 pts in the Flamengo-Fluminense match (108-106) for the RJ State Championship and he finally surpassed the mark of 46.725 pts scored by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becoming basketball’s all-timescorer.[22] Oscar had announced that he would retire on 16 May 2002, but a week after a controversial match in which COC/Ribeirao Preto coached by Lula Ferreira eliminated Flamengo in the National Championship quarterfinals (84-78) with Oscar being expelled by the referee, he took it back admitting to the press that he would play for one more year.[23] Eventually, at the end of 2002 Schmidt helped Flamengo win the Rio de Janeiro State Championship.[citation needed]
Schmidt was the Brazilian Championship’s top scorer in each of his last eight seasons playing in the competition (1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003). That was in addition to the two times that he had previously led the same competition in scoring, in 1979 and 1980.[citation needed]
He retired from his club basketball playing career on May 26, 2003, at the age of 45, opting not to play in the upcoming Rio de Janeiro State Championship. His final game was against COC/Ribeirão on May 21, 2003. Flamengo then eventually retired his #14 jersey. Up to that day he had scored 49,703 points, then a world record though it was not recognised by FIBA officially.[24]
During his club playing career, Oscar scored a total of 42,044 points, in 1,289 games played, for a career scoring average of 32.6 points per game. He also scored a total of 236 points in All-Star Games. However, those totals do not include all of the games that he played in during his pro club career, as the data for some of the national cup games, Pan-European games, and all-star games that he played in Europe are not available.[citation needed]
NBA draft rights
Schmidt was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in the sixth round of the 1984 NBA draft, and he played with them in their 1984 NBA training camp and preseason. However, he declined the team’s offer of a fully guaranteed contract, because it was for considerably less money than he was making playing in Italy, and because he wanted to continue playing for the senior Brazilian national team (until 1989, NBA players were not allowed to play for national teams).[25]
National team career
Junior national team
Schmidt played in the youth systems of Brazil’s national federation program. He played in 15 games with the junior selection of São Paulo, with which he scored 393 points in 15 games, for a scoring average of 26.2 points per game. He also played in 31 games with Brazil’s national junior selection, in which he scored a total of 569 points, for a scoring average of 18.4 points per game.[citation needed]
Senior national team
With the senior Brazil national team, Schmidt played in five Summer Olympics (he was the second player to do so after Teófilo Cruz) and was the top scorer in three of them. However, he never went past the tournament’s quarterfinals. In the 1980 Summer Olympics, he played in seven games and scored 169 points, for a 24.1 average.[citation needed]
He again scored 169 points in seven games in the 1984 Summer Olympics. His best Olympic performance was the 1988 Summer Olympics. At that tournament, he scored 338 points, for an average of 42.3 points per game. In 1992, he scored 198 points in eight games, and in 1996, he scored 219 points in 8 games. In 38 career Olympic basketball games, Schmidt scored a record of 1,093 points, for an average of 28.8 points per game.[citation needed]
Schmidt is also the all-time career leader in total points scored in the FIBA World Cup, having scored a total of 843 points in 33 games, for a scoring average of 25.5 points per game. He won the bronze medal and made the All-Tournament Team at the 1978 FIBA World Cup, and he also made the All-Tournament Teams of both the 1986 FIBA World Cup and the 1990 FIBA World Cup, which he also led in scoring, with an average of 34.6 points per game.[citation needed]
He played in the gold-medal match of the 1987 Pan American Games, which was held in Indianapolis. The US national team, which was composed of NCAA Division I college basketball players at those games, featured two All-Americans in David Robinson (Hall of Fame member) and Danny Manning, two NCAA Championship Final Four MVPs, in Pervis Ellison and Keith Smart (Manning would later also win that award), and other future NBA players, such as Rex Chapman, Pooh Richardson, and Willie Anderson. Brazil faced a 68–54 halftime deficit. However, Schmidt finished the game with 46 points, in a 120–115 win for Brazil.[citation needed]
In 1996, at the age of 38, Schmidt retired from playing with the senior Brazilian national team as its all-time leading scorer. While representing Brazil, he scored a total of 7,693 points in 326 games played, for a career scoring average of 23.6 points per game.[26] In 1997, Schmidt was given the Olympic Order award.[27]
Post-athletic career
In 2004, Schmidt started his career in management. He was the CEO of “Telemar Rio de Janeiro”, a Brazilian professional basketball team which won the “Campeonato Carioca” (Rio de Janeiro State Championship) in 2004, and the Brazilian Championship in 2005.[citation needed]
In 2006, Schmidt, along with other Brazilian basketball greats such as Paula and Hortência, (another Hall of Fame member), led the NLB: Nossa Liga de Basquete (“our basketball league”), an attempted rival to the Brazilian Basketball Championship. However, the league folded a year later.[citation needed]
Personal life and death
Schmidt married Maria Cristina Victorino in 1981, and had a son and a daughter.[28][29] He and his son Felipe, then 16 years old, played together in the former’s final season in Flamengo, before Felipe became a film director.[30] Oscar Schmidt’s brother Tadeu is a journalist, and his nephew, Bruno Oscar Schmidt, is a beach volleyballer.[31]
On May 13, 2013, Schmidt had brain surgery to excise a malignant tumor.[32] At first, nobody knew about it except for his family. The press found out about the disease fifteen days after the surgery, at a dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of the two-time FIBA World Champion senior men’s Brazilian National Team. Schmidt did not appear at the event, as he was recuperating from daily chemotherapy sessions. The disease was later put into remission.[32]
In 2016, Schmidt took part at the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, as one of carriers of the Olympic flag.[33]
Schmidt died on April 17, 2026, at the age of 68.[34] According to press reports, Schmidt was at home when he began to feel unwell. A SAMU ambulance was called, and he was taken to the Santa Ana Municipal Hospital and Maternity (HMSA) in Santana de Parnaíba, where he was admitted. Hours later, his death was confirmed by his press office.[35] He was cremated wearing the jersey of the Brazilian national basketball team.[36]
Senior club teams
- S.E. Palmeiras: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1974–78
- E.C. Sírio: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1978–82
- América do Rio: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1982
- JuveCaserta: Italian Second Division: 1982–83
- JuveCaserta: Italian Basketball League: 1983–90
- Pavia: Italian Second Division: 1990–91
- Pavia: Italian Basketball League: 1991–92
- Pavia: Italian Second Division: 1992–93
- Valladolid: Spanish Basketball League: 1993–95
- S.C. Corinthians Paulista: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1995–97
- Bandeirantes / Mackenzie: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1997–99
- C.R. Flamengo: Brazilian Basketball Championship: 1999–2003
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