Overview

Lionel Price (6 February 1927 – 10 January 2019) was a British basketball player who represented Great Britain at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. While details about his club career and playing position are limited in public records, Price is remembered for being part of the national squad that took part in the first post‑war Olympic basketball tournament.

Career and context

Price competed at a time when basketball in the United Kingdom was a small, largely amateur sport. The 1948 Olympic tournament—held in London after a 12‑year Olympic hiatus due to World War II—brought together teams from around the world, helping to raise the profile of the game. British players of that era typically balanced sport with regular employment and played for local clubs rather than professional franchises.

1948 Olympics

At the 1948 Summer Olympics the British basketball team finished twentieth in the tournament. Records from the event show participation and effort in difficult post‑war circumstances, but detailed statistics for individual British players such as game minutes, points, or positions were not comprehensively archived. Price’s inclusion on the Olympic roster places him among the early group of athletes who represented Britain on basketball’s global stage.

Legacy and later life

Although Lionel Price did not achieve wide fame beyond his Olympic appearance, his role as an early British Olympian in basketball contributes to the sport’s history in the UK. Players from that period helped lay groundwork for later development of clubs, coaching, and youth programmes. Price lived to the age of 91 and died on 10 January 2019; his Olympic participation remains a recorded part of Britain’s post‑war sporting heritage.

Notable facts

  • Born: 6 February 1927.
  • Olympic appearance: Member of Great Britain’s basketball team at the 1948 Games; team finished twentieth.
  • Died: 10 January 2019, aged 91.

For more information about British basketball history and Olympic records, see general references on post‑war Olympic competitions and national team rosters. Contemporary databases and historical sport archives may hold additional match reports and roster details for researchers interested in Price’s playing career and teammates. Basketball in Britain during the mid‑20th century was an amateur pursuit that gradually evolved into more structured competition in later decades.