Bouncing Along
Iverson’s Basketball Career
Takes Him Around The World
While riding a train, Chuck Iverson awoke with a jolt in the
middle of the night.
The University of South Dakota graduate — who had
enjoyed a brief stint in pro basketball — was traveling in Europe
with South Dakota basketball all-stars. The three-month swing
included around six weeks in the former Soviet Union.
The year was 1976 — the United States’ bicentennial. But it
also marked the depth of Cold War tensions, making the U.S.
basketball team’s visit to the Soviet Union both historic and
chilling.
“We were among the first independent teams to go behind
the Iron Curtain,” he said. “We played the equivalent of their pro
teams.”
Iverson, now living in Yankton, vividly recalls the 1976
incident when Soviet authorities halted the train with the U.S.
team.
“We were traveling from Finland to Russia, and our train was
stopped in the middle of the night,” he said. “We looked out, and
it was like a lighted football field at the border. We knew we were
entering Russia.”
While the team thought they knew their location, Iverson
said they had no idea what to expect next.
“We sat there for a half-hour or 45 minutes. Then the door
opened up, and we had a 65-year-old woman in a military
uniform who spoke broken English,” he said.
“She was accompanied by two soldiers with rifles, and
they went through all our clothes and possessions.” The team
members had been given a list of forbidden items in the Soviet
Union, Iverson said.
“We were told not to take any reading materials, except for
maybe sports magazines or books. We weren’t allowed to take
any news magazines, like Newsweek, with us,” he said.
“We had to declare any money on us, and we weren’t to have
any religious symbols with us (in the officially atheist nation).”
The team members weren’t allowed to get dressed during the
search, Iverson said.
“We were standing there, in our underwear, while the guards
went through all our things,” he said. “We didn’t know what to
expect or what they might do to us.”
The train search finally ended and the U.S. team was allowed
Practicing the gentle art of modern dentistry.
New Patients and Emergencies Welcome!
1101 Broadway Ste. 105, Morgen Square
605.665.2448 • www.scottfamilysmiles.com
Experience Gentle, Personalized Dental Care For Your Entire Family!
16vHISVOICEvSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017