Legendary Skullman Lithuania Tie Dye Basketball T-Shirts 2024 Editions released for this Paris 2024 Summer Olympics Year

Iconic Olympics Skullman® Lithuania Tie Dye® Basketball T-Shirts Officially Licensed 2024 Editions released from Skullman.com before Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, June 21, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The now legendary uniforms started out as a nice gesture created by a NYC apparel brand designer for the team to have something light and fun to wear during the Olympics practice time heading up to the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain. Wearing the "kooky" threads energized and inspired the team. After clinching the bronze they showed up on the medal platform wearing the way-out tie-dyed skeleton warm-up uniforms, showcased to the world, and turned out to be something that was never before seen in the Olympics or in the world of sports apparel. The reaction from the international audience was overwhelming. The players wore the shirts wherever they went after that. Then the public wanted to know where they could get one.

“The story was a major news event impacting popular culture, taking its place in Olympics sports history. It had a major influence on the future of sports fashion, changing the way it was perceived and viewed. The Tie Dyed Slammin^® Skullman^® became a legendary household icon.” said Mike Thompson of Slammin Sports^®.
The story started when Lithuania, one of the Baltic States' former Soviet Satellite countries, during the time of the Reagan administration, broke from the Soviet Union and gained it's newly found independence and freedom. Rallying for financial support for his country's newly formed Lithuanian Basketball Team, former Soviet player Sarunas Marciulionis started rallying donations and support for the new but financially strapped 1992 Lithuanian Olympic Men's Basketball team, with hopes of competing for the first time as an independent nation apart from the Soviet Union in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

While Lithuanian player and NBA star Saunas Marciulionis, who was discovered by a coach at the Golden State Warriors, at the same time was rallying financial donations for his country's newly founded Olympic basketball team, received various monetary donations, including one from the Grateful Dead musical group. According to news reports, among the various donations the team received the Grateful Dead musical group came into the story with a separate $5,000. donation of their own to Marcuiulionis, which was the part they played in this story.

A New York apparel Licensor also heard about the team's plight and came into this story independently on his own and designed the Skullman tie dyed uniforms, just so the team could have something fun to wear during the Olympics for practice time before the actual competitions.
See IMDB bio documentation: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3998173/
Listen to the podcast that uncovered the true facts about the story:
https://wondery.com/shows/sports-explains-the-world/episode/13843-the-skullman-cometh/

The team's plight was highlighted in the 2012 sports and political documentary film "The Other Dream Team":
Directed and produced by Marius Markevicius and Jon Weinbach, It is about the Lithuanian Olympic basketball team that competed at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. It highlights Lithuanians’ experiences behind the Iron Curtain, where elite athletes were subjected to brutalities of Communism. Hiding from KGB agents and feared for their lives, Lithuania’s basketball stars always shared a common goal – to utilize their athletic gifts to help free their country.
Aside from the hardships on the road to the '92 Olympics, the film celebrates Speirs' iconic tie-dyed uniforms worn by the team, now a historic piece of Olympics' basketball culture and folklore.
Read the documented news story:
https://www.amworldgroup.com/blog/lithuanian-slam-dunking-skeleton-back-for-the-other-dream-team-documentary

Where the uniforms came from:
The iconic 1992 Lithuanian basketball tie dye shirts were created by New York sports apparel Licensor and former 1970's original "Grooves" rock and roll music magazine creator Greg Speirs, who licensed them to the Lithuanian Olympic Men's basketball team just so they could have something fun to wear during the Olympics, something that was never seen before in the Olympics or in the world of sports apparel. The artist's Skullman uniforms were never created as a Grateful Dead line by the artist. Greg Is the same artist who also created the legendary "Monaco Monk" icicle sleds for Prince Albert of Monaco Olympic Monaco Bobsled Team, and who created and collaborated in the 1970's on many music projects including with famed Woodstock Music Festival founder and record producer Artie Kornfeld, in particular with RCA Records. Artie Kornfeld is the man who coined the phrases "Far Out" when he spoke at Woodstock in 1969 and also coined the phrase "Take it to the Max" when he produced the record album for the Max Damian band in the 1970's, which Greg created the album cover for.

"The Skullman Lithuanian tie dyed basketball shirts are actually an independent apparel line which came into this story independently, created and solely owned by the designer before you saw it on the world stage at the Olympics. The brand enjoyed international exposure the moment you saw it on the bronze medal stand at the Olympics. It was not connected to any other entity and it is a fact that it was never an actual team jersey, nor was it ever part of the Grateful Dead musical group. All licensing rights always originated exclusively from the artist who created them. Greg designed the uniforms just so the Lithuanian Men's Basketball Team could have something unique and fun to wear during practice at the Olympics.” added Mike.

"Speirs then let the team use the sales of the apparel, in a sense licensing use to them for a limited amount of time in order to raise money for funding the team and for Marciulionis' additional charities, once there became a demand by the public to want to own one of their own. Immediately after the Olympics ended Greg saw it as a great opportunity to help the team and chose to donate all of what would have been his profits to continue to fund the team. That's why Greg is called the major sponsor and funder of the 1992 Men's Lithuanian Olympic Basketball Team after the Olympics. He gave 100% of his profits to fund the team which started at $450,000 in the first wave of donations which continued after the Olympics and may have skyrocketed to millions according to news reports." recalled Mike Thompson of Slammin' Sports. All of Greg's continuing profits for the team went into Lithuanian player Sarunas Marciulionous' 'Sarunas Lithuanian Children’s Fund to help sick children in need, which was set up and controlled by the former Lithuania team player and NBA star who received 100% of all funds. Some of the funds also went into the building of Marciulionis' basketball school in Lithuania.

“The 1992 Lithuanian Basketball Team represents what happens in freedom…people excel. The Lithuanian Slam-Dunking Skullman^® represents rising from nothing. Like a Phoenix from the ashes to slam-dunking a flaming basketball. It's not a dead skeleton, but the Skullman is alive and represents rebirth and a new life. When you are free you have the opportunity to succeed as an individual while still being part of a team. It was not only a victory in Olympic sports, but it was as if it were an overall triumph over communism itself," recalled Speirs.
See IMDB bio:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3998173/
Listen to "The Other Dream Team" interview:
http://www.gregspeirs.com/greg-speirs-audio-interview-by-the-other-dream-team-documentary-film/

"Greg played a much more significant role in the story, including with respect to the funding of the Lithuanian team, in the years after the Olympics. The truth turns out that his part was a lot more significant than reported initially and in subsequent news stories throughout the years, and still being picked up and misreported to this day." recalled Mike Thompson of Slammin' Sports.
See CNBC news story:
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/id/100165621

The uniforms were “enshrined” in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. on Dec.7th 1993, below a giant 12ft. x 8ft. 3-D incarnation of the legendary Slam Dunking Skeleton. Marciulionis's jersey was also added to the collection by the Basketball Hall of Fame's curator Mike Brooslin at the time.
See link: http://www.lithuaniatshirt.com/basketball%20hall%20of%20fame.htm

Vintage editions of the shirts sell for hundreds of dollars online at sites like EBay. The Official, Original 1992 Skullman Lithuania Tie Dye^® re-issue T-Shirts and merchandise are always available from the source here and have been sold since 1992 by Slammin Sports at the Skullman Company from where all licensing rights originate.
The public can get all of the new 2024 Editions and the Classic Original 1992 Skullman Lithuania Tie Dye^® T-Shirts here at: www.Skullman.com

Official Licensor of the Original Lithuania Tie Dye^® Brand Apparel & Merchandise. 1992 © Copyright & Trademark^® property of Greg Speirs. Lithuania Tie Dye^® & the Lithuanian Slam Dunking Skeleton^® and all related trademarks, indicia and symbols are Official Trademark Brands and Licenses of Greg Speirs. Official Licensor/ Exclusive Source. All licensing rights originate from their owner Greg Speirs.

Mike Thompson
Slammin Sports'
licensing@skullman.com
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Officially licensed 2024 Collector's Edition 1993 Slammin' Skullman® on green T-Shirts with a touch of tie dye in production ahead of the Paris Summer Olympics.