Corey Beck, who is disappointing Lithuania, still curses Žalgiris: I was imprisoned for them

One of them shares his promises with special courage and even assures that he will be better than Tyus Edney himself, than in Lithuania and the Euroleague managed to become god. However, these promises are falling apart extremely fast.

The American, who had to establish himself as a leader in the 1999-2000 season, has only been in Lithuania for a few months and is fired, and when he returns home he is imprisoned. For the first but not the last time in my life. To this day, Corey Beckas blames Žalgiris for his downfall.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Beck family. I’ll be in Memphis from December 21st until New Years work. If you need any paintings please email me on Facebook. 💯💙🙌🏽📣 pic.twitter.com/WM8D3oJaID

– Corey Beck # 14 (@ CoreyBeck14) Dec 16, 2019

Mindaugas and Eurelijus Žukauskas, Tomas Masiulis, Jiri Zidekas (mid-season) and Kęstutis Šeštokas, only these five players remained in the “Žalgiris” led by Jonas Kazlauskas for the next season after the legendary triumph in the Euroleague. All the others were scattered across Europe.

In the offseason, Saulius Štombergas signed a million dollar contract with Bologna Binder, Dainius Adomaitis became a Montecat Zucchetti player, Darius Maskoliūnas went to Prokom Trefl in Sopot, Anthony Bowie went for 800 thousand. dollars bought by Athens AEK and Tyus Edney – for 450 thousand. he invited Benetton of Treviso to his ranks.

The Kaunas team found new legionnaires, and fitness trainer Aleksandras Kosauskas also assured that the physical preparation of the newcomers is even better than that of the deceased.

True, in the summer, the coach was only able to touch two new team foreigners – Darren Henry and Ivan Grgat, who did not make basketball fans happy.

At that time, C. Beck himself had to wait: due to personal problems, the new organizer of the attacks “Žalgiris” appeared in Lithuania only in September. And it has been silent until now. More than 20 years after the events in Lithuania, C. Beckas spoke to a journalist from Delfi and admitted that it was his personal affairs, not basketball, that mattered most to him in the fall of 1999.

“I was physically in Lithuania, but not psychologically. I had personal concerns and couldn’t get them out of my head. Also, playing in Europe was a completely new experience for me, a big change in my life. I felt like my career was coming to an end. . I didn’t have the right mood and passion for the game that I felt before. Also, I experienced a great culture shock in Kaunas: I played where no one looks like me. In the locker room, everyone spoke only Lithuanian, I felt alone in the team “, – now communicating with Delphi recalled C. Beck.

“Žalgiris” had the opportunity to sign a contract with Šarūnas Jasikevičius before the 1999-2000 season, but within the club it was decided at that time that C. Beckas would be a much more reliable option.

Later, the 23-year-old Lithuanian, who became a star on and off the pitch, had already shone on the national team, but his achievements in club basketball for then-Žalgiris coach Jonas Kazlauskas still didn’t seem convincing . It was decided not to choose the Vilnius player “Lietuvos rytas” but rather 28-year-old C. Beckas.

An athletic forward who played for the Charlotte Hornets and Detroit Pistons, the 1994 NCAA champion was known for defending his special qualities.

However, when Shar moved to Catalonia and Barcelona a year later, Beck moved to Arkansas.

For Beck, who left the United States for the first time in his career, European basketball has been too slimy from the first game.

In the debut match, the American LKL scored 5 points in the Neptūnas basket in Klaipėda in 21 minutes, and after just under a week he did not shine in the first attempt of the Euroleague – in the confrontation with Panathinaikos of Athens. managed to score only 3 points in 34 minutes.

The “strong” side of the basketball player, defense, has also brought little benefit; In most games, he quickly racked up 4 personal fouls and stayed away from the fifth for the rest of the time. Fans of the Kaunas team were disappointed in how the newcomer from Ljubljana “Olympia” Š. Jasikevičius is rapidly climbing the career ladder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jXwIbttq6Q

“I tried to help the team, but not only did I lack the courage, but also the physical preparation. Due to the late arrival, I lost a lot of time during which I was able to strengthen myself physically and better understand the nuances of the team’s game.

It was also difficult to understand the European referees, who constantly whistled my fouls as soon as I tried to throw the ball out of the opponent’s hands. The strict treatment of the rules did not provide self-confidence ”, recalls now the former Žalgiris.

C. Beckas was greatly disappointed by basketball fans accustomed to T. Edney’s miracles, and Žalgiris, who pampered the fans, drowned in the mud of defeat.

During the first nine rounds of the Euroleague, Kaunas won just once, when Real Madrid unexpectedly broke down during the trip.

The Euroleague champions also received a slap on the home front: at the end of November, J. Kazlauskas’s students in Vilnius did not resist the “Falcons”, who ended Žalgiris’ 37-win series in the LKL Championship.

After another failed show, the basketball player found his car circumcised and then, according to himself, realized that he had become a scapegoat. The player’s love for basketball eventually faded.

“The fans in Lithuania were ruthless. After all, it’s just basketball. Their hatred didn’t deserve me. The fans, on the other hand, just wanted wins. I wanted wins too.

Frankly, “Žalgiris” was the worst team I’ve ever played for. He is the only one on my team who has not emerged victorious. It was definitely not a great pleasure to be in a team like this: the season was tragic, we accumulated one loss after another, so in the end I focused completely on myself, “said C. Beck.

Named one of the worst legionaries in the history of “Žalgiris” in Lithuania, the athlete did not make it to 2000: the team released all its foreigners mid-season and invited NIS players Chris Garner and Mitchell Butler to take his place. .

The averages recorded by C. Beck in the Euroleague – 6.1 points and 2.9 effective passes, in the LKL priorities – even more modest 5.6 points and 2.4 effective passes. However, while the American experience in Lithuania was bitter, he was even more bitter about returning to his homeland.

“I completely lost my respect for the Žalgiris organization after leaving the team. At home things were waiting for me that make this team that I remember only bad.

By signing a contract with Žalgiris, the club promised to pay a part of my salary in advance. He needed the money because he was in trouble with the police at the time; the court ruled that he owed more than $ 30,000. dollars in child support. I asked Žalgiris to deduct this amount from my salary and transfer it to the specified account. The club agreed.

But when I returned to America, I was in for a surprise. It turns out that the money was not transferred. It was discovered that I had broken the law and I had to spend nine months in prison, “said C. Beck, who made it clear that the management of Kaunas Club at that time was not the most transparent.

The former Žalgiris in the Kaunas team is more angered by the unwillingness to help. The American claims to have tried to explain where the aforementioned 30,000 were. The dollars may have disappeared, but “Žalgiris”, according to him, assured that the money had been transferred and did not intend to continue discussions with the basketball player.

“I wrote letters to the club’s management, I called, but they said that the money had been transferred, they proved it with a letter signed by a notary. They couldn’t tell me who got that money back. What disappointed me the most was that they didn’t even try to pretend they wanted to help me. I just needed an explanation from them where exactly the money they supposedly sent was, then I could have sued the person who took the money illegally. He couldn’t do it without the help of Žalgiris.

A long story in a nutshell: I never found 30,000 of my property. dollars, which were appropriated by “Žalgiris” or by the attorney who administered the debt settlement process. “I went to jail through them and I had to spend a lot of time there,” Beck said.

Notably, the Kaunas club “reinforced” by C. Becku in the autumn in the Euroleague that season did not pass the group competition stage. Not only that, the team also suffered a fiasco in the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) championships: for the first time they handed over the championship throne to “Lietuvos rytas”. In the semi-finals, they also ran into the NEBL (Northern European Basketball League) championships at that time: the people of Žalgiris did not face the same “Lietuvos rytas”.

At the end of 2001, Beck was still trying to compete for Venezuelan and Italian clubs, but failed to establish himself and was forced to end his career. An American hired a painter in the Memphis area, but his problems with the police did not end there.

In 2002, the former Žalgiris was convicted of cocaine and marijuana use and sentenced to 10 years in prison. As a result, he had to register regularly at the police station, but it was difficult to do so: Mr. Beck returned to prison in 2003 and 2004 for breach of the conditions of probation.

In 2007, Beck’s life was hanging by his hair in general: he was shot in a robbery and found in critical condition. Doctors saved the life of the basketball player and, since then, the American, according to himself, has begun to see him differently. After recovering from drug addiction, Beck started his own business in 2010.

“I am grateful to God for the opportunity to get out of the well, raise five daughters and start my own company, Corey Beck Custom Painting, which specializes in the residential and commercial painting market,” he said at the end of the conversation.

Beck was eventually helped to find happiness by basketball, from which the man never turned away. Basketball training, according to the American, helped him strengthen his relationship with his daughter Coriah, who decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a basketball player; the girl is currently one of the leaders of the basketball team at the University of Memphis.