Jonas Juozas Žukas (October 29, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois - July 7, 1981)"New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24KK-H33 : 2 March 2021), Joseph Zukas, 1937; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.)."United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KWYT-LPH : 8 January 2021), Joseph J Zukas in household of John Zukas, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 103-954, sheet 5A, line 9, family 78, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 949. was a Lithuanian basketball and tennis player.
Biography
Žukas lived in northern Chicago, near Ogden Park, and was known as Joseph "Joe" Zukas. His first visit to Lithuania was in 1930, where he worked as a sports instructor in the physical culture department in Kaunas.CHICAGO NET STAR FINDS LITHUANIA A WONDERFUL PLACE TO LIVE He would later be part of a delegation of Lithuanian American athletes from Chicago that went to the 1935 World Lithuanian Congress in Kaunas, and stayed there teaching tennis and being a part of the national basketball team.http://draugas.org/key_dnlh/lh/issues/2012-09-15-LHERITAGE.pdfThe Motherland, the Godfather, and the Birth of a Basketball Dynasty: American Efforts to Promote Basketball in Lithuania He played basketball for CJSO Kaunas.
In 1939, he returned to the United States, and lived in Tucson, Arizona, where he died on July 7, 1981.
He won a gold medal with the Lithuania men's national basketball team during the EuroBasket 1937 in Riga, Latvia.
State awards Knight's Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great (1937)
References Footnotes
Bibliography Vidas Mačiulis, Vytautas Gudelis. Halė, kurioje žaidė Lubinas ir Sabonis. 1939–1989 – Respublikinis sporto kombinatas, Kaunas, 1989