01 January, 1956

Uvais Akhtayev, 'The Giant of Soviet Basketball', in action. Akhtayev was born in Chechnya in 1930. In 1946, after his graduation from Alma-Ata College of Physical Education, he started to play basketball for the national team of Kazakhstan.

According to contemporaries, Akhtayev's appearance on the court was a real sensation. Akhtayev, who was 229 cm tall and weighed 196 kg, towered over the other players who measured, at the most, 190 cm. His sports career ended when he was not yet 30, due to his failing health. He died in Grozny in 1978.