In 1936, Lithuania applied to become a member of FIBA and take part in international basketball competitions, including EuroBasket 1937, the second European basketball tournament that the Latvia Basketball Association as reigning champions would host in Riga. While Savickus had returned to America, another descendant of Lithuanians would arrive to aid the country's basketball rise. Frank Lubin, who won a gold medal at the first basketball Olympic tournament at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, was invited to visit the Baltic nation by a Lithuanian official in attendance. Going by the Lithuanian name Pranas Lubinas, he spent five months there and served as the country's first knowledgeable coach, helping spread various basketball techniques. Lubinas, along with Zukas, helped the Lithuanians beat the Latvians for the first time, 35 to 27.