Creator of iconic trademark, Greg Speirs embraces Lithuanian basketball culture
September 27, 2012 – Los Angeles, CA – The anticipated basketball documentary The Other Dream Team will hit select theaters and premiere this Friday, September 28th at Sunshine Cinema on 143 E. Houston Street in New York.
Directed and produced by Marius Markevicius and Jon Weinbach, The Other Dream Team is a sports and political documentary about the national Lithuanian 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 Communist rule. As they hid 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 the infamous tie-dyed uniforms worn by the Lithuanian Olympic team that feature Speirs’ trademark design, the Slam Dunking Skeleton, now a historic piece of Lithuania’s basketball culture. The t-shirts are currently available at www.skullman.com.
About Greg Speirs
Designer Greg Speirs created the iconic 1992 “Slam Dunking Skullman” skeleton trademark design worn by the 1992 Olympic Men’s Lithuanian basketball team at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics on the medal ceremonies podium.
Once the shirts started selling and became the hottest collectible, he donated 100% of his profits realized from his iconic Slam Dunking Skeleton design to become the major funder of the 1992 Men’s Lithuanian Olympic basketball team and subsequently the major funder of the Lithuanian children’s charities in 1992 and 1993.
The former 1970′s Grooves Music Magazine Art Director was also commissioned by Prince Albert of Monaco to create art for Monaco Olympic Bobsled Team sleds in 1995 for the World Cup Bobsled Championships, 1995-1997 and for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.
Created and sponsored the American Rugby League Uniforms in 1996-1998.
“The 1992 Lithuanian Basketball Team represents what happens in freedom…people excel. The struggle of the Lithuanian team struck a chord with me so I decided to come up with an image which I believed represented them. The Lithuanian Slam Dunking Skeleton symbolized a team coming up from nothing and the ashes. If you could condense this story down to just one phrase it wouldn’t just be the word Freedom but Freedom and Free Enterprise”-Greg Speirs.
Greg Speirs’ Slam-Dunking Skeleton trademark became a household icon when first seen by the world adorning tie dyed jerseys worn by the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic basketball team at the medal ceremonies in the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics. He acquired the status of being the major sponsor of the team by donating 100% of his profits which were the major funds generated from the sales of his trademarked “Slam Dunking Skeleton” to fund the Lithuanian Olympic basketball team beyond the 1992 season to 1996 Olympics.
He donated all further profits realized to Lithuanian children’s charities which amounted to at least over $450,000. dollars.
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Official website: www.gregspeirs.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/iamskullman
Twitter: www.twitter.com/GregSpeirs