As the basketball players of Team USA go for the gold in London, a new short film recalls the story of the first U.S. basketball team to compete in the Olympics. The year was 1936 and the team included members of the Globe Refiners, an AAU basketball team made up of employees from McPherson's Globe Refining Company.

The Globe Refiners were the team to beat. Tall and talented, they brought new techniques to the game, including the dunk and the zone press. The Refiners, with their rivals the Universal Pictures Universals of Hollywood, California, formed the first U.S. Olympic basketball team.They traveled to Berlin, playing on a clay court in two inches of water, to defeat Canada and take the gold medal.    

The "Oil and Gold" short film chronicles the remarkable journey of the Globe Refiners from a Kansas oil refinery to the gold medal podium. The film premieres on Saturday, August 11 at 7:00 p.m. at the McPherson Opera House. The McPherson CVB produced the film with filmmaker Keith Cantrell through the support of a KHC Humanities grant. More information about the event can be found here. 

For more about the McPherson Globe Refiners, check out this recent article in The Kansas City Star.