Jacek Arlet (English)

Z Historia Wisły

Jacek Arlet

Jacek Arlet (June 19, 1922, Kraków – November 13, 2011, Kraków) was a basketball player for Wisła for 15 years, a representative of Poland, and a participant in the European Championships. He also successfully engaged in other sports: volleyball (Polish national team), soccer, table tennis, and handball. After retiring from sports, he became an activist, including serving as the manager of the basketball team. He was a graduate of Jagiellonian University and is considered one of the legendary figures of Biała Gwiazda (Wisła Kraków).

Beginnings at YMCA

Jacek Arlet was born on June 19, 1922, making him part of the generation whose best years of sports career were overshadowed by World War II. However, despite being only 17 years old in 1939, Arlet had already achieved much in the sports arena.

He began his training at the age of 10 at the YMCA in Kraków. This team was one of the leading teams in Poland at the time, as evidenced by championship titles and the participation of YMCA players in the national team, including the Olympics (Paweł Stok and Edward Szostak in 1936). Jacek Arlet recalls being very impressed by these achievements and admiring those basketball players. Observing YMCA's training sessions, which he found very enjoyable, inspired him to take up basketball.

After a few years, YMCA disbanded all its competitive sections in Poland, including those in Kraków. The exact reasons for this decision are not known, but it affected the Kraków basketball players as well. The older players decided to end their careers, but many younger ones wanted to continue playing. In response to these circumstances, Wisła decided to reactivate its basketball section, which had been suspended in 1933. According to Arlet’s recollections, Adam Obrubański was the initiator, with significant help from Kazimierz Baran, a former YMCA player. Ultimately, a large group of excellent basketball players from the dissolved YMCA section joined the reactivated Wisła section. Among them was Jacek Arlet, marking the beginning of his connection with Biała Gwiazda.

Successes at a Young Age

In 1938, Jacek Arlet was called up to represent Kraków in the City Tournament, which included teams from Wilno, Lwów, Katowice, and Warsaw. He later considered his participation in these games as his greatest sports achievement, as he played in the starting five alongside outstanding basketball players, despite not yet being 17 years old. Kraków won the tournament.

The club also experienced success. Wisła began competing in B-class, which was equivalent to the regional second league. It quickly advanced to A-class, but further success was interrupted by the outbreak of war.

Basketball Player, Volleyball Player, Soccer Player...

Alongside basketball, Jacek Arlet practiced a number of other sports. While still at YMCA, where there were three suitable tables, he played table tennis almost daily. He was even selected twice to represent Kraków. At Wisła, he was a goalkeeper on the junior team—his competitor for the position was Jerzy Jurowicz, who later became one of the best goalkeepers in the country. Football fields also hosted handball— the precursor to today’s handball. In this sport, Arlet played both as a goalkeeper and as a wing player. Additionally, he participated in volleyball.

The combination of training in so many different sports seems incredible, especially today. Jacek Arlet explains that soccer and handball were mainly summer sports, while in the winter “on Thursdays we played table tennis, on Saturdays volleyball, and on Sundays basketball. And that way, I somehow managed to cover these 3 sports.” However, as if that weren’t enough, it should also be noted that in addition to club practice, there were also school exercises.

During the Occupation and After Liberation

During the German occupation, practicing sports became significantly more challenging. Jacek Arlet occasionally played in clandestine football matches organized on the Juvenia field. However, he regularly played volleyball in Swoszowice, where weekly friendly games were held. Traveling to Swoszowice involved some risk, so after a while, this activity ceased. Between 1939 and 1940, basketball was played on the KS Modrzejówka court, which was shielded by surrounding buildings, providing enough safety to hold a tournament in 1940 with Modrzejówka, Wisła, and Cracovia participating. The fact that the first basketball tournaments were organized almost simultaneously with the Germans' expulsion from Kraków highlights how much the players lacked freedom in organizing matches. The first basketball event, the so-called Liberation Cup, was held in February 1945, with Wisła emerging as the winner.

Former pre-war players returned to the team, and younger players joined, leading to a successful resurgence of the reactivated section in national competitions. Jacek Arlet played a significant role in rebuilding Wisła’s prominence with considerable dedication. In 1946, he worked in Silesia – “every Sunday, I traveled to Kraków for the games. And do you know what that meant at the time? Unheated trains, many hours of delay. But nothing stood in the way when it came to securing the championship for Wisła,” he recalled in 1956.

Successes, but Without the Beloved Name "Wisła"

In 1951, Jacek Arlet's team achieved victory in the Central Spartakiad of Sports Associations (considered an unofficial Polish Championship), and in 1952, they secured the national runner-up title and the Polish Cup. These successes were recorded by Gwardia, as Wisła had been incorporated into the Gwardia system in 1949 and, after a while, lost the right to compete under its own name and traditional colors. Arlet reflected on this in a commemorative book for the 50th anniversary: “When I received the Cup [from the Spartakiad], I regretted only that our beloved name Wisła was missing. Because we won this title both for our Gwardia association and for Wisła, which raised us.” He continued, “And I was sure that our name would return.” It might be surprising that such words were published in 1956, but they vividly demonstrate his attachment to the club’s traditions, even in such difficult times.

The circumstances under which the team, including Jacek Arlet, achieved these titles are worth mentioning. In 1951, a three-week training camp was held in Jelenia Góra to prepare for the Spartakiad. According to Arlet, it was thanks to this camp and the excellent coach Groyecki that success was achieved. The tournament was tough, lasting a week, and in the final match, CWKS Gwardia not only needed to win but also to overcome a points deficit. “At the table, manager Jan Janowski and coach Jerzy Groyecki were constantly calculating the points with a slide rule. But we succeeded,” Arlet said. “At the Spartakiad, we lost to Ogniwo [the former name of Cracovia], which was a surprise, and for them, it was a great, intense match. In the end, we won the tournament. The team was quite strong. The Gwardia representation was essentially Wisła except for two colleagues from Warsaw. It was a pretty good lineup for the championship.” Arlet, who was the oldest and only pre-war player, added that the younger generation learned basketball from him. Ludwik Miętta-Mikołajewicz acknowledged this: “When we joined the team, he was already a great authority for us. He was also a very nice and open person, creating good opportunities for us young players, from whom we learned a lot.”

In 1952, Polish representatives were withdrawn from competitions to prepare for the Helsinki Olympics, making Wisła’s (Gwardia’s) situation difficult. The best players were missing, and substitutes had to step up. Arlet's experience was undoubtedly valuable and contributed to the team’s strong performance in the league, where they only lost to Spójnia Łódź. In the Polish Cup, they advanced to the finals. The match against Cracovia, held on an outdoor court where the current football stadium stands, saw considerable confusion. The game ended in a tie, but the referees ruled that Arlet had fouled an opponent in the last second, and free throws determined the rival's victory. Wisła’s officials protested, arguing that the foul occurred after the match had ended. Jacek Arlet himself believed that there was no foul and that another player had taken the free throws. An overtime was scheduled for the next day, but Ogniwo did not appear on the court in disagreement with the decision. In the final against CWKS, victory also came after overtime.

In the National Team

Jacek Arlet represented Poland's national basketball team 19 times, including at two European Championship tournaments. He speaks of this modestly, saying, “There’s no need to brag about playing for the national team; I didn’t accomplish much there,” but the facts are that he and the Polish team placed 9th in Geneva in 1946 and 6th in Prague in 1947.

Initially, Arlet played as a center, due to his physical attributes. However, he later transitioned to the point guard position and acknowledges that his strength in the game was his excellent court vision.

End of Career and Involvement with Wisła

Jacek Arlet ended his sporting career in 1952. As he admits, he eventually felt a lack of enthusiasm for attending training sessions. He decided to dedicate more time to his family, including his two young children. However, this did not mean he parted ways with his beloved club.

In the 1960s, Arlet served as the manager of the basketball team. Under his guidance, the team won the championship title in 1964. The following year, they achieved a notable success that is still fondly remembered. Kraków hosted a tournament called the FIBA Festival, which featured the European All-Stars and Real Madrid. Wisła, which was marking its 60th anniversary with this event, defeated both teams.

Jacek Arlet was a member of the TS Wisła Senior Council for many years. When asked about his attachment to Wisła, he responds: “What is Wisła? I was with Wisła for 15 years. I was as attached to this club as anyone could be. I worried about losses when I stopped playing sports myself. I celebrated victories, and now I pretend not to care whether Wisła wins or loses, but that's not true, because if Wisła plays poorly – no matter the sport – I get anxious. Moreover, it is a great pity that the basketball traditions were not maintained in the men’s team; only the women’s team remains. The men’s team, which won the Polish championship several times and provided many players for the national team, has practically ceased to exist.”