Bob Weir is gone, but he and the Grateful Dead will forever live on in the hearts of Lithuania and its basketball fans.
When the family of the legendary band’s co-founder announced his death at age 78, it brought back memories of when he and the Dead helped sponsor the Lithuanian Olympic basketball team to compete at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The event came less than a year after the country gained independence from the Soviet Union — a sometimes bloody breakup that included the Vilnius massacre of January 1991.
RIP the great Bob Weir, talented singer, songwriter and co-founded the @GratefulDead
Lithuania will always remain thankful 🙏for the Group’s sponsorship of the Lithuanian Men’s Basketball Team for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, providing funds and iconic tie-dye jerseys… pic.twitter.com/RsqbgpaK7O
— Kęstutis Vaškelevičius (@VaskeleviciusK) January 12, 2026
The Lithuanians fielded a talented roster that included future NBA players Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Arvydas Sabonis, father of current Sacramento Kings star Domantas Sabonis.
Before their country gained independence, Lithuanians played for the USSR team following the Soviet takeover of the country after World War II. They were often among the best players on the team and led the Soviets to medals in every Summer Olympics, except when the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
“During the period of Soviet occupation, basketball for Lithuanians was more than just a sport,” Kęstutis Vaškelevičius, Ambassador of Lithuania in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, told The Athletic. “It was part of our national identity and an inspiration that Lithuania would become independent again soon. Therefore, the national team’s appearance at the first Olympic Games after the re-establishment of independence was a truly historic event for us all.”
In 1988, MarÄŤiulionis and Sabonis led the Soviets past the Americans in the semifinals before beating Yugoslavia for the gold medal. That was the last Games in which Team USA did not feature NBA players.
However, while the Lithuanians had hoop skills, they didn’t have enough money to compete as an independent nation four years later in Barcelona. To get his team into the Games, Marčiulionis, who signed with the Golden State Warriors in 1989, began fundraising in the Bay Area with then-Warriors assistant Donnie Nelson (son of legendary head coach Don Nelson).
Sarunas MarÄŤiulionis was the first Lithuanian player to sign with an NBA team, joining the Golden State Warriors in 1989.
The Grateful Dead — formed in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1965 by Weir, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Ron McKernan and Bill Kreutzmann — saw an article about the fundraising efforts in the San Francisco Chronicle and decided to help. Through the band’s nonprofit, the Rex Foundation, they gave the Lithuanians $5,000 and a box of tie-dye T-shirts.
Helping an Olympic basketball team was categorically different than Rex’s other sponsorships.
“The Lithuanian basketball team, these aren’t homeless people. This isn’t a soup kitchen,” Weir said in a news conference in 1995. “But at the same time, here’s something that can do a lotta good for a lotta people. That whole country of Lithuania can have a spirit of national identity, and these people can go to the Olympics.”
Another major sponsor of the team was New York artist Greg Speirs, who also learned of the fundraising campaign to get the Lithuanians to the Barcelona Games. In homage to the Dead, Speirs created tie-dye shirts with an image of a dunking skeleton and the colors of the Lithuanian flag, a version of which still sells. The shirts sold like crazy, and Speirs donated $450,000 in profits to the team and Lithuanian charities.
“It’s really difficult to understand the magnitude and the significance and the impact and the power of what went down with those shirts,” Hall of Famer Bill Walton told USA Today.
Marčiulionis, Sabonis and the Lithuanian “dream team” went on to win bronze in the 1992 Games, while the U.S. “Dream Team” — led by Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and other superstars — cruised to the gold. Toni Kukoč and the Croatians took silver.
The Lithuanians came out to the medal ceremony wearing the tie-dye shirts designed by Speirs — affirming a connection to the Dead that continues to this day.
Artūras Karnišovas, a forward who averaged 11.2 points per game during Lithuania’s bronze-medal run, called the 1992 Games “a truly special time in my life.” Karnišovas is now executive vice president of basketball operations for the Chicago Bulls.
“The chance to represent Lithuania as an independent country after so many years made it even more meaningful,” Karnišovas told The Athletic. “What Bob Weir and the Grateful Dead did for us is something I will never forget, and we, both as a team and as a country, are incredibly grateful for their support. Without it, we probably wouldn’t have had the means to train, travel, or even qualify for the 1992 Olympics. At the time, I was just a college sophomore. Little did we know that this tie-dyed story and experience would grow into something so powerful and lasting for so many years.”
Led by Sabonis (23.9 points, 12.5 rebounds per game) and Marčiulionis (23.4 points and 8.3 assists), the Lithuanians went 6-2 during the ’92 Games. Their two losses were a 127-76 blowout by the Americans in the semifinals and a 92-80 loss in the preliminary round to the Unified Team, which was a joint squad of athletes from 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics, including Russia.
In the bronze medal game, the Lithuanians got revenge on the Unified Team with an 82-78 victory. MarÄŤiulionis and Sabonis combined for 56 points.
“Our basketball players won the bronze medals, but to us it was a hundred times more valuable than gold,” Vaškelevičius told The Athletic. “It gave the young country confidence and pride. We realized how significant the contribution and support from the Grateful Dead had been.
“Even today, a large part of the younger generation knows this story. The Grateful Dead’s support for Lithuania, both financial and moral, has become an important page in our country’s history.”
Marčiulionis won another Olympic bronze with Lithuania in 1996 and played seven seasons in the NBA for the Warriors, Seattle SuperSonics, Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014. Sabonis was also on the Lithuanian Olympic team in 1996, played seven seasons in the NBA for the Portland Trail Blazers and was inducted into the Hall in 2011.
Weir’s family said he died of “underlying lung issues.” He was diagnosed with cancer in July. His death leaves Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann as the only surviving core members of the band. A public memorial service in his honor is Saturday afternoon at the Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco.