Jacques Dessemme took up basketball at a young age and spent his entire career with his hometown team of EV Bellegarde. Although his team never won a domestic championship, Dessemme earned the distinction of being the premiere league’s top scorer during the 1952-1953 season. He had much more success on the international level, being part of three French medal-winning teams at EuroBasket: silver in 1949 and bronze in 1951 and 1953. He also took part in the basketball tournament at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where France was eliminated in round two and classified eighth overall. He also played at two editions of the World Championships, in 1950 and 1954 (where France finished sixth and fourth respectively), and overall his international career lasted from 1948 through 1956. He was elected local sportsman of the century in his hometown in 2000, and also received the gold medal of the French Federation of Basketball in 1989.
France