When the Grateful Dead Sponsored Olympic Basketball

Tie-dyes and the birth of a new nation

Bronze winners at the 1992 Olympics, the Lithuanian basketball team accept their medals wearing Grateful Dead tie-dyes.

"It was a victory of innocents," says Dennis McNally, the Grateful Dead's publicist, as he recalls the historic event in conversation with Rmagazine.

In 1992, the iconic Grateful Dead music band helped sponsor Lithuania’s national basket…