• According to a book about basketball in Finland by Mikko Simon, BYU has the distinction of being the first NCAA Division I school to have an overseas player on its roster when Timo Lampen, a native of Lahti, Finland, took the court for the Cougars in 1961.

• BYU also boasts the first foreign All-American in Cosic, who will have his BYU jersey retired on March 4. The Zadar, Yugoslavia, native played on the Cougar varsity team from 1971-73 and earned six All-America citations and three first-team All-Western Athletic Conference awards.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/635188377/International-players-at-BYU.html

Longtime BYU trainer Ollie Julkunen, a native of Finland, said the Finnish Pipeline began when a former player, Robert Peterson, served a mission to Finland. Peterson later married a Finnish girl and made Finland his home. Working with the Olympic movement there, Peterson, who is now retired, would tip BYU coaches off about talented players in the Northern European nation of five million residents.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/599080/Ahlbom-is-the-latest-in-Ys-Finnish-line.html