Ranko Žeravica was buried

Serbian and Yugoslav basketball legend Ranko Žeravica, who died on Thursday at the age of 86, was buried today in the Alley of Deserving Citizens at the New Cemetery in Belgrade.

The president of the Basketball Federation of Serbia (KSS), Dragan Đilas, said at the commemoration held in the Assembly of Belgrade that Serbian basketball lost a lot.

"We gathered on this sad occasion, to pay tribute to one of the people without whom Serbian and Yugoslav basketball would not be what they are today. He brought Yugoslavia Olympic and world gold, a handful of medals from major competitions. He made with some other great people what that Yugoslav basketball was in world basketball for decades, and now new countries have continued on that path," Đilas said.

Đilas, together with the general secretary of the KŠ, Dejan Tomašević, presented the medal to Žeravica's grandson.

Manolo Flores, basketball coach and Žeravica's friend from Spain who came as a representative of Barcelona, ​​said that it was a different country for him and that in just two years at the Catalan club he left an indelible mark.

"Know that all the players who passed through his hands have beautiful memories of Ranko and all that he meant to them. What Ranko meant to Barcelona was best described a few days ago by a Spanish journalist, who wrote that Zeravica is for Barcelona was in basketball what Johan Cruyff was in football. There are coaches who win something and pass, but Ranko is one of those who come and change the club. He was with us for only two years, but he succeeded in making 50-60 percent of us player stays at the club for 10 years," said Flores.

"You know more about his coaching qualities than I do. He taught us not only basketball, but also work, discipline and team spirit. For these 40 years, whenever we could, we looked for him in the hall, we always asked where he was, and when we found him, he had a word for each of us to lift us up and motivate us. We will never forget him, he will always be in our hearts," added Flores.

A large number of people attended the commemoration, including Borislav Staković, Dejan Bodiroga, Vlade Đurović, Bogdan Tanjević, Božidar Maljković, Dražen Dalipagić, Mirko Novosel, Miroslav Nikolić, Zoran Slavnić and others.