The father of Yugoslav basketball, Aleksandar-Aca Nikolić, died in 2000, today another great man joined him in heaven.
A man who is almost as much responsible for the "queen of games" being so successful in this area as the famous Professor, a man who was called the Father of all coaches - Ranko Žeravica.
The legendary selector of the "Blues" died in Belgrade.
He was 85 years old and had 1980 biggest medals behind him. He won the most important one in XNUMX, when he led Yugoslavia to Olympic gold for the first and last time.
In Moscow that summer, Kićanović, Dalipagić, Slavnić, Delibašić, Ćosić, Radovanović and others scored as many as 825 points in eight games and finally grabbed the most important award.
Žeravica, as coach of the SFRY, won gold at the 1970 World Championship in Ljubljana, and he also took silver medals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the 1967 World Cup in Uruguay, and the 1969 European Championships in Italy and West Germany in 1971, as well as bronze at Mundobasket. in Colombia in 1982.
He left and returned to the bench of Yugoslavia, and in the meantime he created the great Partizan, since in the early '70s he selected a team in which the greats of world basketball Dalipagić and Kićanović were the main leaders.
In the meantime, he created successors and decisively influenced the development of Duda Ivković, Božidar Maljković, Bogdan Tanjević, Svetislav Pešić...
"This is a blow for all of us. Žeravica was a big name, he achieved great results. However, he had heart problems for many years. Such is life. I thank him for everything he gave to basketball. He made me a player, helped me is to become who I am. Thank him once again for everything," said Praja Dalipagić.
He ended his incredible career in 2003 as a 73-year-old in Zaragoza, the club from the city where, besides Belgrade, he spent the most time in recent decades.
He also managed Red Star, Barcelona, Pula, Italian Desio, Napoli and Caserta, as well as Split.
In recent years, he had heart problems, so in 2009 he had to have three bypasses installed.
At the beginning of this year, he barely survived a heart attack in Zaragoza, but his big heart couldn't take it anymore. The basketball great will be buried on Saturday at 14 p.m. in the Alley of the Greats at the New Cemetery in Belgrade.
"The greatest authority of basketball coaches is gone. There were coaches before and after him with similar qualities, but no one was even close to him. In my time, in the 60s and 70s, the mere mention of his name in any country and on any continent it resounded with thunderous tones. Author, connoisseur, lover and visionary were his, and for everyone else, very rare qualities," said Zoran-Moka Slavnić for "Blic".
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