Radivoj Korać

Radivoj Korać
Korać, in 1967.
Personal information
Born (1938-11-05)5 November 1938
Sombor, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died 2 June 1969(1969-06-02) (aged 30)
Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality Yugoslav
Listed height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight 207 lb (94 kg)
Career information
NBA draft 1960 / Undrafted
Playing career 1954–1969
Position Power forward
Number 5, 14
Career history
1954–1967 OKK Beograd
1967–1968 Standard Liège
1968–1969 Petrarca Padova
Career highlights and awards
FIBA Hall of Fame as player
Medals
Representing  Yugoslavia
Men's Basketball
Summer Olympic Games
1968 Mexico CityNational Team
FIBA World Cup
1963 Brasil National Team
1967 Uruguay National Team
EuroBasket
1961 Yugoslavia National Team
1963 Poland National Team
1965 Soviet Union National Team
The Žućko's left trophy, that was awarded to the winner of FIBA Radivoj Korać Cup.

Radivoj Korać (Serbian Cyrillic: Радивој Кораћ; 5 November 1938 – 2 June 1969), sometimes also Radivoje, was a Yugoslav professional basketball player. Korać is well known for holding the EuroLeague's all-time single-game scoring record, at 99 points scored, in a game versus Alvik Basket, during the 1964–65 season,[1] and for once making 100 out of 100 free throws on a live television show in Belgium.[2]

Korać died in a car crash in 1969, at the age of 30, and FIBA Europe later established the European-wide third-tier level FIBA Radivoj Korać Cup, in his remembrance, in 1971. Korać was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. In 2002, the Basketball Federation of Serbia named its top national domestic cup competition, the Radivoj Korać Cup, after him. He was enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007, and was named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors the following year.

Club career

Korać was born in Sombor, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He started playing for OKK Beograd, at the age of 16, and played as a left-handed forward-center. Popularly nicknamed, Žućko ('Ginger'), he became one of the best, if not the best, player of the Yugoslav League in the 1960s. In 1960, Korać was named The Best Athlete of Yugoslavia, and Yugoslav Sportsman of the Year. He was the best scorer of the Yugoslav League for seven seasons, which is a record, and he had a career scoring average in the Yugoslav league of 32.7 points per game.[3]

He reached various FIBA European Champions' Cup competitions with OKK Beograd. Korać was named a part of the best European selection, in both 1964 and 1965. In a two-game playoff series against Swedish League champions Alvik Basket, during the 1964–65 season of the FIBA European Champions' Cup (EuroLeague), he scored 170 points. He scored 71 points in the first game of the series, and 99 points in the second game of the series, for a series scoring average of 85 points per game.[4]

Yugoslav national team

Korać entered into the senior Yugoslavian national basketball team in 1958, and went on to win five silver medals, and one bronze medal with them, in a total of 157 international games. He was the EuroBasket's Top Scorer 4 times (1959, 1961, 1963, 1965), and was named the MVP of EuroBasket 1961.

He won the silver medal at both the 1963 FIBA World Championship, and the 1967 FIBA World Championship. He was the Top Scorer of the 1960 Summer Olympic Games.[5] He won the silver medal at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games. With Yugoslavia's senior men's national team, he had 157 caps, and scored 3,153 points, for a scoring average of 20.1 points per game.[6]

Personal

Away from the basketball court, Korać enjoyed theatre, music, and reading books. He was a senior undergraduate, from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (ETF), at the University of Belgrade. Surprisingly, he once turned down a contract offer to play with Red Star Belgrade.

Death and legacy

On Monday 2 June 1969, Korać died in a car crash, just outside of Sarajevo, on the road between Vogošća and Semizovac. The Yugoslav Basketball Federation decided that no basketball games would be played in Yugoslavia, on the 2nd of June again.

In 1971, FIBA Europe established the FIBA Radivoj Korać Cup. After the third-tier level European-wide Cup folded in the year 2002, the basketball federation of Serbia and Montenegro renamed its national domestic cup competition to Kup Radivoja Koraća, a name it still carries today in Serbia.

  • In 2011, Serbian biopic and semi-documentary film, Ginger: More Than a Game, Korać is portrayed by Vladimir Aleksić.[7] The film tells the story of his life.[8]
  • In 2015, Serbian sports drama, We Will Be the World Champions, Korać is portrayed by Dejan Dedić.[9] Dedić also reprised his role in the 2016 Serbian TV series Prvaci sveta.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Radivoj Korac's 99 points.
  2. ↑ Сећање на легендарног стрелца (The memory of the legendary shooter (in English)), RTS, June 1, 2009 (in Serbian).
  3. ↑ РАДИВОЈЕ КОРАЋ - ЖУЋКО (in Serbian). Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Euroleague.net Radivoj Korac's 99 points.
  5. ↑ FIBA.com 1960 Olympic Games: Tournament For Men.
  6. ↑ Сећање на легендарног стрелца (The memory of the legendary shooter (in English)), RTS, June 1, 2009 (in Serbian).
  7. ↑ Ginger: More Than a Game
  8. ↑ 'Ginger' Movie Premiere At The EuroBasket
  9. ↑ Full Cast & Crew of We Will Be the World Champions
  10. ↑ Full Cast & Crew of Prvaci sveta
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