Jiří Zídek Sr.
Jiří Zídek Sr. (born February 8, 1944) is a Czech retired professional basketball player. At 6'9" (2.06 m), Zídek was a talented center, and is considered by many to arguably be the best Czech basketball player ever. He was named the Best Czech Player of the 20th Century. He was among the 105 player nominee list for the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors list. His son, Jiri Zidek Jr., won the EuroLeague title with Žalgiris, in 1999. They are to this day, the only father and son to have reached a EuroLeague title game as players. He was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2019.
 Zídek, with the Czechoslovak basketball team. | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 8 February 1944 Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia | ||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Czech | ||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 220 lb (100 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1962–1979 | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Center | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||
| 1962–1969 | Slavia VŠ Praha | ||||||||||||||||
| 1969–1970 | Dukla Olomouc | ||||||||||||||||
| 1970–1977 | Slavia VŠ Praha | ||||||||||||||||
| 1977–1979 | Slavia VŠT Košice | ||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||
Czechoslovak League career stats leaders
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Medals
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Club career
Zídek helped Slavia Prague make it all the way to the EuroLeague Final in 1966. He scored 22 points in the final, to lead all scorers, but Simmenthal Milano stood in his way for the EuroLeague crown, winning the game by a score of 77–72. Zídek also helped Slavia reach the 1967 EuroLeague semifinals, and win the 1969 Final of the FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup. He also starred for Slavia in front of 80,000 fans, in Athens, at the 1968 FIBA Saporta Cup Final, against AEK Athens – one of the biggest crowds in basketball history.
National team career
Zídek helped to lead the senior men's Czechoslovak national team to a EuroBasket silver medal at the 1967 EuroBasket, where he was voted to the All-Tournament Team. He averaged 13.8 points per game in the tournament. His best game of that tournament was the final, which was lost against the Soviet Union national team, by a score of 89–77, in which he scored 23 points. He was also the leader of the Czechoslovak national team, when they won the bronze medal at the 1969 EuroBasket, where he averaged 12.6 points per game.
He also competed in the men's tournament at the 1972 Summer Olympics.[1]
References
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Jiří Zídek Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2018.