Lajos Engler

Lajos "Lala" Engler (Serbian Cyrillic: Лајош "Лала" Енглер; 20 June 1928 – 1 May 2020), also credited as Lajoš Engler, was a Serbian teacher and basketball player. He represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internationally.

Lajos Engler
Engler playing for Partizan
Personal information
Born(1928-06-20)20 June 1928
Bátaszék, Kingdom of Hungary[1]
Died1 May 2020(2020-05-01) (aged 91)
Zrenjanin, Serbia
NationalitySerbian
Career information
NBA draft1950 / Undrafted
Playing career1946–1963
PositionGuard
Number4, 7
Career history
1946–1947Proleter Zrenjanin
1948–1953Partizan
1954–1963Proleter Zrenjanin
Career highlights and awards
  • Yugoslav League champion (1956)

Playing career

Engler started to play basketball for team Proleter Zrenjanin of the Yugoslav Basketball League. In 1948 he moved to the Belgrade-based team Partizan where he played until 1953. In 1954, he moved back to Proleter.

During his second stint with Proleter he won the National Championships in the 1956 season.[2] Engler was a part of the group of players known as the Proleter's Five, which included himself, Milutin Minja, Ljubomir Katić, Dušan Radojčić, and Vilmos Lóczi.[3][4]

National team career

Engler was a member of the Yugoslavia national team that participated at the 1950 FIBA World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Over three tournament games, he averaged 1.0 point per game.[5] The World Championship in Argentina was the inaugural tournament. At the 1953 FIBA European Championship in Moscow, the Soviet Union, he averaged 6.5 points per game over eight tournament games.[6] At the 1954 FIBA World Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he averaged 5.8 points per game over five tournament games.[7] At the 1957 FIBA European Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria, he averaged 4.8 points per game over nine tournament games.[8]

Engler played 78 games for the national team.[9]

Post-playing career

After retirement, Engler worked as a teacher of German language in the Zrenjanin Grammar School.[9]

Engler died on 1 May 2020 in Zrenjanin.[10][11]

Career achievements and awards
  • In the 2015 Serbian sports drama We Will Be the World Champions Engler is portrayed by Lazar Jovanov.[14]
  • The 2016 Serbian documentary, Šampioni iz pedeset i šeste (transl. The 1956 Champions), portrays Engler and the achievements of the Proleter basketball team in the mid 1950s and how they won the Yugoslav Championship in 1956.[15][16][17]

References
  1. Elhunyt Engler Lajos (1928–2020)
  2. "Košarkaška prvenstva Jugoslavije (1945-91) – treći deo". strategija.org. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  3. "DISKRETNI ŠARM ŠAMPIONA I VIRTUOZA POD OBRUČIMA". sportinfo.rs. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  4. "Košarkaško prisećanje: Proleter Zrenjanin 1956". utakmica.rs. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  5. "1950 Yugoslavia 5 - Lajos Engler". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  6. "1953 Yugoslavia 15 - Lajos Engler". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  7. "1954 Yugoslavia 7 - Lajos Engler". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  8. "1957 Yugoslavia 7 - Lajos Engler". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  9. "Sportski spomenar, košarkaš Lajoš Engler". rts.rs. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  10. "Lajoš Engler: Odlazak poslednjeg Mohikanca". Koš magazine. 1 May 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  11. "UMRO BIVŠI KOŠARKAŠ PARTIZANA! Preminuo član legendarne petorke domaće košarke o kojoj je čak snimljen i FILM!". sport.blic.rs. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  12. "Lajoš Engler – Dali smo sve od sebe, nadamo se da smo vam uzor". ilovezrenjanin.com. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  13. "Zrenjanin u znaku košarke". kss.rs. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  14. "We Will Be the World Champions (2015) Full Cast & Crew". imdb.com. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  15. "Šampioni iz pedeset i šeste". kss.rs. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  16. "Film Šampioni iz pedeset šeste prikazan u Ljubljani". zrenjanin.org.rs. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  17. "ŠAMPIONI IZ PEDESET I ŠESTE". on YouTube. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
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