Remembering Boris Kristančič – one of the fathers of Yugoslavian basketball

Tuesday, 21. November 2017 at 11:00

On this day, one of the most important men of the basketball of former Yugoslavia, came to life – Boris Kristančič was born in Skopje!

Boris Kristancic

Today is the day, when we happily remember one of the key figures in the rise of the former Yugoslavian basketball on its way to World’s top. Boris Kristančič was born in Skopje at the beginning of 1930’s and as it turned out this was the day that blessed all of the fans of basketball from the former Yugoslavia.

Kristančič, a former basketball player and coach, that left an uneraseable mark former Yugoslavian basketball, was due to his influence on blossom of basketball, especially in Slovenia, but also Yugoslavia, that became one of the World's basketball superpowers, often called the father of Slovenian basketball.

For many years he played for Petrol Olimpija and Yugoslavia national team, later also coached the team from Ljubljana and was also the president of the technical committee of Yugoslavian Basketball Federation and the head of the organizing committee of 1970 World Cup in Ljubljana, where Yugoslavia national basketball team became the World Champion for the first time, coached by Ranko Žeravica, who as it has turned out tragically, passed away on the same day as Kristančič, last year.

However, even with him being gone, we remain grateful for his vast contribution to our beautiful game of basketball.

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