Boris Kristančič - his impact on our basketball tradition will never be forgotten

Wednesday, 21. November 2018 at 10:00

Legendary Boris Kristančič – one of key figures of not only Slovenian basketball, but basketball of the entire region, has been born 87 years ago in Skopje. It was a true blessing for the sporting fans in former Yugoslavia, as he was an important piece of the puzzle that made Yugoslavia World basketball superpower.

Boris Kristancic

The November 21 in 1931 will forever be known as the day when one of the key architects of the success story called Yugoslavian basketball, came to life in Skopje, Macedonia. Boris Kristančič, later many times Yugoslav national club champion with Olimpija, both as player and a coach, was born.

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, in 2016.

However, his vast contribution to our beautiful game of basketball will never be forgotten in our hearts.

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