THERE are various Basketball hall of Fame sites here and abroad but not many know that there exists one for international basketball.
It’s called the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Hall of Fame.
Culled from its French name “Federation Internationale de Basketball,” the FIBA is an association of national organizations which governs international competitions in basketball.
It was originally known as the “Federation Internationale de Basketball Amateur” – hence FIBA. However in 1989 the word “amateur” was dropped from its official name when the organization instituted an “open basketball policy” that no longer distinguished an amateur from a professional.
“BA” in FIBA now represents the first two letters of the word “basketball.”
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of its birth, the FIBA formally inaugurated its Hall of Fame on March 1, 2007.
Located in the city of Alcobendas in Madrid, Spain, the FIBA Hall of Fame sits on a five-floor building that covers 2,000 square meters and is an extension of the FIBA Pedro Ferrandiz Foundation, a museum with the objective of preserving the heritage of international basketball.
It was set up upon the initiative of Ferrandiz, the legendary Real Madrid coach and founder and president of the foundation that carries his name.
There are four categories for election to the FIBA Hall of Fame – players (they must be retired from international competitions for at least five years – the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame previously also followed the same policy but it changed it to a four-year wait starting this year), coaches, technical officials (referees and commissioners) and contributors.
The major criterion for selection is outstanding accomplishments in the development of basketball at the international level.
The initial batch of FIBA Hall of Fame members was composed entirely of posthumous inductees.
Among the trailblazing inductees were players Alexander (Sasha) Belov (Russia), Kresimir Cosic (Croatia), Teofilo Cruz (Puerto Rico), Mirza Delibasic (Bosnia), Radivoj Korac (Serbia), Fernando Martin (Spain), Drazen Petrovic (Croatia), Liliana Ronchetti (Italy) and Vanya Voynova (Bulgaria).
Belov is the player best known for scoring the game-winning field goal in the former Soviet Union’s controversial 51-50 victory over the United States in the gold-medal contest during the terrorism-marred 1972 Munich Olympics.
That shattered the Americans’ record-setting 63-game winning streak in Olympic men’s basketball and was their first defeat ever.
Cosic, a 6-foot-11 frontliner who suited up for Brigham University in the U.S., owned various stints with the old Yugoslavia national team during the 1970s, including trips to the Summer Olympics.
Cruz, Brazil’s Oscar Schmidt and Andrew Gaze are the only men’s basketball athletes to have seen action in five Olympic Games.
Cruz made his Olympic debut in Rome in 1960, then returned to Tokyo (Japan) in 1964, Mexico in 1968, Munich (Germany) in 1972 and Montreal (Canada) in 1976.
Martin and Petrovic were the star players on the Spanish and Yugoslavian (later Croatian) national teams, respectively. Both men died at a young age after spending some time in the National Basketball Association.
The 6-foot-10 Martin hooked up with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1986-87. He died in December 1989 at age 27.
The 6-5 Petrovic appeared in four NBA seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers and New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets from 1989-90 through 1992-93. As an NBA rookie, the streak-shooting guard reached the NBA Finals against the eventual champion Detroit Pistons.
Petrovic was the Nets’ leading scorer in his two full seasons in New Jersey and earned an All-NBA third-team selection in 1993. He passed away at age 28 in an auto mishap in Germany in June 1993.
More on the FIBA Hall of Fame next time.
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