The 1963 Yugoslav First Basketball League season was the 19th season of the Yugoslav First Basketball League. The season ended with OKK Beograd winning the league championship, ahead of KK Partizan. The season began during June 1963 following the end of the 1963 FIBA World Championship in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

where the Yugoslav national team won silver, its first-ever medal at the

FIBA World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

. The national team success led to an increased level of interest in basketball throughout the country as the public eagerly awaited another showdown between the main title contenders — OKK Beograd led by twenty-four-year-old power forward

Radivoj Korać Radivoj Korać ( sr-cyrl, Радивој Кораћ; 5 November 1938 – 2 June 1969) was a Serbian and Yugoslav professional basketball player. He represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internationally. Korać is well-known ...

and KK Olimpija whose on-court leader was twenty-five-year-old point guard

Ivo Daneu Ivo Daneu (born 6 October 1937) is a retired Slovenian professional basketball player and coach. During his playing career, at a height of 1.91 m (6'3") tall, he played at the point guard and shooting guard positions. He represented the Yugoslav ...

Notable events

Early games

The season opened at the outdoor court in

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

in front of packed stands with 3,500 spectators as the home team,

KK Zadar Košarkaški klub Zadar ( en, Zadar Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Zadar or simply Zadar, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zadar, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Ass ...

, took on visitors Lokomotiva Zagreb and won 88-78 behind Željko Troskot's 30 points who thus managed to overshadow the Yugoslav national team members on the floor — his Zadar teammate Pino Djerdja as well as Lokomotiva's Džimi Petričević (29 points) and Dragan Kovačić (19 points). KK Zadar continued the early part of the season in furious fashion, beating

KK Partizan Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, English: Partizan Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Partizan or simply Partizan, is a professional basketball team based in Belgrade, Serbia. It is ...

away in Belgrade followed by facing defending champion

KK Olimpija Košarkarski klub Olimpija ( en, Olimpija Basketball Club) was a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Olimpija has won 23 National League championships, including eight consecutive titles between 1992 and 1999. They ...

away in front of 4,000 fans in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

— Olimpija (without their injured best player

) led 51-37 at the half behind Matija Dermastija's scoring before Zadar managed a complete comeback in the second half for a 97-100 final with Djerdja recording 37 points while Dermastija ended up with 29 points. In contrast to Zadar's red hot early form, defending champion Olimpija performed way below expectations due to Daneu's injury absence, recording three losses in their first four games of the season. Olimpija's early-season losses included a 99-90 defeat away at

whose sharpshooter

Miloš Bojović Miloš Bojović (born December 2, 1981) is a Serbian professional basketball player. He is a 1.98 tall guard who currently plays for Limburg United of the Pro Basketball League The Pro Basketball League (PBL), was the highest tier level profes ...

scored 35 points while Bata Radović added 12.

Classification

The winning roster of

OKK Beograd Omladinski košarkaški klub Beograd ( sr-cyr, Омладински кошаркашки клуб Београд), commonly referred to as OKK Beograd, is a men's professional basketball club based in Belgrade, Serbia. They are currently competi ...

: *

* Milorad Erkić *

Slobodan Gordić Slobodan "Rica" Gordić ( sr-cyr, Слободан "Рица" Гордић; born 28 September 1937)Miodrag Nikolić Miodrag "Sija" Nikolić ( sr-cyr, Миодрaг "Сија" Николић; 22 August 1938 – 17 February 2005) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. He represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internationally. P ...

Trajko Rajković Trajko Rajković ( sr-cyr, Трајко Рајковић; 7 December 1937 – 27 May 1970) was a Yugoslav professional basketball player. He represented Yugoslavia internationally. Playing career Rajković played for OKK Beograd, during their so ...

* Milan Tošić *

Bruno Pavelić Brunislav "Bruno" Pavelić ( sr-cyr, Брунислав "Бруно" Павелић; 4 March 1937 – 28 September 2021), was a Serbian basketball player. Playing career Pavelić grew up playing basketball with KK Lokomotiva Zemun. Also, he occ ...

Ljubomir Stanković Ljubomir "Ljubiša" Stanković ( sr-cyr, Љубомир "Љубиша" Станковић; 1945–2011), was a Serbian basketball player and administrator who spent his entire basketball career with OKK Beograd. Playing career Stanković spent ...

* Momčilo Pazmanj * Branko Kosović * Miodrag Ivačković * Dušan Gajin Coach:

Aleksandar Nikolić Aleksandar "Aca" Nikolić ( sr-cyr, Александар "Аца" Николић; 28 October 1924 – 12 March 2000) was a Serbian professional basketball player and coach. He was also a professor at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Sp ...

Scoring leaders

(OKK Beograd) – 621 points (34.5 ppg) # ??? # ???

Qualification in 1963-64 season European competitions

FIBA European Champions Cup *

(Champions)

References

{{Basketball in Yugoslavia Yugoslav First Basketball League seasons