Slobodan "Boban" Janković ( sr-cyr, Слободан "Бобан" Јанковић; December 15, 1963 – June 28, 2006) was a Serbian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. His son,

Vlado Janković Vladimir "Vlado" Janković ( gr, Βλαδίμηρος "Βλάντο" Γιάνκοβιτς, Vladimiros "Vlando" Yankovits, sr, Владимир "Владо" Јанковић; born March 3, 1990) is a Greek-Serbian professional basketball player fo ...

, is also a professional basketball player.

Early life

At the age of 7, Janković moved to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Professional basketball career

Janković (nicknamed Bomber)ACB.com 'Boban' Jankovic, el guerrero sin alas .
/ref> joined his first professional basketball club,

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in B ...

of the

Yugoslavian Basketball League The First Federal Basketball League () was the highest tier level men's professional club basketball competition in SFR Yugoslavia. Founded in 1945 and folded in 1992 (1991-92 Winer Broker YUBA League), it was run by the Basketball Federation ...

in 1980, still short of his 17th birthday. Over the next 10 seasons, he grew into a dependable 6'7" (2.01 m)

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...

. In 1990, he transferred to the Yugoslavian Basketball League club

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

, but he stayed there for only one season.

Panionios accident

In 1992, the head coach of

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan- Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis'') ...

Vlade Đurović Vlade Đurović ( sr-cyr, Владе Ђуровић; born 16 May 1948) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. Early life Born in 1948 to Bosnian Serb parents Danilo Đurović from Sokolac and Mileva Cerović from Rogatica� ...

, Janković's mentor from his Red Star days, was instrumental in bringing him to the

Greek Basketball League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

club. During the 1992–93 season, the 29-year-old Janković enjoyed a good run of playing form and success with Panionios. On April 28, 1993, Janković injured himself during a Greek League playoff game between Panionios and

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

Nea Smyrni Nea Smyrni ( el, Νέα Σμύρνη, ''Néa Smýrni'', "New Smyrna") is a municipality in South Athens, Greece. At the 2011 census, it had 73,076 inhabitants. It was named after İzmir in Turkey, which Greek's called it as Smyrna, whence many ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece, on the home court of Panionios. The injury occurred eight minutes before the end of a tense playoff match. Janković thought he scored a basket on a drive to the hoop while being guarded by Panathinaikos player

Fragiskos Alvertis Fragiskos "Frankie" Alvertis (alternate spelling: Fragkiskos, el, Φραγκίσκος "Φράνκι" Αλβέρτης; born June 11, 1974) is a Greek former professional basketball player and general manager of Panathinaikos Athens. As a playe ...

. However, the referee Stelios Koukoulekidis, called an

offensive foul In basketball, a personal foul is a breach of the rules that concerns illegal personal contact with an opponent. It is the most common type of foul in basketball. A player fouls out on reaching a limit on personal fouls for the game and is disqual ...

on him. It was Janković's fifth foul of the game, which meant that he had fouled out. In reaction to what he believed was a bad call at a crucial moment of a very important playoff game, Janković slammed his head hard against the padded concrete goal post. He permanently damaged his

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

and was unable to walk for the rest of his life.GalanisSportsData.com Person: Mr. Boban Jankovic.
Janković made an emotional return to Panionios in October 1993 when he attended a Greek Basket League game against Olympiakos at which the Panionios supporters repeatedly chanted his name and the wave of emotion carried Panionios to the 83-72 win. Janković was in tears as he was wheeled onto court to receive the acclaim of the stadium. Panionios retired his number 8 jersey.

Death

After using a wheelchair for the final 13 years of his life, Janković gained weight, which exerted much stress on his heart. He died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

at the age of 42, on June 28, 2006, while on a holiday cruise on the Greek island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

References

External links