Kim Yoo-taek (born October 10, 1963 in

Pocheon Pocheon () is an inland city in the far northeastern region of Gyeonggi province in South Korea. It covers 2 with a population of 160,176 people, according to the 2008 census. Pocheon lies between Seoul and the mountainous northwestern areas of Ga ...

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi-do (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Its name, ''Gyeonggi'', means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, ''Gyeonggi-do'' can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul". Seoul, the na ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

) is a former South Korean

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. Although positioned as a center due to his height, Kim possessed the ball-handling skills of a guard and was equally capable of playing inside and outside. He is considered one of the greatest Asian centers to ever play the game, along with

Carlos Loyzaga Carlos "Caloy" Matute Loyzaga (August 29, 1930 – January 27, 2016) was a Filipino basketball player and coach. He was the most dominant basketball player of his era in the Philippines and is considered as the greatest Filipino basketball playe ...

and

Yao Ming Yao Ming (; born September 12, 1980) is a Chinese basketball executive and former professional player. He played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Associat ...

Early life

Kim began playing basketball because his high school team lacked tall players and recruited him. He played for Myongji High School, whose basketball team was still relatively new.

Career

Kim attended

Chung-Ang University Chung-Ang University (CAU; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. It is widely regarded as one of the best universities in South Korea. The university operates two campuses: main campus located in Dongjak District, Seoul, and a ...

alongside

Han Ki-bum Han Ki-bum (born 7 June 1964) is a South Korean basketball player. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as S ...

and

Hur Jae Hur Jae (born September 28, 1965) is a South Korean retired basketball coach and former player. His playing and coaching career combined spanned over three decades, beginning during the semi-professional era and coinciding with the establishmen ...

. He, Hur and

Kang Dong-hee Kang Dong-hee (born 20 December 1966) is a South Korean former basketball player and coach. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics. In his prime, Kang was regarded as the best domestic point guard of his generation and w ...

, dubbed the "Hur-Dong-Taek Trio", formed the offensive core of the Chung-Ang University team which dominated college basketball during the 1980's. He joined the Busan-based amateur team of Kia Motors, the predecessor of

Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus The Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League. History Foundation and amateur era Before the professional Korean Basketball League was established in 1997, domestic basketball was an amateur ...

. Hur and Kang later joined him and the "Hur-Dong-Taek Trio" led Busan Kia to dominate the pre- KBL era competition. In 1996, he reached 4,000 career points. With the founding of the professional league (

Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League (KBL; ) is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular season. H ...

) in 1997, Kim stayed on with the team and retired in 2000. He was the oldest professional player at that time. After retirements of Hur and Kang, the media dubbed it the "end of an era". Busan Kia Enterprise retired his number 14 jersey in 2000, a legacy carried on by its successor team

. He was nicknamed "Stork" (황새) due to his gangly stature and the fact that his ability on the court belied his meticulous and strict appearance.

Post-retirement career

In 2002, Kim was appointed head coach of the basketball team at his alma mater Myongji High School. During his first season in charge, he led them to success at the spring championships. He worked as a commentator for

SPOTV SPOTV is a South Korean pay television network, which features sports programming and some sports-related talk shows. Founded in 2010, the network is the fourth non-'free-to-air' broadcaster in South Korea alongside KBS N Sports, MBC Sports+ a ...

Personal life

Kim has two sons who are professional basketball players. He and his first wife divorced and she was granted primary custody of their son

Jin-soo Jin-soo is a Korean unisex given name. Its meaning differs based on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name. There are 48 hanja with the reading "jin" and 67 hanja with the reading "Soo (Korean name), soo" on the South Korean government' ...

, who later adopted his stepfather's surname Choi as an adult.

References

External links

FIBA.com profile
1963 births Living people South Korean men's basketball players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Olympic basketball players of South Korea Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Chung-Ang University alumni Asian Games medalists in basketball Basketball players at the 1986 Asian Games Basketball players at the 1990 Asian Games Basketball players at the 1994 Asian Games South Korean basketball coaches Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus players Korean Basketball League players with retired numbers Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 1986 Asian Games Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games South Korean Buddhists 1994 FIBA World Championship players People from Pocheon Sportspeople from Gyeonggi Province {{Korea-basketball-bio-stub