Jiří Zídek Sr. (8 February 1944 – 21 May 2022) was a Czech professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. At tall, Zídek was a talented

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, and is considered by many to be the best Czech basketball player ever. He was named the Best Czech Player of the 20th Century. He was also among the 105 nominees to the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors list. His son, Jiří "George" Zídek Jr., also won the EuroLeague title with Žalgiris, in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

. To this day, they are the only father and son to have reached a EuroLeague title game as players. In 2019, he became the first Czech to be inducted into the

FIBA Hall of Fame The FIBA Hall of Fame, or FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, honors players, coaches, teams, referees, and administrators who have greatly contributed to international competitive basketball. It was established by FIBA, in 1991. It includes the " Samar ...

Playing career

Club career

Zídek helped

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in ...

make it all the way to the EuroLeague's

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in the 1965–66 season. He scored 22 points in the final, to lead all scorers, but

Simmenthal Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

stood in his way for the EuroLeague crown, winning the game by a score of 77–72. Zídek also helped Slavia reach the 1966–67 EuroLeague semifinals, and win the 1968–69 Final of the European-wide secondary level

FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA ...

(FIBA Saporta Cup). He also starred for Slavia in front of 80,000 fans, in

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 ...

, at the 1967–68 FIBA Saporta Cup Final, against

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

– which was one of the biggest crowds in basketball history.

National team career

Zídek helped to lead the senior men's Czechoslovak national team to a silver medal at the

1967 EuroBasket The 1967 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1967, was the fifteenth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. Venues First round Group A – Helsinki Group B – Tampere Knockout ...

, where he was voted to the All-Tournament Team. He averaged 13.8 points per game in the tournament. His best game of that tournament was the final, which was lost against the Soviet Union national team, by a score of 89–77, in which he scored 23 points. He was also the leader of the Czechoslovak national team, when they won the bronze medal at the

1969 EuroBasket The 1969 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1969, was the sixteenth FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. First round Group A – Caserta Group B – Naples Knockout stage Pla ...

, where he averaged 12.6 points per game. He also competed in the men's tournament at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Coaching career

After his playing career, Zídek worked as a

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

References

External links