Ranko Žeravica ( sr-cyr, Ранко Жеравица; 17 November 1929 – 29 October 2015) was a Serbian professional

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 ...

. With a career that spanned over 50 years, he is most noted for his work with the senior Yugoslav national team, during the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. In particular, Žeravica's single biggest achievement was guiding the country to its first ever major competition win — a gold medal on home soil, at the 1970 FIBA World Championship — leading to a huge expansion of the game of

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 ...

throughout

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. In 2007, he was enshrined 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 ...

Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall The Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall ( sr, Хала спортова Ранко Жеравица, Hala sportova Ranko Žeravica) is a multi-purpose sports arena located in the Belgrade municipality of New Belgrade. Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall, rename ...

was named after him in his honor, in 2016.

Early life

Born to father Milorad, and mother Gordana, in the village of Dragutinovo (before it merged with Beodra into

Novo Miloševo Novo Miloševo () is a village located in the Novi Bečej municipality, in the Central Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the Province of Vojvodina. The village has a Serb majority (76.09%) with an ethnic Hungarian minority (14.57%). I ...

), Žeravica's education started in his village and continued in

Kikinda Kikinda ( sr-Cyrl, Кикинда, ; hu, Nagykikinda) is a city and the administrative center of the North Banat District in Serbia . The city urban area has 38,069 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 59,453 inhabitants. The c ...

, where he traveled every day by train. His family stemmed from

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...

by ancestry, having moved several generations before his birth to the

Mošorin Mošorin ( sr-cyr, Мошорин; hu, Mozsor) is a village located in the Titel municipality, South Bačka District, Vojvodina, Serbia. The village has a Serbs, Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 2,569 people (as of 2011 census ...

area, where they became wealthy farmers and land owners.

Coaching career

Club coaching career

After he ended his basketball playing career, Žeravica worked as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of various

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

s throughout his career. He won the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

championship in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, and the

Yugoslav League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League (Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

championship in 1996.

Yugoslavia national basketball team

Žeravica was the head coach of the senior men's

Yugoslavia national basketball team The Yugoslavia men's national basketball team ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Košarkaška reprezentacija Jugoslavije, Кошаркашка репрезентација Југославије; sl, Jugoslovanska košarkarska reprezentanca; mk, ...

to gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympic Games and 1970 FIBA World Championship; as well as to silver medals at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games,

1967 FIBA World Championship The 1967 FIBA World Championship was the 5th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. It was hosted by Montevideo, Uruguay from 27 May to 11 June 1967. Venues Competing nations Competition form ...

, 1969 EuroBasket, and 1971 EuroBasket. He also coached Yugoslavia to the bronze medal at the 1982 FIBA World Championship. He was also the head coach of Yugoslavia at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games and the 1967 EuroBasket. * 1967–72

* ......1980

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

(technical adviser) * ......1982

Health problems and death

Ranko Žeravica had a history of cardiac problems. In 2009, he suffered a heart attack and had a triple bypass surgery. In early 2015, he was admitted to hospital due, to chest pain and was diagnosed with a mild heart attack. He had a coronary stent surgery and was soon discharged from hospital. Žeravica died, aged 85, on 29 October 2015, at his Belgrade home.

In popular culture

* In the 2015 Serbian sports drama ''

We Will Be the World Champions ''We Will Be the World Champions'' ( sr, Бићемо прваци света, Bićemo prvaci sveta) is a 2015 Serbian sports drama film directed by Darko Bajić. It was one of six films shortlisted by Serbia to be their submission for the Acade ...

'', Žeravica was portrayed by

Sergej Trifunović Sergej Trifunović ( sr-cyr, Сергеј Трифуновић, ; born 2 September 1972) is a Serbian actor, comedian, singer, politician and citizen activist.

.Full Cast & Crew of We Will Be the World Champions
/ref>

References

External links

FIBA Hall of Fame page on Žeravica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeravica, Ranko 1929 births 2015 deaths Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery FC Barcelona Bàsquet coaches FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Juvecaserta Basket coaches KK Crvena zvezda assistant coaches KK Crvena zvezda head coaches KK Crvena Zvezda executives KK Partizan coaches KK Split coaches Liga ACB head coaches BKK Radnički coaches BKK Radnički players Serbian expatriate basketball people in Croatia Serbian expatriate basketball people in Italy Serbian expatriate basketball people in Spain Serbian men's basketball coaches Serbian men's basketball players Yugoslav basketball coaches Yugoslav men's basketball players