Antonio Díaz-Miguel Sanz (July 6, 1933 – February 21, 2000) was a Spanish 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 (appro ...

player and coach. He studied in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, and graduated from the University of Bilbao. A pioneer in the worldwide promotion of basketball, he won several coaching awards, and was a frequent basketball lecturer around the world. He was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame, as a coach, on September 29, 1997. 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. Originally built in ...

Basketball playing career

Club career

Although initially a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player in his youth, Díaz-Miguel's physical characteristics, including a 1.86 m (6'1 1 ") barefoot height, and also his determination, contributed to his start in

, as a player, at the Instituto Ramiro de Maeztu Secondary School of Madrid, where the Estudiantes ("students") club was founded in 1950, with pupils and teachers of the school. He was a player of Estudiantes Club of Madrid in 1950–52, and 1953–1958, and later also played with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

(1958–1961), and Águilas Bilbao (1961–1963). He won the top-tier level Spanish Clubs League championship twice, in 1960 and 1961, with

Spain national team

Díaz-Miguel had 27 caps as a player of the senior Spain national basketball team. He won a gold medal at the 1955 Mediterranean Games. He also won a silver medal at the 1959 Mediterranean Games.

Basketball coaching career

Immediately after his retirement from his basketball playing career, Díaz-Miguel started coaching Águilas Bilbao. Following that, he later provisionally, and nearly by chance, became the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the senior Spain National Team, where he managed to develop longstanding success for the team, and the sport of basketball in Spain. He was the head coach of the senior Spain national basketball team, for as long as 27 years (1965–1992). In 431 games coached,En recuerdo de Antonio Díaz Miguel .
/ref> Díaz-Miguel guided the Spain National Team to six

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

tournaments, including a silver medal at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. That was the top classification for the Spain National Team until the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

, when they finished second again. Díaz-Miguel's Spain National teams also participated in 13

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

s and four

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

s, and his team's best finishes were two silver medals ( EuroBasket 1973, EuroBasket 1983), and one bronze medal ( EuroBasket 1991) in the EuroBasket. He also won a silver medal at the 1987 Mediterranean Games. He was named "Spanish Coach of the Year", in 1981 and 1983. Díaz-Miguel was selected as a coach of the FIBA European Selection teams five times.

References

External links

Basketball Hall of Fame ProfileFIBA Hall of Fame Coach ProfileScheda su seleccionbaloncesto.es

Italian League Coach Profile

Antonio Diaz-Miguel, a basketball engineerAntonio Díaz Miguel: El mito del baloncesto español, un adelantado a su época

ANTONIO DIAZ-MIGUEL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz-Miguel, Antonio 1933 births 2000 deaths CB Estudiantes players Centers (basketball) FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Liga ACB head coaches Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Pallacanestro Cantù coaches Power forwards Real Madrid Baloncesto players Spanish basketball coaches Spanish men's basketball players University of the Basque Country alumni Olympic coaches for Spain Sportspeople from Ciudad Real Deaths from cancer in Spain 20th-century Spanish sportsmen