Dražen "Praja" Dalipagić (; 27 November 1951 – 25 January 2025) was a Serbian professional basketball player and

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

coach. He was selected the best athlete of Yugoslavia in the year 1978, and is one of the most decorated athletes in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

n history. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. Dalipagić was enshrined into the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

as a player in 2004, and 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 ...

, also as a player, in 2007. In 2008, he was named one of the

50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors The 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008) of FIBA European Champions Cup and EuroLeague history were awarded and chosen on February 3, 2008, in Madrid, Spain. The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary since the founding of the inaugural s ...

. Playing for Partizan, Dalipagić won two Yugoslav league titles, a Yugoslav Cup, and two Korać Cups. He is the club's all-time leading scorer with 8,278 points. In 243 appearances with the Yugoslavia national team (second most) between 1973 and 1986, Dalipagić won 12 medals (second most) including gold medals at the Olympics (1980), World Cup (1978), and EuroBasket (1973, 1975, 1977). During his professional playing career, he scored at least 50 points in a game 15 times. His single-game career scoring high was 70 points scored, achieved during an Italian League game, between Venezia and

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

, on 25 January 1987. He was nicknamed "The Sky Jumper".

Professional career

Dalipagić started playing basketball at the age of 19, and one year later he signed his first professional contract with Partizan, in 1971. He stayed in Partizan for eight seasons, until 1980. Over that time, he won the Mr. Europa European Player of the Year award twice, in 1977 and 1978, and the European Player of the Year Euroscar award in 1980. He was declared the best athlete of Yugoslavia in 1978. In the 1975–76 season, he led Partizan to the Yugoslav League title, and also to the European-wide 3rd-tier level

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA Europe between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the European professional club basketball system, third-tier level club competition in European basketball, a ...

title, in the 1977–78 season. He was also a member of Partizan, at the time when they won the 1978–79 season Korać Cup title, but he was serving in the Yugoslav army at the time. In the 1980–81 season, he went abroad for the first time in his career. During that season, he played with Reyer Venezia, of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

league. After just one season with Venezia, he returned to his former club, Partizan, for one season. In the following seasons, he played for numerous European teams, including

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 ...

, of the Spanish Primera División, during the 1982–83 season, in which he only played with the club in FIBA European Champions Cup (now called EuroLeague) games. He also played with Reyer Venezia, and Glaxo Verona of the Italian League. He finished his professional career after the 1990–91 season, in which he played with Partizan's arch-rivals, Crvena zvezda. As a Partizan Belgrade player, he scored 8,278 points, in 305 games played, for a scoring average of 27.1 points per game. While playing in Italy, he scored 7,993 points in 241 games played, for a scoring average of 33.2 points per game. He led the Italian League in scoring average, in the 1987–88 season, with an average of 37.7 points per game.

National team career

Dalipagić debuted for senior the

Yugoslavian national basketball team The Yugoslavia men's national basketball team ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Košarkaška reprezentacija Jugoslavije, Кошаркашка репрезентација Југославије; ; ) represented the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, in 1973. In total, he played in 243

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

with Yugoslavia's senior national team, between 1973 and 1986, scoring a total of 3,700 points, which was the most points scored by any player in the history of the Yugoslav national team. He won the gold medal at the 1978 FIBA World Championship, and the gold medal at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

. As a member of the Yugoslavian national team, he also won three gold medals at the

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 ...

. His four medals won at the

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 ...

(Silver, 1974 FIBA World Championship; Gold, 1978 FIBA World Championship; Bronze, 1982 FIBA World Championship, and 1986 FIBA World Championship) is tied for the all-time international basketball record. A three-time Olympian, Dalipagić was instrumental in the Yugoslavian team's capturing of the gold, at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Personal life and death

Dalipagić finished high school at the Technical School in

Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...

and graduated from the Teachers College in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. He was married to Sonja Požeg, former Yugoslav tennis player. They had two children, Sanja and Davorin. Dalipagić died on 25 January 2025, at the age of 73.

References

External links

Dražen Dalipagić
at the

*
Drazen Dalipagic
at

FIBA Europe FIBA Europe is the administrative body for basketball in Europe, within the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA), which includes all List of men's national basketball teams#FIBA Europe, 50 national European basketball federations. ...

Drazen Dalipagic
at the

Drazen Dalipagic
at Interbasket.net
Euroleague.net 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors

Drazen Dalipagic
at Legabasket.it (archived) *
archive
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalipagic, Drazen 1951 births 2025 deaths Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate basketball people in Serbia Competitors at the 1975 Mediterranean Games European champions for Yugoslavia Euroscar award winners FIBA EuroBasket–winning players FIBA Hall of Fame inductees FIBA World Championship–winning players KK Crvena zvezda players KK Partizan players KK Lavovi 063 coaches Lega Basket Serie A players Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Yugoslavia Mediterranean Games medalists in basketball Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Olympic basketball players for Yugoslavia Olympic bronze medalists for Yugoslavia Olympic gold medalists for Yugoslavia Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Yugoslavia Pallalcesto Amatori Udine players Real Madrid Baloncesto players Reyer Venezia players Scaligera Basket Verona players Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Small forwards Basketball players from Mostar Yugoslav men's basketball players 1974 FIBA World Championship players 1978 FIBA World Championship players 1982 FIBA World Championship players Yugoslav expatriate basketball people 1986 FIBA World Championship players Serbia and Montenegro sports coaches Expatriate basketball people in Spain Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate basketball people in Italy Serbian men's basketball players Serbian men's basketball coaches Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in Italy Serbia and Montenegro expatriate sportspeople in North Macedonia Expatriate basketball people in North Macedonia Serbia and Montenegro sportsmen Goodwill Games medalists in basketball

Professional career

National team career

Personal life and death

See also

References

External links