Olimpiu-Dumitru Popescu-Colibași (16 March 1912 – 2 March 1993), nicknamed Tata Pik, was a Romanian

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player and author of books on sports. He had pioneered handball in the city of

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

. Popescu-Colibași graduated from the A.N.E.F. in 1937. He helped develop many leading handball players during decades: including Anna Stark, Maria Scheip, Mara Windt, Gerlinde Reip, Edeltraut Franz-Sauer, Iuliana Nako, and Rodica Floroianu. As a rugby player, he won the national championship with TCR. In 1934, Popescu-Colibași and the Romania national rugby team appeared against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He was a starter.SFATURILE LUI TATA PIK (I) – CUM POTI SA-TI INVINGI FRICA?
/ref> Other honours followed his death: he is the namesake of the multi-purpose, 1,700-seat Dumitru Popescu Colibași Sports Hall in Brașov.

Biography

His father Stan Popescu, a school teacher, was the son of poor peasant farmers from Colibași commune. He had been killed in 1916 during World War I. Popescu-Colibași was raised by his grandfather in Dudești. His mother worked as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

at the

court of cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. Popescu-Colibași attended the high school in the Romanian capital living in the family of

Mihail Sadoveanu Mihail Sadoveanu (; occasionally referred to as Mihai Sadoveanu; 5 November 1880 – 19 October 1961) was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting President of Romania, head of st ...

with whom he was a relative. He married Ivonna Demetrian in 1944, an employee of the

Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company (), informally referred to as Radio Romania (), is the public radio broadcaster in Romania. It operates FM broadcasting, FM and AM broadcasting, AM, and webcast, internet national and local radio channels. ...

Achievements

Handball 11s

;Progresul Brașov * Liga Națională: **''Winner'': 1956 **''Silver Medalist'': 1954 **''Bronze Medalist'': 1955, 1957

Handball 7s

;Tractorul Brașov * Liga Națională: **''Bronze Medalist'': 1959, 1962

References

External links