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

throughout

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 ...

. 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 ...

. Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall 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), Žeravica's education started in his village and continued in Kikinda, 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 Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...

by ancestry, having moved several generations before his birth to the Mošorin 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 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 various clubs throughout his career. He won the

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 ...

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 ...

, and the Yugoslav League championship in 1996.

Yugoslavia national basketball team

Žeravica was the head coach of the senior men's Yugoslavia national basketball team 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, 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, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

(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 on 29 October 2015, aged 85, at his Belgrade home.

In popular culture

* In the 2015 Serbian sports drama '' We Will Be the World Champions'', Žeravica was portrayed by Sergej Trifunović.Full Cast & Crew of We Will Be the World Champions
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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