Richard Petruška (born January 25, 1969) is a Slovak-Italian former 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 was born in

Levice Levice (; , Hungarian pronunciation: ; ) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Church Slavonic, Old Slavic name of the town was ''Leva'', which means "the Left One". The town is located i ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. At a height of , and a weight of , he played at the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

and center positions. In

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, he became the first

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an to win the NBA championship.

College career

Petruška played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Loyola Marymount Lions The Loyola Marymount Lions are the athletic teams that represent Loyola Marymount University, a Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Jesuit institution in Los Angeles, California. The school competes in NCAA Division I and the West Co ...

and

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

in the United States.

Professional career

Petruška was selected by the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

, of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA), with the 46th overall pick (2nd round), of the

1993 NBA draft The 1993–94 NBA season, 1993 NBA draft took place on June 30, 1993, at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The draft had some talented players at the top, but injuries and personal problems hurt many of them. Chris Webber, Pen ...

. He played in 22 games with the Rockets during the

1993–94 NBA season The 1993–94 NBA season was the 48th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season ended with the Houston Rockets defeating the New York Knicks 4 games to 3 in the 1994 NBA Finals, NBA Finals to win the franchise's first champ ...

, and scored 53 total points. His only NBA season also saw him as part of an NBA championship team, which resulted in him accidentally dropping and denting the team's first Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy during the celebration of the title. The dent in the trophy's basketball would remain a part of the trophy until 2018, when the team commissioned replacements after an ownership change.

National team career

Petruška was a member of the senior

Czechoslovakia national basketball team The Czechoslovakia national basketball team (, ) represented Czechoslovakia in international basketball from 1932 to 1992. After the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia set up their own national teams. Both t ...

. He played with the Czechoslovakia at the 1991 EuroBasket.

Coaching career

After he retired from playing professional basketball, Petruška became a

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 ...

. He has worked as a coach at the CBA (Canarias Basketball Academy).

Personal life

Petruška lives in Canada with his wife and two sons.

References

External links

Petruska bio from basketball-reference.com

Euroleague.net Profile

Italian League Profile

Spanish League Profile

TBLStat.net Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petruska, Richard 1969 births Living people 20th-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Italian sportsmen Baloncesto Málaga players Basket Zaragoza players Centers (basketball) Czechoslovak men's basketball players Galatasaray S.K. (men's basketball) players Houston Rockets draft picks Houston Rockets players Italian men's basketball players Lega Basket Serie A players Liga ACB players Loyola Marymount Lions men's basketball players Orlandina Basket players Pallacanestro Varese players Sportspeople from Levice Power forwards Saski Baskonia players Slovak expatriate basketball people in Spain Slovak expatriate basketball people in the United States Slovak men's basketball players UCLA Bruins men's basketball players