Dražen Dalipagić

Medal record
Dražen Dalipagić
Competitor for  Yugoslavia
Men's Basketball
Olympic Games
Silver	1976 Montreal	Team
Gold	1980 Moscow	Team
Bronze	1984 Los Angeles	Team
World Championship
Silver	1974 Puerto Rico	Team
Gold	1978 Philippines	Team
Bronze	1982 Colombia	Team
Bronze	1986 Spain	Team
European Championships
Gold	1973 Spain	Team
Gold	1975 Yugoslavia	Team
Gold	1977 Belgium	Team
Bronze	1979 Italy	Team
Silver	1981 Czechoslovakia	Team
Mediterranean Games
Gold	1975 Algiers	Team

Dražen Dalipagić , born November 27, 1951 (1951-11-27) (age 59) in Mostar, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia) is a retired Yugoslavian basketball player. He was enshrined as a player in the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.

Yugoslavian national team

Dražen, widely known by his nickname Praja, finished high school at the Technical School in Mostar, and graduated from the Teachers College in Belgrade. He started playing basketball at the age of 19 and two years later, in 1973, Dalipagić played the first of his 243 games that he would play between the years 1973 and 1986 with the Yugoslavian national basketball team, winning the gold medal at the 1978 FIBA World Championship and the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics Basketball Tournament. As a member of the Yugoslavian national team, he also won three gold medals at the European Championships. His four medals in the World Championships (Silver, 1974 FIBA World Championship; Gold, 1978 FIBA World Championship; Bronze, 1982 FIBA World Championship and 1986 FIBA World Championship) is an all-time international basketball record. A three-time Olympian, Dalipagić was instrumental in the Yugoslavian team's capturing the gold in the 1980 Olympics.

He was selected the best athlete of Yugoslavia in the year 1978, and Dalipagić is one of the most decorated athletes in Yugoslavian history. Dalipagić was enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player on September 10, 2004. In 2007, he was enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Pro career

He was one of the most dominating players in Europe during the late 1970s and early 1980s era and while playing for the pro club KK Partizan (1971–78, 1979–80, 1981–82) he won the European Player of the Year Mr. Europa award twice in the years 1977 and 1978, and the European Player of the Year Euroscar award in the year 1980. He is acclaimed as the best athlete of Yugoslavia in 1978. In 1976, he led Partizan to the Yugoslav League title, and also to the FIBA Korać Cup title in 1978. He also played for KK Crvena zvezda in the 1990-91 season.

External links

• FIBA Hall of Fame page on Dalipagić
• Fibaeurope.com profile
• Euroleague.net 50 Greatest Contributors

Awards
Preceded by Pierluigi Marzorati	Mr. Europa 1977, 1978	Succeeded by Vladimir Tkachenko
Preceded by Šaban Seidiju	The Best Athlete of Yugoslavia 1978	Succeeded by Miodrag Perunović

Persondata
Name	Dalipagic, Drazen
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 27, 1951
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death