FIBA - Stankovic reflects on European club competitions

MADRID (FIBA) - Borislav Stankovic has been a pivotal figure in international basketball for more than 50 years.

At the Euroleague Final Four in Madrid, he was recognized for the major role he played in the birth and growth of European basketball club competitions.

A native of the city of Bihac who played for Yugoslavia at the first FIBA World Championship 58 years ago in Buenos Aires, Stankovic, now 82, would go on to work closely with William Jones, the first Secretary General of FIBA (1932-76).

Jones created the European Club Competition Commission in 1957 in order to form the first European club competition - the European Cup for Club Champions.

Mr. Jones and Mr. Stankovic were enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame last year. Stankovic, Eduardo Portela, Leon Wandel, Aldo Vitale, Salvador Alemany, Shimon Mizrahi, Gian Luigi Porelli, Pierre Seillant and Jean Bayle-Lespitau all received awards at a ceremony in Madrid on Saturday evening on the occasion of the 50 year celebrations for the Euroleague.

Jones, Robert Busnel and Raimundo Saporta were honoured posthumously,

Stankovic spoke to FIBA.com after the awards ceremony.

FIBA: Congratulation on being honoured, Mr Stankovic. You must have had a lot of memories come flooding back on Saturday and no doubt thought again of William Jones. What can you tell us about him both as a visionary in basketball but also as a person?

Borislav Stankovic: Jones was also a student at Springfield College in Massachusetts where basketball was invented (by James Naismith). In Europe, he organized European basketball at the same time of world basketball. He was the second person after James Naismith to make sure that basketball was played in all corners of the world. William Jones was a beautiful person. I loved him very much. He was my spiritual father and the initiator to start the European club competition in '58. He made the proposal in 1957, he formed the commission that was in charge of this competition and after the three months, he had the first game in Belgium. For a long time, he was the director of UNESCO (youth institute) in Munich and that is why FIBA was based there.

FIBA: Tell us briefly about your role in European club comeptitions over the last 50 years?

Borislav Stankovic: I was, since the very first day, a member of the commission that was in charge. There were five people, Jones was the Executive Director and then in 1976, when I became Secretary General of FIBA, I became the Executive Director of the European Club Competitions. That was for 24, 25 years.

FIBA: When it comes to club competitions, most of us see the end product: the game. What we do not appreciate is how much hard work goes into organizing competitions. At least today the technology - telephones, internet, faxes, etc - makes the organizing of events easier. What forms of communication did you have 50 years ago?

Borislav Stankovic: Well, at that time, the only form of communication we had was telegrams, so when we had the nominations of officials, for example, we sent telegrams. At that time, there were also problems with eastern (European) countries, and it was very difficult to communicate with them. And let's not forget there were only three people (organizing) at FIBA - one FIBA secretary, Dr Jones and me.

FIBA: What are your memories of the early days of the European club competitions, and what were the challenges that you faced to make it successful?

Borislav Stankovic: In the early days, it was possible to play games in open air and we had many difficulties because of bad weather. Rain led to the postponement of games. There were not regular conditions for games but it was important to have the games. Secondly were the political problems between Israel and Soviet Union and generally eastern countries. Some of the games had to be played on neutral courts because of this. Speaking of games being played outside, the basketball at the 1936 Olympics was played outside.

FIBA: What were the outdoor courts made of and when you were a player, did you also play outside?

Borislav Stankovic: I played outside, mostly, and the courts were clay or cement.

FIBA: You have been to so many great European club games over the years. Are there any that stand out for you and are there any particular players that stand out?

Borislav Stankovic: This is very difficult. Everything was special.

FIBA: What is the biggest challenge that we face now in making sure that European basketball continues to develop in the right way?

Borislav Stankovic: For me, the biggest and most important challenge is to have unity in European basketball in its organizations and for me, the head of the organizations should be FIBA and only FIBA. We should not have one for federations, and one for clubs. The clubs must have the possibility of being self sustained, within a special department in FIBA.

FIBA: Is there more harmony now with the different bodies controlling basketball?

Borislav Stankovic: I think now the situation is a little bit better than a few years ago, but in the future we have huge work to do to make things better.

FIBA