Ferrandiz forever linked to basketball through his historic collections

MIES (Switzerland) - Pedro Ferrandiz's career featured many memorable moments on the court but the Spaniard's influence off the court has been just as meaningful. The year 1991 saw one of FIBA's iconic moments with the creation of the Pedro Ferrandiz Foundation, and in 2007 he played a major role in the inauguration of the FIBA Hall of Fame.

As a head coach Ferrandiz was one of the men who turned Real Madrid into a European superpower, guiding the club to four EuroLeague champions (1965, 1967, 1968, 1974), 12 Spanish league titles and 11 Spanish cups. He remains the winningest coach in the club's basketball history with 27 of the 93 Real Madrid titles.

Just like Ferrandiz being a critical part of Real Madrid's legacy, world basketball has a lot to thank the Alicante native for. He was the co-founder and former president of the World Association of Basketball Coaches (WABC). And in 1991, he started the Pedro Ferrandiz Foundation. Located in the Madrid municipality of Alcobendas, the foundation was an institution devoted to the study and diffusion of the "basketball culture", that is to say, everything related to the sport that remains uncovered by the basic spectacle. The foundation also held the biggest basketball library in the world and an impressive museum. The foundation also has organized numerous exhibitions and served as a platform for the most renowned speakers from world basketball.

The foundation's International Documentation and Research Centre was officially recognized by organizations such as FIBA, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the WABC, the NBA as well as all national basketball federations. 

The IOC in 1998 awarded Ferrandiz with the Olympic Order, the first basketball coach to have received that honor. Two years later, he was bestowed with the FIBA Order of Merit.

The Pedro Ferrandiz Foundation was the site of another iconic moment in 2007 with the inauguration of the FIBA Hall of Fame. The ceremony took place in the foundation's auditorium on March 1, 2007 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the foundation of FIBA. The FIBA Hall of Fame was built upon Ferrandiz's initiative, and the five-floor building is an extension of the Pedro Ferrandiz Foundation.

Ferrandiz himself joined the legendary members of the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2009. He was also an Honorary Member of Real Madrid, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Spanish Basketball Hall of Fame and Honorary President of the FIBA Foundation.

Ferrandiz retired from his work in the foundation in 2011 after dedicating 20 years to the non-profit institution. He sadly passed away on July 7, 2022 at age 93.

When the museum closed its operations in 2012, the collections, comprised of 40,000 items, were moved to FIBA's newly built House of Basketball and made available to the public. The permanent exhibition includes the "Pedro Ferrandiz Library" with 7,000 books in over 40 languages. It is one of the largest basketball libraries in the world.

FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis recently paid tribute to Ferrandiz and said: "Pedro Ferrandiz will be sorely missed, both as a legendary coach and as a visionary administrator with particular attention to basketball's cultural heritage. Without his devotion to the history of international basketball, the collections that form the backbone of the Exhibition in our headquarters would not be the same. We will honor his memory by maintaining and growing the collections, including the FIBA library that bears his name, with more than 7,000 basketball-related books."

FIBA