SLO - Daneu reflects on amazing Hall of Fame career [part II]

LJUBLJANA (FIBA Hall of Fame) - This week we present the second part of Ivo Daneu's interview with Luka Maselj on behalf of FIBA.

In Part I, Daneu told us how he got involved in the sport.

Now Daneu, who entered the FIBA Hall of Fame this summer and had his number retired at long-time club side Union Olimpija, talks about, among other things, playing basketball in snow and fog.

Here is the rest of the interview with one of Europe's biggest legends.

FIBA: "In 1967, you became a FIBA World Championship MVP. They called you "El grande Daneu", and that happened despite your loss to the Soviet Union. Were you disappointed after that defeat?"

Daneu: "To tell the truth: no. That's what sport is all about. You must be happy if you win, but if you lose to a better team, you must accept that and congratulate your opponent. You can learn a lot from you losses. Of course it can be frustrating to lose if you make stupid mistakes, but at that time we mostly lost because the other teams that beat us were better."

FIBA: How was it, travelling to the other side of the World in 1967?

Daneu: "We didn't play with reactive airplanes like we do today. We had planes with four propellers that were slow and couldn't fly the whole distance in one part. From Europe we went to Africa - Monrovia, Liberia - and from there to Recife in Brazil. Those were the times when you had a special baptism when you first crossed the equator. I still have the diploma at home."

FIBA: Surely it must have also been fascinating, travelling around the world at that time?

Daneu: "We survived, although it was very critical some times. When we were returning from Prague one day, one of the engines started to burn. The people that were in the cabin - I was, like always if it was possible, in the pilot's cockpit - were pretty "smokey" and terrified. But luckily nothing worse happened."

FIBA: You played in a lot of "classic" games. But which one has a special place in your memory?

Daneu: "It's hard to choose only one. Maybe I would point out our first victory over the United States of America. It happened in 1963 in Rio de Janeiro. We also played some brilliant games in Belgrade two years before. At club level, the two games against Real Madrid were fantastic ... "

FIBA: Let's say a word or two about Olimpija. You managed to win six Yugoslavian championships with them.

Daneu: "Good old days. At that time it was much harder to become champion than it is today. There were four great teams in Belgrade. Zagreb, Zadar, Kalovac and Cacak were also cities with great basketball teams. You could only become champion if you didn't lose more than three, four games per season. I must say we were very successful at that time. Apart from being champions six times, we also finished second in several seasons."

FIBA: Travelling around Yugoslavia must have been fun.

Daneu: "Games were always very good, very intense. Sometimes it was also pretty dangerous at away games. For instance in Karlovac or Zadar, where we had to literally run not to get hurt. But we survived that too. The worst thing that happened is that my former team mate Igor Jelnikar was hit in the head with a stone in Karlovac once.

FIBA: You finished your career at Olimpija and served as the team's coach from a short time.

Daneu: "That happened due to specific circumstances. Former Olimpija president Milan Kucan talked me into taking the job. Nobody wanted to take it and I knew why. We had a poor team, formed by mostly junior players. We had problems staying in the top division and some people also tried to cause me trouble. In one year - although I had a five-year contract - I realised that was not the thing I wanted to do."

FIBA: It has been quite some time since you stopped playing basketball. How would you comment on the game's evolution in all these years?
 
Daneu: "Basketball took a big step forward, like all sports have. Compared to the basketball today, our game was more romantic and much slower. The "giant" players started playing bigger roles only later. We had a center named Matic Dermastija who was 201 cm high in his shoes, while today players of that height play as play-makers. Physically the players made an enormous step forward, while I dare to say that tactically we were not much worse - if we even were worse. But it is a fact that we played much slower. I was viewing old TV clips just the other day and I couldn't help but laugh. The way we were dressed, the shoes we wore. And the balls … when I started to play basketball it was not even totally round like it is today. A special story is also the surfaces we played on. Inside and outside. We played basketball in rain, even snow and fog. The conditions were completely different. It was nothing uncommon to play on asphalt, concrete or something similar. It was all very solid, what was really terrible for our health. We, who played basketball at that time, all have hip, knee and spine problems today."

FIBA: Do you think money spoiled the game?

Daneu: "It's all a consequence of globalisation and capitalism. We didn't think about the money when we played basketball. We were happy with what we got, if we even got anything. I remember getting a bag for sports equipmentt for the first championship we won with Olimpija. For the second championship we got cloth for a suit. We had to pay for the tailor ourselves. The real money came to Olimpija in 1968, but even that was not enough to live with it."

FIBA: What do you think about the Slovenian basketball today?

Daneu: "We will always play it. Maybe we won't be so good at it, maybe we'll be even better. Basketball is a sport that can be played at school, which is very important. But we will have to invest more money in it if we want to stay competitive. We need to produce good coaches for our younger generations. I hope we can continue in style. We are a small nation, there are only around two million of us, so it is a miracle how many good basketball players we have. Because of the money the players are playing basketball all around the world. I am sure we would have one of the best leagues in the world if they would all be at home." 

FIBA: What is the path Slovenian basketball must follow in the future?

Daneu: "Today it's hard to advise young people to focus just on basketball. When I was young, people always said school is the most important thing, but you also have to be active in sport - in this instance basketball. My opinion is that if a really talented player comes up, we must fully support him to succeed, even though he might miss out on formal education. But he must really be special, because only special players can survive their whole life just with playing basketball. There aren't a lot of special players and it's not up to themselves or their parents to decide if they are or not. In any case it's good to have a formal education. You never know what will happen in life."

FIBA