MIES (Switzerland) - Mieczyslaw Lopatka, a four-time Olympian for Poland and leading scorer at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 1967,  is being inducted into FIBA Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2020.

Lopatka and eight other players - Isabelle Fijalkowski (France), Steve Nash (Canada), Agnes Nemeth (Hungary), Park Shin-ja (Korea), Modestas Paulauskas (Lithuania), Kenichi Sako (Japan), Alexander Volkov (Ukraine) and Jure Zdovc (Slovenia) - are being enshrined, as well as legendary coaches Ruben Magnano (Argentina), Svetislav Pesic (Serbia) and Tara Van Derveer (USA).

There are so many superlatives when it comes to Mieczyslaw Lopatka, where does one begin when telling the story of this incredible basketball player who was born in Drachowo, a small village 50 kilometers east of Poznan, and went on to become one of the country's biggest stars?

The Lopatka (second from left) name is revered at Slask Wroclaw, where he had a legendary career

For starters, Lopatka is legend of Slask Wroclaw, a club he led to Polish championships in 1965 and 1970 and one he suited up for when named Polish League Player of the Year in 1965 and 1969.

A 1.96m small forward, Lopatka also spearheaded Slask's charge to the Polish Cup in 1972. He had few rivals when it came to putting the ball in the basket, winning league scoring titles in 1961 at Lech Poznan and then in 1963, 1966 and 1967 at Slask.

Lopatka was admired as a national team player, too. From 1960 to 1972, he wore the Poland jersey in a whopping 236 games, leaving an indelible mark on the program. He is the only player to compete for the national team at four Olympics, in 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972.

Lopatka, who played for Poland in 236 games, led the FIBA Basketball World Cup 1967 in scoring

He shone in different FIBA competitions.

Lopatka was the brightest of stars at the FIBA Basketball World Cup. In 1967 at the FIBA World Championship, as it was known at the time, in Uruguay, he was the event's leading scorer at 19.7 points per game while leading Poland to a fifth-place finish.

Just months later in 1967, he was the driving force in the Poland team that won seven of nine games and finished third at the FIBA EuroBasket played in Finland.

That marked the third consecutive time that the Poles reached the podium at the FIBA EuroBasket. They were second at the event on home soil in 1963 in Wroclaw. As a legend in the making at Slask, there was hardly a moment at that EuroBasket when all eyes were not on him. He averaged 15.9 points per game at that European Championship.

Lopatka cemented his status as a legend of international basketball in a decade of fine play with Poland

Two years later and Lopatka was a leading light in the Poland team that came in third at the EuroBasket staged in Moscow and Tbilisi.

"A memory is for me the value of life," he said in a promotional video published by Slask. Lopatka opened up and revealed his love for basketball and how much he cherished all of his memories on the court.

"I only draw only positive conclusions," he said. "Then a man can live a peaceful life. I can admit that basketball is my whole life." 

FIBA