FIBA Hall of Fame: 5 Europeans on list

The list of inductees for the 2013 FIBA Hall of Fame has been announced and includes five players from the history of European Basketball. As always, inductees into the Hall of Fame are from all walks of Basketball on and off the court and includes important figures from the sport’s history on a global level.

The highlight of the European inductees this year is former Serbian star Zoran Slavnic who is being inducted for his time as both a player and as a coach. The former player is considered as one of the best European point guards in history thanks to his exploits with Red Star Belgrade, while he has also been named in the FIBA Top 50 European players list.

Hugely decorated in his club career, Slavnic is probably best known for his international record with Yugoslavia, which includes an Olympic Gold and Silver, a World Gold and Silver, and three Eurobasket Gold’s.

Joining Zoran Slavnic on the inductee list for the 2013 FIBA Hall of Fame list are the following Europeans:

Cesare Rubini: Late Italian player and coach who is considered one of the greatest European coaches of all-time.

Valentin Lazarov: Bulgarian technical official.

Costas Rigas: Greek technical official.

Aldo Vitale: “Contributor to the sport”.

FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann praised all of the inductees for this year in a statement released on the organizations website.

“The 2013 Class of the FIBA Hall of Fame is truly a special one. These are great personalities who have experienced great success on and off the court, but who also stand out for the character they have shown and for the countless efforts they have made to help promote our sport.

The induction ceremony for the 2013 FIBA Hall of Fame will take place at the Naismith Arena, House of Basketball in Mies, Switzerland on June 19th. Joining the five Europeans to make the list are players Jean and Jacques Conceiçao of Angola, Teresa Edwards and David Robinson of the USA, Andrew Gaze of Australia and Brazilian Paula Gonçalves; and coaches Pat Summitt of the USA and the late John ‘Jack’ Donohue of Canada.