101 Greats of European Basketball

Not your
typical star
I
remember a scene that took place after the 1999
EuroBasket in Paris. After Itay’s 64-56 victory
over Spain in the final, the press conference was
attended by coach Bogdan Tanjevic and the MVP
of the tournament, Gregor Fucka. A few moments
after they finished talking, the two hugged each
other wholeheartedly, and Tanjevic said:
“Grega, we did it.”
Life was writing another novel. Tanjevic, of Montenegrin
origins, and Fucka, who was born on August 7, 1971
in Kranj, Slovenia, had triumphed in their new country,
Italy. But their relationship had started exactly 10 years
earlier. Tanjevic, a EuroLeague club champion with Bosna
Sarajevo in 1979 and a European runner-up with Yugoslavia
in the 1981 EuroBasket in Prague, had already
been in Italy for eight years – first in Caserta and later in
Trieste, where he had started a long-term project with
the blessing and patience of Giuseppe Stefanel, a local
businessman who happened to love basketball.
Before winning the Italian double in 1995, Trieste
would have to hit rock bottom in the third division. But
Tanjevic knew what he wanted and one of the players
he desired for his team was Gregor Fucka, a young Slovenian
talent who was already playing at Union Olimpija
Ljubljana. In the 1988-89 season, Olimpija coach Vinko
Jelovac gave young Fucka his first minutes on the court.
Fucka had an atypical physique, at 2.15 meters and
about 80 kilos, he was very skinny and he didn’t look
too promising at first sight. He played alongside Jure
Zdovc, Peter Vilfan, Slavko Kotnik, Radislav Curcic, Zarko
Djurisic and Veljko Petranovic. In 10 games he scored
his first 6 points with the big boys, but Tanjevic’s great
eye already saw the talent in him. Trieste and Ljubljana
are only 90 kilometers apart, which allowed Tanjevic to
keep a close eye on Fucka. When he discovered that the
player had Italian origins, Tanjevic started moving the
mechanisms to sign him. I remember that the Yugoslav
press criticized Tanjevic for stealing away such a young
talent, but he only made the best of the situation for the
club that was paying him.
Olimpija and the Yugoslav federation wouldn’t give
their consent. After spending a year out of basketball,
but with daily individual work overseen by Tanjevic,
Fucka made his debut with the Italian junior national
team at the U18 European Championship in 1990 in
Groningen, the Netherlands, before making his debut
with Stefanel Trieste. In the national team tournament,
Fucka stood out with 11 points per game. After that, his
first season in Trieste, with 8.7 points and 3.9 boards
over 34 games, made it quite clear that Tanjevic had a
diamond in his hands, just like he had before with Mirza
Delibasic and Ratko Radovanovic in Sarajevo or Oscar
Schmidt and Nando Gentile in Caserta.
At the U19 World Cup 1991 in Edmonton, Canada,
Italy ended up second after losing to the USA 90-85 as
Fucka scored 20 points to average 15.1 for the tournament.
In Edmonton, Fucka interacted with Dejan Bodiroga,
who was playing for Yugoslavia, in what was the
start of a friendship between the two. They would play
together again in the future – also thanks to the courage
and vision of Tanjevic – and they would experience
unforgettable moments.
From the very first steps he took on a basketball
court, Fucka was a different player. He had many cen-
101 greats of european basketball
Gregor Fucka
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