101 Greats of European Basketball

Mind over matter
On most of the biographies that one
can find on the internet about Ratko
Radovanovic, who was born on
October 16, 1956, in Nevesinje, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
it states that he
played at Bosna Sarajevo between
1977 and 1983. But he really started his brilliant career
way before that. In October 1972, when Bosna
was in the second division, a tall and slim kid of 2.07
meters and barely 80 kilos left his parents’ home in
Niksic, Montenegro, and landed in Sarajevo with a
suitcase and dreams of being a basketball player.
Bogdan Tanjevic, his coach during the following decade
and his basketball father, recalled the first steps
of Radovanovic in Bosna:
“Vukasin Vukalovic, Bosna’s sports director, informed
me that he had found a kid that I had to see.
I remember his first game with the junior team. He
scored 13 points, but he showed incredible intelligence.
He was very thin, but he was also very smart. Also, in
practices he showed a lot of character, desire to work
hard, to learn, to evolve. Already in the 1972-73 season,
I put him on the first team. You could notice his talent
and I was sure he would be a great big man.”
I must admit, I didn’t get that impression when I saw
Radovanovic for the first time in 1973-74 at the old arena
in New Belgrade. Granted, he had what, according
to Americans, you cannot teach: height. But he was so
thin that his jersey was too loose on him. He had long
hands, but you could see more bone than muscle on his
fragile body. But that is why I am not a coach and Tanjevic
is what he is: a great discoverer of talent like Mirza Delibasic,
Nando Gentile, Dejan Bodiroga and Gregor Fucka.
Nevesinje is a small town in Herzegovina, a region
that has given the world a lot of basketball talent. Milenko
Savovic, Dejan Bodiroga, Zoran Savic, Milan Gurovic,
even the father of Aco and Drazen Petrovic – all were
born in towns of this region. Radovanovic’s parents
moved to Niksic, where due to his height, he started
playing basketball in 1969. His ultimate motivation
came when Yugoslavia won the gold medal at the 1970
World Cup in Ljubljana. Partizan wanted to sign him, but
he followed his family’s advice and went to Sarajevo to
be closer to home.
The title collector
In the summer of 1973, Radovanovic was already selected
for the FIBA European Championship for Cadets
in Italy. His contribution was discreet (2.2 points) but
after playing 17 games and scoring his first 43 points
in the Yugoslav League in 1973-74, he was already an
important player at the following 1974 FIBA European
Championship for Junior Men in France. Yugoslavia,
with Tanjevic as the coach, won the gold medal. Radovanovic
contributed 13.8 points on average and netted
24 against Greece. Branko Skroce, Mihovil Nakic, Andro
Knego, Rajko Zizic and Radovanovic were the most important
players. Skroce was the top scorer (17.7) and
Radovanovic was second.
At Bosna, Radovanovic’s status with the team increased
with every game. Delibasic and Zarko Varajic
led the team and were in charge of scoring most of
the points, but little by little that duo became a trio.
And even nowadays, those three great players remain
among the top five scorers ever for Bosna: 1. Delibasic
4,901 points, 2. Varajic 4,625, 3. Predrag Benacek 3,517,
101 greats of european basketball
Ratko Radovanovic
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