101 Greats of European Basketball

The superstar
with the
unpronounceable
name
The first duel between Partizan Belgrade
and Real Madrid took place in 1979-80
in the EuroLeague. Partizan, with Dusan
Ivkovic as the coach, had just won its second
Yugoslav League title led by the duo
of Dragan Kicanovic and Drazen Dalipagic,
However, Kicanovic could not play in Europe while
doing his military service
Partizan visited Madrid on December 20, 1979,
and lost 110-83. Walter Szczerbiak scored 30 points,
Wayne Brabender had 23, Rafa Rullan 20, Randy
Meister 15 and Juan Antonio Corbalan. For Partizan,
Dalipagic’s 32 points were totally useless except as a
passport to sign for the Spanish team two years later.
The second game was played on February 14, 1980, in
front of 6,000 fans at Pionir Arena in Belgrade. After
a 54-54 first-half tie, Real Madrid’s quality prevailed
and the game ended 100-87. Meister and Szczerbiak
had 22 points apiece, Corbalan 12, Rullan scored 10
points. It was the first time – and if memory serves, also
the last – that I saw Szczerbiak play live. I knew him
well because Yugoslav TV had always broadcasted the
title games of the EuroLeague and even the Intercontinental
Cup, competitions in which Real Madrid always
went far in the 1970s.
Walter Szczerbiak was a true star, a player admired
in all the gyms he played in. Aside from being a great
player, he was a true gentleman, both on and off the
court. That night at Pionir, I didn’t even imagine that,
years later, I would be able to meet him and maintain a
good relationship with him. Walter always jokes that I
am one of the few people who know how to pronounce
his surname correctly. For most people, it’s almost impossible
to utter the “sh” sound followed by “tch”. Two
consonants at the beginning of his name, which comes
from the Ukrainian word “scerba”. But his surname was
only a problem for TV announcers everywhere. For the
rest of us, the great scorer was only Walter. Always
Walter.
Seven years of glory
The 1979-80 season was the seventh and last for
Walter at Real Madrid. It finished as it started, with
triumphs. Real Madrid beat Maccabi 89-85 in the Euro-
League final, played on March 27 in West Berlin. Walter
scored 16 points, a tad lower than his average of 21.1
up to that point. His best nights were against TUS
Leverkusen (37 points) and Den Bosch (33). Rullan was
the best scorer with 27 points in that game, while Jose
Antonio Querejeta, the current Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz
president, scored 2 for the Whites.
Berlin was the end of the brilliant career for Szczerbiak.
During seven years in Madrid, he won four Spanish
Leagues (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977), three EuroLeagues
(1974, 1978, 1980), a Spanish Cup (1977) and three Intercontinental
Cups (1976, 1977, 1978). He played four
seasons with scoring averages of more than 30 points,
and that was before three-pointers. Real Madrid had
the luxury of keeping him only for the EuroLeague because
of the limit on foreigners in the domestic league.
101 greats of european basketball
Walter Szczerbiak
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