101 Greats of European Basketball

Basket, the 1970 World Cup arrived with the final stage
in Ljubljana. Olimpija had won the league in 1970, but in
the final games two things happened: Daneu suffered a
serious muscle injury in a game against Crvena Zvezda,
and there was a conflict between him and his national
teammate Cvetkovic. Coach Zeravica faced a tough dilemma.
He needed both, but he knew he could only take
one. He chose Daneu because of his experience and
the fact that the tourney would be played in Ljubljana in
front of his fans. The injured Daneu didn’t play much. He
only played in two games and scored only 8 points. But
in the decisive game against the USA (70-63) he scored
4 important points down the stretch and led Yugoslavia
to its first world title. It was the pinnacle of his brilliant
career. In 2010, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of that
win, Daneu himself called upon his teammates from the
team that won that historic gold medal to gather once
again. Trajko Rajkovic and Cosic had since passed on.
The rest spent three unforgettable days together.
The record books show Daneu with 202 games
played for the national team and 2,214 points scored
(11.0 ppg.) to make him the seventh-best scorer of the
team after Drazen Dalipagic, Dragan Kicanovic, Cosic,
Korac, Drazen Petrovic and Vinko Jelovac. On 32 occasions,
he was the high scorer on the team and he scored
10 or more points in 105 games. He won eight medals
– a World Cup gold, six World and EuroBasket silvers,
and a EuroBasket bronze. In 1967, he was chosen as the
best Yugoslav sportsman. On September 12, 2007, he
was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame.
And here is one unbelievable piece of data by today’s
standards: During the whole length of his brilliant
career, Daneu was a working man from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
until he retired. Sometimes he had problems taking
days off so he could play. It was another era, but also
with great players. His son, Jaka, was also an important
player in Olimpija, but not quite at his father’s level. Ivo,
Jaka, and Jaka’s sons were promoters for the 2013 EuroBasket,
which took place in Slovenia, a small country
size-wise, but a great one in terms of basketball.
101 greats of european basketball
Ivo Daneu
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