50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008)

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Main article: EuroLeague Awards

The 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008) of FIBA European Champions Cup and EuroLeague history were awarded and chosen on February 3, 2008, in Madrid, Spain. The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary since the founding of the inaugural season of the FIBA European Champions Cup, which is officially recognized as the predecessor of today's modern EuroLeague competition, which is the premier level men's basketball league in Europe.

The list was made up of 35 players, 10 coaches, and 5 referees that were deemed to have contributed the most to the growth of the EuroLeague. It also included other nominees for each category. All together, 105 players, 20 coaches, and 12 referees in total were nominated.

Contributors

Players

The following is the list of 35 awarded players.[1][2]

Country Player Years[a]
 Serbia (6) Radivoj Korać 1954–1969
Dražen Dalipagić 1971–1991
Vlade Divac 1983–2005
Aleksandar "Saša" Đorđević 1983–2005
Predrag Danilović 1988–2000
Dejan Bodiroga 1989–2007
 Spain (5) Emiliano Rodríguez 1958–1973
Clifford Luyk 1962–1978
Wayne Brabender 1967–1985
Juan Antonio Corbalán 1971–1991
Juan Antonio San Epifanio "Epi" 1977–1995
 Italy (5) Aldo Ossola 1962–1980
Dino Meneghin 1966–1994
Pierluigi Marzorati 1969–1991, 2006
Mike D'Antoni 1973–1990
Antonello Riva 1977–2002, 2014
 Croatia (4) Krešimir Ćosić 1964–1983
Dražen Petrović 1979–1993
Dino Rađa 1985–2003
Toni Kukoč 1985–2006
 Greece (4) Panagiotis Giannakis 1972–1996
Nikos Galis 1979–1994
Fragiskos Alvertis 1990–2009
Theo Papaloukas 1995–2013
 United States (4) Walter Szczerbiak Sr. 1971–1984
Bob Morse 1972–1986
Bob McAdoo 1972–1992
Anthony Parker 1997–2012
 Lithuania (2) Arvydas Sabonis 1981–2004
Šarūnas Jasikevičius 1998–2014
 Russia Sergei Belov 1964–1980
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Mirza Delibašić 1968–1983
 Israel Miki Berkovich 1971–1995
 Mexico Manuel Raga 1963–1979
 Argentina Manu Ginóbili 1995–2018

Coaches

The following is the list of 10 awarded coaches.[1][2]

Country Coach Years[b]
 Serbia (4) Aleksandar Nikolić 1951–1985
Dušan Ivković 1968–2016
Božidar Maljković 1971–2013
Željko Obradović 1991–present
 Spain (2) Pedro Ferrándiz 1955–1975
Manuel "Lolo" Sáinz 1969–2001
 Russia Alexander Gomelsky 1949–1991
 United States Dan Peterson 1962–1988, 2011
 Israel Pini Gershon 1974–2015
 Italy Ettore Messina 1976–present

Referees

The following is the list of 5 awarded referees.[1][2]

Country Referee
 Bulgaria Artenik Arabadjian
 France Yvan Mainini
 Greece Costas Rigas
 Russia Mikhail Davidov
 Slovakia Lubomir Kotleba

Other nominees that were not selected

70 Player nominees

  • Years in parentheses indicate years played as a senior men's club basketball player in all leagues, not just the EuroLeague.

[3]

Country Player Years Played
(in all club leagues)
 United States Miles Aiken (1965–1970)
 United States Bill Bradley (1965–1977)
 United States Charlie Yelverton (1971–1987)
 United States Aulcie Perry (1974–1985)
 United States Larry Wright (1976–1988)
 United States Bruce Flowers (1979–1987)
 United States Clarence Kea (1980–1994)
 United States Kevin Magee (1982–1994)
 United States Audie Norris (1982–1994)
 United States Corny Thompson (1982–1996)
 United States Dominique Wilkins (1982–1999)
 United States Michael Young (1984–1996)
 United States Joe Arlauckas (1987–2000)
 United States David Rivers (1988–2001)
 United States Tyus Edney (1995–2010)
 United States Marcus Brown (1996–2011)
 Serbia Zoran "Moka" Slavnić (1963–1983)
 Serbia Žarko Varajić (1969–1984)
 Serbia Dragan Kićanović (1971–1984)
 Serbia Žarko Paspalj (1984–1998)
 Serbia Zoran Savić (1989–2002)
 Serbia Željko Rebrača (1990–2007)
 Croatia Josip Đerđa (1958–1976)
 Croatia Mihovil Nakić-Vojnović (1973–1989)
 Croatia Aleksandar "Aco" Petrović (1977–1991)
 Croatia Stojan "Stojko" Vranković (1982–2001)
 Croatia Velimir Perasović (1985–2003)
 Croatia Nikola Vujčić (1995—2013)
 Spain Rafael Rullán (1969–1988)
 Spain Ignacio "Nacho" Solozábal (1975–1992)
 Spain Fernando Martín (1979–1989)
 Spain Jordi Villacampa (1980–1997)
 Spain Johnny Rogers (1986–2004)
 Spain Juan Carlos Navarro (1997–2018)
 Italy Carlo Recalcati (1962–1981)
 Italy Roberto Brunamonti (1975–1996)
 Italy Walter Magnifico (1979–2004)
 Italy Riccardo Pittis (1984–2004)
 Russia Yuri Korneev (1954–1966)
 Russia Gennadi Volnov (1957–1972)
 Russia Vladimir Andreev (1963–1975)
 Russia Anatoly Myshkin (1970–1986)
 Russia Vladimir Tkachenko (1973–1990)
 Lithuania Valdemaras Chomičius (1978–2000)
 Lithuania Rimas Kurtinaitis (1982–2006)
 Lithuania Artūras Karnišovas (1989–2002)
 Lithuania Saulius Štombergas (1991–2007)
 Israel Tal Brody (1966–1980)
 Israel Motti Aroesti (1971–1991)
 Israel Doron Jamchi (1978–2000)
 Israel Derrick Sharp (1993–2011)
 France Richard Dacoury (1976–1998)
 France Stéphane Ostrowski (1979–2005)
 France Antoine Rigaudeau (1987–2005)
 Slovenia Ivo Daneu (1956–1970)
 Slovenia Jurij "Jure" Zdovc (1987–2003)
 Slovenia Matjaž Smodiš (1994–2013)
 Latvia Maigonis Valdmanis (1949–1963)
 Latvia Valdis Muižnieks (1951–1969)
 Latvia Jānis Krūmiņš (1954–1969)
 Greece Panagiotis Fasoulas (1981–1999)
 Greece Dimitris Diamantidis (1999–2016)
 Ukraine Alexander Volkov (1983–1996)
 Turkey İbrahim Kutluay (1991–2009)
 Turkey Mirsad Türkcan (1994–2012)
 Armenia Armenak Alachachian (1952–1968)
 Czech Republic Jiří Zídek Sr. (1962–1983)
 Montenegro Duško Ivanović (1980–1996)
 North Macedonia Petar Naumoski (1989–2004)
 Argentina Luis Scola (1996–2021)

10 Coach nominees

  • Years in parentheses indicate years spent as a basketball coach, in all competitions, not just the EuroLeague.

[4]

Country Coach Years Coached
(in all competitions)
 Italy Cesare Rubini (1957–1973)
 Italy Alessandro "Sandro" Gamba (1965–1992)
 Italy Valerio Bianchini (1974–2008)
 Serbia Ranko Žeravica (1954–2003)
 Serbia Svetislav Pešić (1982–Present)
 Croatia Mirko Novosel (1967–1993)
 Croatia Željko Pavličević (1975–Present)
 Israel Ralph Klein (1964–2008)
 Spain Alejandro "Aíto" García Reneses (1973–Present)
 Greece Giannis Ioannidis (1977–2003)

7 Referee nominees

Country Referee
 Finland Carl Jungebrand
 Hungary Ervin Kassai
 Lithuania Romualdas Brazauskas
 Poland Wiesław Zych
 Serbia Obrad Belošević
 Spain Pedro Hernández-Cabrera
 United Kingdom David Turner

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Indicate years played as a senior men's club basketball player in all leagues, not just the EuroLeague.
  2. ^ Indicate years spent as a basketball coach, in all competitions, not just the EuroLeague.

References

  1. ^ a b c 50 CONTRIBUTORS, HONORED IN MADRID.
  2. ^ a b c 50 GREATEST CONTRIBUTORS LIST.
  3. ^ THE ALL-TIME PLAYER NOMINEES.
  4. ^ THE ALL-TIME COACH NOMINEES.