2020 Class of FIBA Hall of Fame: Svetislav Pesic

MIES (Switzerland) – Svetislav Pesic, who guided clubs and national teams to numerous titles in a career spanning nearly four decades, is going into the FIBA Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2020.

The famous coach led both Germany and Yugoslavia to championship success and steered numerous clubs to the top in European leagues.

Pesic, along with coaches Ruben Magnano (Argentina) and Tara Van Derveer (USA), and legendary players Isabelle Fijalkowski (France), Steve Nash (Canada), Agnes Nemeth (Hungary), Park Shin-ja (Korea), Modestas Paulauskas (Lithuania), Kenichi Sako (Japan), Alexander Volkov (Ukraine) and Jure Zdovc (Slovenia), are to be enshrined.

There are so many highlights in the coaching life of Pesic that it’s hard to keep count, and even harder to determine which was the most important.

Born in Novi Sad, Serbia, in 1954, and a professional player from 1964 until 1979 (he was on the books of Pirot, Partizan and Bosna) – Pesic learned how hard work in practice paid off in the sport. His Bosna teams won the Yugoslav Cup and the Yugoslav League in 1978, and the FIBA European Champions Cup in 1979.

He stopped as a player on a winning note and dived into coaching. He took the helm of Bosna in 1982 and coached the team to Yugoslav league championships in 1983 and 1984. While coaching the outfit, Pesic got involved in youth national team basketball and guided Yugoslavian sides to titles at the European Championship for Cadets (1985), European Championship for Juniors (1986) and the FIBA U19 World Championship (1987).

In the team that captured the U19 world crown were players that went on to become some of the best players in Yugoslavian history: Dino Radja, Vlade Divac, Toni Kukoc and Aleksander Djordjevic.

The year 1987 was a big one because Pesic left Yugoslavia to take over West Germany’s national team program. In 1989, he guided the Universiade team to bronze in Duisberg, but the biggest prize came when Pesic coached the men’s national team to the title at FIBA EuroBasket 1993.

The Germans barely made it through the Second Round but then in the Quarter-Finals, they knocked off Spain 79-77 following overtime. Against Greece in the Semi-Finals, Germany scraped a 76-73 win and in the Final against the Soviet Union, Pesic’s men prevailed, 71-70.

It was as if Pesic could walk on water and not surprisingly, a German team, Alba Berlin, hired him to coach. He repaid the faith by leading the team to Korac cup glory in 1995, to Bundesliga titles in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 and to German Cups in 1997 and 1999.

By 2000, it was time to return home. Pesic took the reins of the Yugoslavia national team and led it to top of the FIBA EuroBasket 2001 podium in Istanbul, beating hosts Turkey in the Final.

It got even better the following year in Indianapolis, at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2002. The Yugoslavians defeated a USA team loaded with NBA stars, 81-78, in the Quarter-Finals and then New Zealand in the Semi-Finals, 89-78, before edging Argentina in the Final, 84-77, after overtime.

Pesic then moved to Spain and had an incredible run with Barcelona, coaching the team to several crowns from 2002-2004, including a Spanish ACB, Copa del Rey and Euroleague treble in 2003.

Also in Catalonia not long after, Pesic was at the helm of Akasvayu Girona when they won the FIBA EuroCup in 2007.

He remained in coaching, leading various teams and taking some of them to trophies, like the league title won by Bayern Munich in 2014 and the Copa del Rey in 2018 and 2019 when he was again at Barcelona.