plato-ny Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Initial Inductees into the FIBA Hall of Fame www.halloffame.fiba.com GENEVA/ALCOBENDAS (FIBA Hall of Fame) - The inauguration of the FIBA Hall of Fame, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the foundation of FIBA, has taken place this morning in Alcobendas (Madrid, Spain). The FIBA Hall of Fame is a five-floor building that covers 2.000 square meters and is an extension of the FIBA Pedro Ferrándiz Foundation, a museum with the objective to preserve the heritage of international basketball. The official inauguration of the FIBA Hall of Fame has been chaired by the Mayor of Alcobendas, Mr. José Caballero, and in presence of the Spanish Secretary of State for Sports, Mr. Jaime Lissavetzky, the President of the Spanish Basketball Federation and FIBA Central Board member, Mr. José Luis Sáez, FIBA's President, Mr. Bob Elphinston, FIBA's Secretary General, Mr. Patrick Baumann, and the complete FIBA Central Board. The Central Board of FIBA will meet in Madrid during the next two days. In addition to the official inauguration of the building, the announcement of the initial inductees into the FIBA Hall of Fame has been made. Inductees into the FIBA Hall of Fame are divided into four categories: PLAYERS (they must have been retired from international competition for five years), COACHES, TECHNICAL OFFICIALS (REFEREES AND COMMISSIONERS) and CONTRIBUTORS. For this initial enshrinement ceremony, the International Basketball Federation has decided to pay tribute to a selection of internationally-renowned figures who made outstanding contributions to our sport of basketball and who, unfortunately, are no longer with us. Immediately after the official inauguration of the building has taken place, Mr. Borislav Stankovic, Secretary General Emeritus of FIBA, has unveiled a commemorative sculpture to honor those who contributed to the founding of FIBA. Then, Mr. Bob Elphinston, President of FIBA, has unveiled a plate featuring the names of the initial posthumous inductees to the FIBA Hall of Fame. During the opening press conference, FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann mentioned: "There are a number of basketball hall of fames in many countries throughout the world and all of them deserve our utmost respect. The culture and history of basketball going beyond the borders of one country, the FIBA Hall of Fame has been created to honor all those who greatly contributed to our game in all corners of the planet and made basketball one of the most popular sports in the world." In his speech, FIBA Secretary General Emeritus Borislav Stankovic remembered the early days of FIBA: "A FIBA Hall of Fame would be incomplete without paying tribute to those who invented the game of basketball and those who founded FIBA in 1932. Not many people of the younger generation know that some brave men on 18th June 1932 were able to gain independence from the then governing body of amateur handball, who at that time controlled basketball." Please find below the complete list of the initial posthumous inductees into the FIBA Hall of Fame: PLAYERS: Alexander BELOV - RUS Krešimir COSIC - CRO Teófilo CRUZ - PUR Mirza DELIBAŠIC - BIH Radivoj KORAC - SRB Fernando MARTÍN - ESP Dražen PETROVIC - CRO Liliana RONCHETTI - ITA Vanya VOYNOVA - BUL COACHES: Antonio DÍAZ-MIGUEL - ESP Alexander GOMELSKY - RUS Henry "Hank" IBA - USA Vladimir KONDRASHIN - RUS Aleksandar NIKOLIC - SRB Giancarlo PRIMO - ITA REFEREES: . Obrad BELOŠEVIC - SRB Vladimir KOSTIN - RUS Pietro REVERBERI - ITA Renato RIGHETTO - BRA CONTRIBUTORS "GOLD": Léon BOUFFARD - SUI R. William JONES - GBR James NAISMITH - CAN 8 FOUNDING FEDERATIONS OF FIBA ARG, CZE, GRE, ITA, LAT, POR, ROM, SUI CONTRIBUTORS: Eduardo AIRALDI RIVAROLA - PER Abdel Azim ASHRY - EGY Turgut ATAKOL - TUR Robert BUSNEL - FRA Dionisio CALVO - PHI Antonio dos Reis CARNEIRO - BRA José Claudio DOS REIS - BRA Yoon DUK-JOO - KOR Willard N. GREIM - USA Ferenc HEPP - HUN Marian KOZLOWSKI - POL Anselmo LÓPEZ - ESP August PITZL - AUT Nebojša POPOVIC - SRB Raimundo SAPORTA - ESP Decio SCURI - ITA Nikolai SEMASHKO - RUS Radomir SHAPER - SRB Edward S. STEITZ - USA Yoshimi UEDA - JPN Abdel Moneim WAHBY - EGY In the summer of 2007, in a date yet to be determined, the intake of the 2007 Class of Inductees (composed by a maximum number of 20 persons) will take place in order to mark the 75th Anniversary of FIBA. After that date, enshrinement ceremonies into the FIBA Hall of Fame will take place every two years and will be limited to a maximum of six inductees per year. Nominations for inductees into the FIBA Hall of Fame can be submitted by FIBA member federations, FIBA Zone Commissions, Central Board members and FIBA Screening Committee members. The FIBA Screening Committee, consisting of Mr. Patrick Baumann and Central Board members Mr. Jenaro Marchand (PUR) and Mr. Manfred Ströher (GER), will carefully study all received nominations for inductees and will submit a list of candidates to the FIBA Honours Committee. The FIBA Honours Committee, comprised of FIBA President, Mr. Bob Elphinston (AUS), FIBA Vice President, Mr. George Vassilakopoulos (GRE), and FIBA Secretary General Emeritus, Mr. Borislav Stankovic (SRB), will then assess the list of nominations provided by the Screening Committee and will make the final decisions regarding each intake into the FIBA Hall of Fame. The address of the FIBA Hall of Fame & FIBA Pedro Ferrándiz Foundation is: FIBA Hall of Fame & FIBA Pedro Ferrándiz Foundation Avenida Olímpica, 22 -Arroyo de la Vega- 28108 Alcobendas (Madrid) SPAIN Phones: + 34 91 662 19 13 and + 34 91 662 17 84 Fax: + 34 91 661 90 99 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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