Radivoj Korac

The Yugoslav basketball legend Radivoj Korac was born 5 November, 1938 in Sombor, Yugoslavia. Born in the same city as the NBA legend, Nikola Jokic, the 196-centimeter-tall power forward was one of the greatest scorers in basketball history, winning numerous Top Scorer awards in EuroLeague (1959, 1965), international tournaments, and national leagues.

Korac played the majority of his career in the Yugoslav League, representing the OKK Beograd (1954-1967) team. The talented forward made a great impact on the success of his team. He won 4 Yugoslav League titles and 7 Top Scorer awards. The 1960 season was the most impressive one individually for Korac, as he averaged 37.0 points per game, leading his team to the league title.

In 1958/59, he made his EuroLeague debut. OKK reached the semifinals and Korac won his first EuroLeague Top Scorer title, scoring 223 points with the average of 37.2 points per game. Korac won the Top Scorer title once again in 1965, when he set the EuroLeague record that will probably never be broken. Yugoslav superstar averaged 54.8 points per game, scoring an incredible 99 points against the Swedish team Alvik, and also scoring 71 point in the same playoff series.

Despite his incredible scoring efforts, OKK was always short on winning the EuroLeague title. In 4 seasons Korac played in the EuroLeague, he led his team to semifinals twice, but the collective effort of the opponents was able to beat the individual brilliance of Yugoslav forward. Korac finished his EuroLeague career in 1965 with the 742 points in 18 games, and a career average of 41.2 points per game.

The East Bloc athletes were rarely allowed to get a permission to play professionally abroad, and Korac was no exception. He got a permit to play outside Yugoslavia at the age of 29, when the Sombor-born forward joined the Belgian team – Standard Liege in 1967. He played a season with Standard, leading them to the title and winning another Top Scorer award. The next season, Korac was playing in the Italian League with Petrarca Padova. He failed to repeat his previous success, as Petrarca finished the season in 11th place. Korac, however, won another, and his final, Top scorer title, averaging 26.4 points per game.

The same year, Korac tragically died in a car crash near Sarajevo. He was just 30 years old.

Outside of his incredible scoring efforts at the club level, Korac was a regular Yugoslavia national team member. He displayed some individual brilliance, winning the Eurobasket MVP award in 1961, as well as three consecutive Eurobasket Top Scorer titles from 1961 to 1965. Still, Yugoslavia never won an international title during Korac’s days. They won several silver and bronze medals at the Olympics, FIBA World Cup, and Eurobasket, but the Yugoslavs were always a step away from winning the gold.

In this regard, Korac’s career could be compared with the NBA legend – Jerry West, who was also an excellent scorer, yet he had so many finals losses when facing a well-balanced opposition. Nevertheless, Korac had an exceptional career, leaving some incredible records that will always remain in the history books. In his EuroLeague and international games from 1956 to 1964, Korac scored 1975 points in 80 games.

ACCOLADES

EuroLeague Top Scorer (1959, 1965)
EuroLeague (1959, 1962)
Olympic Games Top Scorer (1960)
Olympic Games (1968)
FIBA World Cup (1963, 1967)
Eurobasket MVP (1961)
Eurobasket Top Scorer (1961, 1963, 1965)
Eurobasket (1961, 1965)
Eurobasket (1963)
Yugoslav League Top Scorer (1957, 1958, 1960, 1962-1965)
Belgian League Top Scorer (1968)
Italian League Top Scorer (1969)
Yugoslav League (1958, 1960, 1963, 1964)
Yugoslav League (1962)
Yugoslav League (1965)
Belgian League (1968)

EUROLEAGUE STATISTICS

YUGOSLAV & ITALIAN LEAGUE STATISTICS

OLYMPIC GAMES STATISTICS

FIBA WORLD CUP STATISTICS

EUROBASKET STATISTICS

Description for statistics

GP – Games played PPG – Points per game PTS – Total points RNK – Individual scoring ranking TRK – Team ranking