Category | Contributor Date of Birth | 08.02.1923 Date of Death | 20.10.2001 Country | Serbia
Highlights
His family moved to Rijeka (Croatia) when he was a child and Popovic started his sports career as a water polo goalkeeper in Sušak
He fell in love with basketball when he saw legendary water polo player Božo Grkinic shooting some basketballs
Co-Founded Red Star Belgrade Basketball Club (number 1 membership card): 1945
Was both a player and the first head coach in the history of Red Star Belgrade: 1945-1951. Head coach of Red Star: 1952-1955. Between 1946 and 1955, Popovic was 10 consecutive times Champion of the Yugoslav League
Head coach of Red Star’s Women Team: 1946-1952. 7 consecutive times Champion of the Yugoslav Women’s League
Player of Gallatarese (Italy) during four months: December 1951-March 1952
39 appearances with the Yugoslavian National Team as a player (1946-1952): participated in the Buenos Aires 1950 World Championship, in the 1947 European Championship in Prague and in 3 Balkan Championships (1946 in Bucarest, 1947 in Tirana and 1948 in Sofia)
Head coach of the Yugoslavian National Team in the 1953 European Championship in Moscow and in the Rio de Janeiro 1954 World Championship
Secretary General of the Yugoslavian Olympic Committee
Technical commissioner of FIBA during 35 years
Popovic was a true precursor: he was the first one who brought foreign coaches to Yugoslavia and to develop a broad contact with the U.S. basketball
Executive of JRT, the Yugoslav national TV channel: covered four Olympic Games with JRT and, in addition, was the correspondent for “La Gazzetta dello Sport” for over four decades
President of the Commission for International Competitions of FIBA
President of the Basketball Federation of Belgrade
President of the Serbian Basketball Federation: 1982-1983
President of the Yugoslavian Basketball Federation: 1985-1987
Distinctions & Recognitions
FIBA Order of Merit in 1997
Prize “Sports & Universality”, awarded by the IOC