Antonio Díaz-Miguel

Antonio Díaz- Miguel Sanz ( born July 6, 1933, Alcázar de San Juan, Spain, † February 21, 2000 in Madrid) was a Spanish basketball player and coach. He achieved fame in particular for his work as coach of Spanish Basketballnationalmmanschaft, an office which he held for 27 years. For his extraordinary achievements in the service of basketball, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and in 2007 into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 1997.

• 2.1 Players
• 2.2 Coaches

Career

Player

Antonio Díaz- Miguel began during his school days in Madrid Instituto Ramiro de Maeztu with the sport of basketball, where he was involved in the founding of the Club CB Estudiantes, from 1950 to 1958 he was active in the first team. In 1958 he moved to local rivals Real Madrid with whom he could each win the league and cup double in the seasons 1959/60 and 1960/61. For the 1961/62 season moved Antonio Díaz- Miguel to Bilbao and played for the local club Club Águilas de Bilbao while he completed his studies in engineering sciences. In 1963 he ended his active career and moved to the dugout.

National

Between 1952 and 1959, denied Antonio Díaz- Miguel 26 games for the Spanish national team. With his country he won the gold medal at the Mediterranean Games in Barcelona in 1955 and silver in 1959 in Beirut.

Coach

Antonio Díaz- Miguel joined in 1963 at Club de Bilbao Águilas to the dugout. After two seasons, he took on the recommendation of the famous basketball functionary Raimundo Saporta the post as head coach of the Spanish national team. The choice of country, which, despite the growing popularity of basketball in the country, celebrated at the first European Championship in 1935 only at Mediterranean Games successes since the silver medal, Díaz- Miguel is expected to gradually form a permanent fixture in the international basketball. In 1968 he qualified the team for only the second time for the Olympic Games, a tournament that you could end up on the 7th Place. The first big success should succeed at the European Championships in 1973. The team reached the semifinals, where she could sensationally successful with 80:76 against the USSR, the team of the Soviet Union had won up to that point eight European Championships in a row and was undefeated since 1969 in the continental finals tournaments. However, in the final, the Spaniard failed with 78:67 on the listed Krešimir Cosic and Dražen Dalipagić selection Yugoslavia. In particular, the Iberians bribed Wayne Brabender, who was elected MVP of the tournament, and Francesc Buscato, who played his last tournament for Spain. Although the silver medal was the second in the history, but the first podium finish for 38 years. At the World Cup in 1974 the Spaniards came with the fifth overall place until then best result.

The most successful era under coach Díaz- Miguel should begin in the 1980s. Called Led by players like Fernando Martín, Juan Antonio San Epifanio "Epi ", Fernando Romay, Andrés Jiménez, Iturriaga or Juan Antonio Corbalán denied the Spaniards in the 1982 World Cup a strong tournament, defeated in the group stage sensationally led by Doc Rivers team USA 109:99 and finally reached the final round, where the Iberians 117:119 failed to Yugoslavia in the match for third place. Also at the European Championships in 1983, the Spaniards continued their run of success continues, defeated in the group stage, among other things Yugoslavia and thus reached the semi-finals, where the Iberians won with 95:94 against the USSR. In the final, the national team failed to 96:105 in Italy, Dino Meneghin, Pierluigi Marzorati and Antonello Riva in their ranks. Juan Antonio Corbalán was chosen for his outstanding contributions to the MVP of the tournament and Juan Antonio San Epifanio was part of the All- Tournament team.

The greatest success under coach Díaz- Miguel should follow at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. After the Spanish selection in the semifinals had the favored Yugoslavia defeated with stars such as Dražen Petrović Dražen or Dalipagić in their ranks, with 74:61, we met in the final at the time as a nearly unbeatable force home the U.S. team, with players like Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan, Chris Mullin, Alvin Robertson and Sam Perkins. The hosts won the final though with 96:65, but the silver medal of the Spaniards could spark a basketball euphoria in the country at such an important tournament.

This success, however, was followed by a sporty descent. Although the Spaniards reached at the European Championships 1991 bronze medal and thus the fourth podium finish under coach Díaz- Miguel, but followed in 1992 at the Olympics in your own country one of the biggest disappointments of the basketball teams. Despite home advantage, the team retired in the preliminary round group as a group Last off could merely scored a narrow victory against Brazil and lost all other encounters. In our memory is in particular a blamables 63:83 in the penultimate group game against the clear outsider Angola. Ultimately, you only reached number nine and coach Antonio Díaz- Miguel said, after 27 years in office, his resignation.

During his time as head coach of the Spaniard Antonio Díaz- Miguel presented at numerous international records; he remained for 27 years in office, led his team in 432 international matches and participated in six Olympic tournaments (1968, 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992). In addition, he competed as coach of Spain's national team four World Championship and 14 European Championship finals.

After his time as a coach he worked from 1993 to 1994 as coach of the Italian giants Pallacanestro Cantu. In the Saisnon 1996/97 he coached the women's team Pool Getafe and led them to the double of championship and cup, after he finished his career.

Antonio Díaz- Miguel, who often the United States traveled during his playing days, participated in numerous conferences on the development and dissemination of the sport of basketball and a friendly relationship with the likes of Bobby Knight, Dean Smith, John Wooden, or Lou Carnesecca used, 1997, for his services included in the service of sport first Spaniard in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

On 21 February 2000, he died in Madrid in consequence of a cancerous condition. In 2007, he was inducted posthumously as one of the first coaches in the FIBA Hall of Fame.

Achievements and honors

Player

Real Madrid

• Spanish Champion (2): 1959/60, 1960/61,
• Spanish Cup ( 2): 1960, 1961

Spanish national team

• Mediterranean Games 1955: Gold
• Mediterranean Games 1959: Silver

Coach

Spanish national team

• European Basketball Championships 1991: Bronze
• Olympic Games 1984: Silver
• Eurobasket 1983: Silver
• Eurobasket 1973: Silver

Pool Getafe

• Spanish Champion: 1996/97
• Spanish Cup: 1996/97

Honors

• Member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (recording 1997)
• Member of the FIBA Hall of Fame (recording 2007)