Krešimir Ćosić
Kresimir Cosic (* November 26, 1948 in Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia; † 25 May 1995 Baltimore) was a Yugoslav basketball player. He was 2.11 m tall and played the position of center. Cosic is one of the best European basketball players of all time. On May 6, 1996, he was posthumously inducted into the Naismith Memorial added Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was also included as one of the first players in the FIBA Hall of Fame. The FIBA Order of Merit he was awarded in July 1994.
Kresimir Cosic was posthumously honored in May 2008 as one of the fifty major personalities of the sport of basketball in Europe. The ceremony was performed by the Euro League Basketball at an official ceremony at the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid (Spain).
Cosic's biggest success was winning the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 with the Yugoslav national team. In addition, he was twice (1970, 1978) as well as world - three times (1973, 1975, 1977) European Champion and won 1967-1981 at these tournaments, a total of 14 medals. With 303 international matches it 's a record player in the Yugoslav national team.
In addition, Cosic was the first outside of North America grew up player who became an American college for the star players, and therefore a forerunner of the following internationalization of the American Basketball tips Sports was. As coach of the Yugoslav national team, he won third place at the World Cup 1986.
During his three- year stay (1970-1973) at Brigham Young University, he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who during his formative years in the following years. After his return to Croatia, he single-handedly managed and volunteer church affairs in his home country and contributed greatly to the Book of Mormon translation into Croatian in.
Cosic died in 1995 in Baltimore, Maryland on a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. After his death he was buried in the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb.
The multi-purpose hall was completed in 2008 Dvorana Krešimira Cosica in Zadar was named after him.