Greetings Praja: “But this is no longer my basketball”

Praja is the prince. Praja was in the prince of Udine in 1984, when he brought the team back to Serie A1 and to play the round of 16 for the Scudetto.

Praja turns 70 today. Difficult to make one understand millennial who was Drazen Dalipagic for basketball that spans two decades from the 70s, a sport that is also the child of the political chessboard, from the contrast between blocks – East and West – born after the last world war, an American sport that in ’72 was torn from the US domination with the famous and controversial final of the Munich Olympics, the one won by the then Soviet Union.

But if there was a country that, even among the baskets, managed to bounce like a ball this way and that along the Iron Curtain, exemplified by the impassable Berlin wall, this was Tito’s Yugoslavia, not aligned even in basketball, seen that its champions were also able to play in the West to write indelible pages also of Italian sport, for the bombers memories from a red circle, Rino Tommasi would have said.

Dalipagicfirst of all wishes for 70 years: what does a champion do at this age?

“The full-time grandfather. But I wonder what someone like me can say in an interview with young people now ».

Meanwhile, how did it arrive in the Hall of Fame next to Jordan. In his portrait he is referred to as “one of the greatest European filmmakers, practically unstoppable” …

“I’ve always liked sport. All sport. I was a boy in Mostar when they gave me my first nickname. I played football and in Velez there was a defender who they said I looked like. His name was Dane Prajo. And so I became Prajo for everyone. A few years later, once I arrived in Belgrade to play for Partizan, I became Praja ».

So first football, then basketball, now what is the passionate Dalipagic following, maybe only on TV?

“Tennis, but I still practice it and, I tell you, I am always quite good: to continue playing I also had an operation on my hip, on both legs: I am as good as new”.

A matter of competitive spirit and a family passion: his wife Sonja Pozeg was a champion in Yugoslavia, the opponent of that Jelena Gencic known for having discovered Nole Djokovic.

“I started playing right after I quit basketball. Those were the days of Gorizia, when I was a coach and I brought the team from B to A2. But it’s true, in the family we are passionate about tennis: my son Davorin, after having been a professional in basketball for 15 years, also playing in Italy and Turkey, is now an instructor in an academy in Abu Dhabi, and also my daughter Sanja she played tennis before becoming a mother and working as a translator after studying in Trieste. He has two children aged 13 and 10: both have the racket in hand, I just went to visit them in France ».

The names of some cities of the Triveneto have already appeared where Dalipagic has been at home for more than ten years …

“I’ve always wanted to be able to get into the car to get to Belgrade after a half-day trip. Back then there was only one border to make: now I waste time for hours for customs between Croatia and Serbia. It was a way to always feel at home. Even if I only came back from time to time afterwards. I ended up working as a coach, called by the Terraneo in Gorizia, a large family of sportsmen. They were already friends with Tanjevic who launched the idea: Boscia is a friend, we still see each other often when he comes here to visit his brother ».

The first stop was Venice: a great love, since he then came back.

«Tonino Zorzi approached me after the Moscow Olympics: he had been Sandro Gamba’s assistant on the Italian bench when we beat her in the final for gold. He said to me: “Why don’t you come to Venice”? ».

It was the Carrera Jeans of the NBA ace Spencer Haywood, a kind of Venetian-Friulian national team with Grattoni, Gracis, Carraro, Gorghetto, Soro, Silvestrin …

“It was my first team outside Yugoslavia: back then, up to the age of 28, you had to serve your homeland by doing military service as well. I ended up in a beautiful reality with a player who didn’t want to be on the pitch, Haywood ».

Then Real Madrid and the return to Italy, this time in Udine with poor Hardy, who died last year, under the basket …

«It was Andrea Fadini who convinced me. He was the sporting director of that Gedeco allied by Lajos Toth: I found him in Verona when I closed my career in Italy, from time to time we see each other again in Belgrade when he comes to do his job as a scout for the Detriot Pistons. I remember that the three-point shot had also arrived in Europe, that I had no problems using it: I averaged one out of two with 30 points. And I remember all the comrades, many young people: from Lorenzon and Bettarini to Graberi. Ciccio Della Fiori also arrived for the A1, but the second championship did not go well ».

Between Udine and Verona the second adventure with Venice, three years with those 70 points at the Arsenale against Virtus Bologna.

“Many times they have asked me how I did it. I have always said that you have to be in the day, but the truth is also that my generation was made up of physique and many of many fundamental memorized. This is why the basketball of now is no longer my basketball. Not only because there are also eight foreigners like in my Partizan now. I’m only going to see it for the memories ».