The famous basketball ace was asked an extremely unpleasant and inappropriate question in the live show. The presenter couldn’t manage it, and Dražen answered her like this
Source: Youtube
Drazen Petrović he was one of the greatest basketball players in the history of Yugoslav, Croatian and European basketball, and his tragic end and death in 1993 in a traffic accident in Germany forever left the dilemma of what else he could have achieved.
At that moment, he was at the peak of his strength, he was the leader of the Croatian national team that played the final of the Olympic Games in Barcelona a year earlier against “Dream Team”, in his first major independent competition. In addition, he was also the guard of the New Jersey Nets and opened the doors of America and other European aces along with Vlad Divac, Aleksandar Volkov, Sarunas Marculionis and others.
He made his debut in the Yugoslav national team at a major tournament nine years earlier, at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and for seven years he won the brightest medals in the blue jersey, becoming one of the greatest Yugoslav aces ever. When the country fell apart, he became the captain of Croatia and in those war times was even publicly asked to say whether he was a Serb or a Croat. Born to father Jovan Petrović from Herzegovina, otherwise a member of the security services, and mother Biserka Mikulandra, a librarian from the Šibenik area, Dražen was a cousin of Serbian and world legend Dejan Bodiroga, also one of the greatest European players in history.
In a show during the war, a viewer asked Dražen that question in a live program:
“Good evening, I welcome you and your guest to the studio. I would like to ask Dražen one question, it is constantly heard in the media that Dražen Petrović is a Serb, so I am interested…”, he addressed the host with a cigarette, which was usual in the studio at the time “Don’t, this is not a political show. What are you playing, Dražen, a defender? He may be a Serbian defender, but he is not only a Serb…”, replied the host, getting up from his chair, and Dražen laughed, although it was obvious to him unpleasant. The presenter tried to end the unpleasant situation, but, to put it mildly, it didn’t go well for him: “Don’t, please, can you please ask something about… How can a Serb play so well? Well, he’s not a Serb, so that’s why he doesn’t play so well. Not all Petrovićs are Serbs,” the host somehow stopped. Then he looked at Dražen, who replied: “No problem, that question can be answered,” said Dražen. “I’m from Šibenik, my mother is from Bilice near Šibenik, my father is from Herzegovina, Zagora,” he added in a video that was preserved on YouTube.
The difficult times in which Dražen and the aces of his generation were basketball stars and the environment in which such conversations were held in the live program, leave a very painful impression even with so many decades of distance. Intruding into someone’s privacy and examining the blood cells of Dražen Petrović and his parents “on the air” was obviously quite logical for some, as well as putting the basketball player in a situation where he had to testify as if he was being questioned about something that is a completely personal matter.
Decades have passed, and his own brother, also a legendary basketball player and coach, Aco Petrović, said in a much more relaxed social environment that everything was clear to Dražen and that the Croatian national team was everything to him. “He was the leader not only of basketball, but also the sports leader of Croatia. You know, at that time the whole of Yugoslavia was watching which side Dražen would choose. Because, I have nothing to hide, we are from a mixed marriage, although Jola’s father is from Zagora near Trebinje in Herzegovina, and my mother from Bilice in Šibenik. Dad spent his entire schooling and working life in Croatia. But when the country was falling apart, everyone was watching what Dražen would do. And by coming to the UN, he gave a message to everyone, ‘I am here for “The Croatian national team is everything to me. He always talked about 1992 with pride,” Aco Petrović told HRT.