Dražen "Praja"Dalipagić (Serbian Cyrillic:Дражен "Праја" Далипагић; 27 November 1951 – 25 January 2025) was a Serbian[3] professional basketball player andheadcoach. He was selectedthe best athlete of Yugoslavia in the year 1978, and is one of the most decorated athletes inYugoslavian history. He was named one ofFIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. Dalipagić was enshrined into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fameas a player in 2004, and into theFIBA Hall of Fame, also as a player, in 2007. In 2008, he was named one of the50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors. Playing forPartizan, Dalipagić won two Yugoslav league titles, a Yugoslav Cup, and two Korać Cups. He is the club's all-time leading scorer with 8,278 points. In 243 appearances with the Yugoslavia national team (second most) between 1973 and 1986, Dalipagić won 12 medals (second most) including gold medals at the Olympics (1980), World Cup (1978), and EuroBasket (1973, 1975, 1977).[4]
During his professional playing career, he scored at least 50 points in a game 15 times.[5] His single-game career scoring high was 70 points scored, achieved during anItalian League game, betweenVenezia andVirtus Bologna, on 25 January 1987. He was nicknamed "The Sky Jumper".[6]
In the 1980–81 season, he went abroad for the first time in his career. During that season, he played withReyer Venezia, of the ItalianLega Basket Serie A league. After just one season with Venezia, he returned to his former club, Partizan, for one season. In the following seasons, he played for numerous European teams, includingReal Madrid, of the SpanishPrimera División, during the1982–83 season, in which he only played with the club inFIBA European Champions Cup (now calledEuroLeague) games. He also played with Reyer Venezia, andGlaxo Verona of the Italian League. He finished his professional career after the 1990–91 season, in which he played with Partizan's arch-rivals,Crvena zvezda.[citation needed]
As a Partizan Belgrade player, he scored 8,278 points,[8] in 305 games played, for a scoring average of 27.1 points per game. While playing in Italy, he scored 7,993 points in 241 games played, for a scoring average of 33.2 points per game. He led theItalian League in scoring average, in the 1987–88 season, with an average of 37.7 points per game.[citation needed]
Dalipagić finished high school at the Technical School inMostar and graduated from the Teachers College inBelgrade. He was married to Sonja Požeg, former Yugoslav tennis player. They had two children, Sanja and Davorin.[citation needed]
Dalipagić died on 25 January 2025, at the age of 73.[10][11]
