 Skansi withYugoslavia at the1968 Olympics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1943-11-23)23 November 1943 Sumartin,Independent State of Croatia |
| Died | 4 April 2022(2022-04-04) (aged 78) |
| Nationality | Croatian |
| Listed height | 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) |
| Listed weight | 104 kg (229 lb) |
| Career information | |
| Playing career | 1964–1976 |
| Position | Center |
| Coaching career | 1973–2004 |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1964–1972 | Jugoplastika |
| 1972–1973 | Maxmobili Pesaro |
| 1973–1976 | Jugoplastika |
| As coach: | |
| 1973–1978 | Jugoplastika |
| 1981–1983 | Scavolini Pesaro |
| 1984–1985 | Honky Fabriano |
| 1987–1988 | Hitachi Venezia |
| 1988–1989 | Phonola Roma |
| 1990–1993 | Benetton Treviso |
| 1997–1999 | Teamsystem Bologna |
| 1999–2000 | PAOK |
| 2003 | Split CO |
| 2003–2004 | Krka |
| Career highlights and awards | |
As player
As head coach
| |
Medals | |
Petar Skansi (23 November 1943 – 4 April 2022)[1] was a Croatian professionalbasketball player andcoach. During his playing career, he played forJugoplastika andMaxmobili Pesaro. He was named one ofFIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. He was a member of theYugoslavia national team thatsilver medalled at the1968 Summer Olympics.
For his basketball achievements, he was awarded theFranjo Bučar State Award for Sport twice, in 1992 and 2003. He also had a political stint as a deputy minister of sports in Croatia.
Born in theSumartin village, on the island ofBrač, to Navy Captain Petar and teacher mother Marija, Skansi graduated from the Split streamlined maritime high school in 1961. Simultaneously, he took upwater polo, playing it in theJadran Split youth system.[2][3]
Skansi first playedclub basketball with theYugoslav League clubJugoplastika, where he played from 1964 to 1972. He then played with theItalian league clubMaxmobili Pesaro, from 1972 to 1973. After that, he returned to Jugoplastika, where he remained until he retired from playing basketball, in 1976.
He was a member of theFIBA European Selection in 1971, and he was theEuroLeague Finals Top Scorer in1972.
Skansi was also a member of theYugoslav national basketball team. With Yugoslavia, he won numerous medals at the majorFIBA tournaments, including: the silver medal at the1965 EuroBasket, the silver medal at the1967 FIBA World Championship, the silver medal at the1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics, and the gold medal at the1970 FIBA World Championship. He also won the gold medal at the1967 Mediterranean Games.
After Yugoslavia won the gold medal at the 1970 FIBA World Championship, Skansi was named theCroatian Athlete of the Year. After his retirement from playing basketball, in recognition of his playing career, he was named to theFIBA's 50 Greatest Players list, in 1991.
Skansi became coach-player atJugoplastika in the season 1973–74 and he remained in that status until his retirement from playing basketball in 1976. Then he continued his career in basketball only as head coach. In his first season as coach-player, Skansi led Jugoplastika in the semifinals of1973–74 FIBA Korać Cup where his team was eliminated hardly byPartizan (97–108 loss in Belgrade and 85–75 win in Split). Also in the same season they won theYugoslav Basketball Cup (92–85 againstCrvena zvezda) and Jugoplastika ranked second in theFirst Federal Basketball League.
In 1974–75 season, still as coach-player of Jugoplastika, he led his team in the semifinals of1974–75 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup where his team was eliminated by the defending championsCrvena zvezda (88–76 win in Split and 63–81 loss in Belgrade). In the domestic competitions Jugoplastika reached the final of Yugoslav Basketball Cup but lost to Crvena zvezda and in the First Federal Basketball League once again ranked second behind the championZadar.
In 1975–76 season his last as player alongside coach, Skansi won his first European trophy theFIBA Korać Cup in a double final against the Italian clubChinamartini Torino. In the domestic league he led Jugoplastika in the second place.
The next year (1976–77) Skansi retired as player and continued his career in the city ofSplit as head coach of theDalmatian club. This season was maybe his best over all his coaching career because he led his team in the success of thesmall Triple Crown after the winning of theFIBA Korać Cup (againstAlco Bologna), the Yugoslav Cup (againstKvarner) and the First Federal Basketball League.
In 1977–78 season Petar Skansi led Jugoplastika as Yugoslav champion in the Semifinals group stage ofFIBA European Champions Cup where they ranked 5th with a 5 wins–5 losses record. In the end of the season he left the club.
In summer 1981, having spent the previous four years coaching in various capacities within theYugoslav national team system, Skansi returned to club coaching by accepting the offer fromVictoria Libertas (Scavolini), an ambitious and financially stable club fromPesaro backed by entrepreneurValter Scavolini who also performed the club president role. Having taken over in 1975 and invested heavily since, the club's financial backer who made his wealthmanufacturing and selling kitchen appliances was looking for elusivedomestic league success. Giving further indication of Scavolini's ambitions in summer 1981 was the simultaneous acquisition of 28-year-old European superstarDragan Kićanović fromPartizan whom Skansi knew well from coaching him in the Yugoslav national team. Players Skansi inherited included talented youngpower forwardWalter Magnifico,shooting guard /small forwardMike Sylvester, and mainstayforward Giuseppe Ponzoni.
Skansi's 1981 head coaching appointment at Scavolini, by his own admission, owed a lot to fellow YugoslavAleksandar Nikolić's coaching success in Italy throughout the 1970s that opened doors in Italian league to other Yugoslav coaches such as Skansi andBogdan Tanjević.[4]
Playing in a fourteen-clubItalian league, Skansi'sScavolini Pesaro finished theregular season top of the table with a 25–7 record thus getting the home court advantage throughout the playoffs. It also ensured a bye in the initial round-of-sixteen playoff stage, which meant starting from the quarter-final stage where they sweptFabriano 2–0 in a best-of-three series. The following round, the semifinals, broughtSinudyne Bologna, a much tougher test, and the series went to the deciding game three where Scavolini eked out a hard-fought 88–87 win on their home court inPesaro. In the final, they facedDan Peterson'sBilly Milano, losing the home court advantage right away by dropping the opening game 86–89 on their home court; Olimpia won game two in Milan, 73–72, to take the title.
Ahead of the 1982–83 season, on Skansi's insistence,Scavolini Pesaro management signed 28-year-oldcenterŽeljko Jerkov, another compatriot Skansi knew well from theYugoslav national team as well as fromJugoplastika. With a formidable looking starting five ofKićanović,Sylvester, Ponzoni,Magnifico, andJerkov, as well as the previous season's experience, the goal of winning the league was now even more of an objective than the year before.
TheItalian league expanded to 16 teams and Scavolini finished theregular season with a 21–9 record, placing third on the table.
They simultaneously competed in the1982–83 FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup, winning it in March 1983 inPalma de Mallorca versusASVEL.
The league playoffs began versus the sixth seedAuxilium Torino at the quarterfinal stage with Scavolini progressing fairly comfortably 2–1, winning both home games dominantly. The semifinals brought their nemesisBilly Milano, which had the home court advantage this time due to placing higher in the regular season than Scavolini. Billy won its opening home game by a big margin, before Scavolini responded with a large win of their own inPesaro. The deciding game inMilan was never in doubt, as Olimpia routed Scavolini by a 14-point margin – a major disappointment for the Pesaro team.
As a direct consequence of falling to win the Italian league, both big name foreign signings, Kićanović and Jerkov, were not retained, whilehead coach Skansi initially survived, but he then got fired only one game into the 1983–84 league season.
Skansi's best achievement in his Italian era was the winning of 1991–92Italian League championship withBenetton Treviso. The next season Benetton under his coaching, reached the1993 FIBA European League Final Four that took place inPeace and Friendship Stadium,Athens and unexpectedly lost toLimoges by 55–59 score.
In 1977, after coachingJugoplastika for a season-and-a-half, thirty-three-year-old Skansi got picked byAleksandar Nikolić to be the revered coach's assistant forEuroBasket 1977. With its famous five ofSlavnić,Kićanović,Delibašić,Dalipagić, andĆosić, Yugoslavia won gold in dominant fashion.
Next summer, Skansi continued in his assistantcoach role under Nikolić for the1978 FIBA World Championship as Yugoslavia won gold again with the same team – its second world title in eight years.
Right after winning the 1978 world title, Nikolić stepped down and his assistant Skansi got thehead coaching job ahead of theEuroBasket in Italy. Losing their last round-robin group game 77-76 versusMiki Berkovich-ledIsrael meant Yugoslavia failed to progress to the tournament's final game. However, the team recovered to win its third-place game versusCzechoslovakia, which provided a bit of a reprieve though the tournament overall was still seen as a disappointment after years of winning, including three consecutive EuroBasket titles.
AfterCroatia's independence in 1991, Skansi became theCroatian national basketball teamhead coach, and with them he won the silver medal at the1992 Summer Olympic Games.
From January 2012, until June 2014, Skansi was DeputyMinister of Science, Education and Sports toŽeljko Jovanović, in thecentre-left government ofZoran Milanović.
Skansi was married to Damira, with whom he had a daughter, Jana and a son, Luka.[5] From 1984, Skansi's primary residence was in Slovenia, where he started a real estate maintenance business.[2]
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