| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1956-10-16)October 16, 1956 (age 69) |
| Nationality | Bosnia and Herzegovina / Serbian |
| Listed height | 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) |
| Listed weight | 107 kg (236 lb) |
| Career information | |
| Playing career | 1977–1990 |
| Position | Center |
| Number | 9 |
| Career history | |
| 1977–1983 | Bosna |
| 1983–1986 | Stade Français |
| 1986–1990 | Reyer Venezia |
| Career highlights | |
| |
| FIBA Hall of Fame | |
Medals | |
Ratko "Raša" Radovanović (Serbian Cyrillic:Ратко Радовановић; born 16 October 1956) is a Serbian former professionalbasketball player who competed forSFR Yugoslavia, at the1980 Summer Olympics, and at the1984 Summer Olympics.[1]
In terms of the total number of medals with the Yugoslav national team at top international competitions (Olympics, World Championships, and EuroBasket), Radovanović is among the winningest Yugoslav basketball players.[2] His nine medals with Yugoslavia, are only behindKrešimir Ćosić (14 medals),Dražen Dalipagić (12), andDragan Kićanović andVlade Divac (10 medals each).
Born in the town ofNevesinje within theHerzegovina region, Radovanović, still an infant, was brought by his parents toNikšić,PR Montenegro where he would spend the rest of his childhood.[3][2]
It was in Nikšić that Radovanović, a tall and lanky kid, took up basketball on an informal, recreational basis in 1969. Soon after, in May 1970, the seniorYugoslav national team won the1970 FIBA World Championship, resulting in an explosion of popularity for the sport throughout the country—a trend young Radovanović followed by beginning to practice a lot more seriously.[3] It wasn't long before he was noticed by the Nikšić-bornBosna sports society general secretary Vukašin "Vule" Vukalović (1929-2000) who recommended the youngster toKK Bosnahead coachBogdan Tanjević.[3]
Radovanović arrived to Sarajevo in October 1972, having just turned 16 years of age. Though officially part of theKK Bosna youth system, first teamhead coachTanjević would already give him an odd first team run-out during the1972-73 season,[3] the club's first ever in theYugoslav top-tier league.
Throughout the1973-74 season, seventeen-year-old Radovanović recorded 17 first team appearances in the Yugoslav First League, scoring a total of 43 points (2.5 points per game).[3]
During the1974-75 season, the eighteen-year-old's continued improvement led to a permanent move to the first team. His league scoring average over the season reached 5.8 points per game.[3]
KK Bosna prospect Radovanović was selected by head coach Joša Gagel for theYugoslav cadet (under-16) national team at theEuropean Championship for Cadets, held in Italy during July 1973. The 16-year-old made a modest contribution to Yugoslavia's bronze medal effort with 2.2 points per game.
The following summer, he made theYugoslav junior (under-18) squad at theEuropean Championship for Juniors, inFrance, this time playing a much larger role on a team coached byTanjević, his clubhead coach atBosna. Radovanović contributed with 13.8 points per game, as the Yugoslav team — featuringBranko Skroče,Mihovil Nakić,Andro Knego, andRajko Žižić, among others — won gold.
In July 1975, Radovanović, still only eighteen-years-old, made his full squad seniorYugoslav national team debut in a game versusCanada atHala Pinki as part of the International Cup.[3]
Right after retiring from playing basketball in 1990 inVenice, thirty-three-year-old Radovanović moved back to Sarajevo with his wife and their two young children. Returning to the city where he had previously lived for eleven years between 1972 and 1983 while withKK Bosna, he invested some of his earnings in healthcare by opening a privatedental office.[4]
Less than two years after that, theBosnian War broke out and Radovanović and his family fled to Belgrade where he has been living ever since.[4]
In 1996, Radovanović became the sporting director ofFMP Železnik—a club that had just finished playing its first ever season inFR Yugoslavia'stop-tier league — in the capacity.[5] Working under the club's owner and presidentNebojša Čović, Radovanović handled player personnel issues—helping FMP Železnik become a noted producer of basketball talent.
In the 1996-97 season, Radovanović's first with the club, FMP Železnik won theFR Yugoslavia Cup competition — its very first piece of silverware. However, instead of keeping the Cup-winning squad (that consisted of somewhat older players) intact, the club decided to sell them and turn to bringing up a generation of 17 and 18-year-olds from its youth system into the first team.[5]
With Čović's financial support, Radovanović implemented a player development system in FMP that relied on identifying and acquiring talented teenagers from all over FR Yugoslavia / Serbia-Montenegro / Serbia during early stages of their basketball development, working with them within the club's system featuring academy-like facilities at the Belgrade suburb ofŽeleznik where in addition to training they also lived and studied, and later selling them at a profit to bigger clubs. Players developed in the club during Radovanović's tenure include:Miloš Teodosić (sold in 2007 toOlympiakos for €1.2 million),Zoran Erceg (sold in 2008 to Olympiakos for €800,000),Aleksandar Rašić (sold in 2007 toEfes Pilsen for €400,000),Dejan Musli (sold in 2010 toCaja Laboral),Miroslav Raduljica (sold in 2010 to Efes Pilsen for €600,000),Mladen Šekularac (sold in 2002 toVirtus Bologna for €600,000),Dejan Milojević (sold in 2000 toKK Budućnost for €600,000),Ognjen Aškrabić (sold in 2004 to the newly-establishedDynamo Saint Petersburg for €550,000),Duško Savanović (sold in 2006 toUNICS Kazan for €500,000),Vladimir Radmanović andMile Ilić (sold in 2001 to theSeattle SuperSonics and in 2006 to theNew Jersey Nets, respectively, for the then fixed transfer fee ofUS$350,000 that the NBA franchises were paying to European clubs for players under contract).[6]
After fourteen years at the club, Radovanović parted ways with FMP Železnik in 2010 at the beginning of the 2010-11 season.[7]
In August 2017, following seven years away from basketball, Radovanović almost came back to the sport asKK Partizan's youth system director. The news of his return even got announced by the Serbian press outlets,[8] however, nothing came of it in the end with Radovanović later revealing that negotiations with KK Partizan lasted over a month with no deal ultimately being made.[9]
On May 26, 2018, Radovanović became thesports director ofSloboda Užice, newly promoted member of theBasketball League of Serbia for the2018-19 season.[10]
He became a member ofSerbian Progressive Party in May 2023.[11]
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