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United They Stood, Divided They Fell: Nationalism and the Yugoslav School of Basketball, 1968–2000

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Vjekoslav Perica
Vjekoslav Perica*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Brigham Young University, U.S.A.
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Extract

Both Yugoslav wars and Yugoslav basketball were conspicuous in Western media in the 1990s. While CNN transmitted scenes of horror from battlefields of Bosnia and Kosovo, several dozen professional athletes of Yugoslav background could be seen in action on U. S. sport channels. Yugoslavs, by far the most numerous among foreign players in the strongest basketball league in the world—the American professional basketball league (NBA)—sparked the audience's curiosity about their background and the peculiar Yugoslav style of basketball. The literature concerning the Yugoslav crisis and Balkan wars noted sporadic outbursts of ethnic hatred in sport arenas, but did not provide any detailed information on the otherwise important role of sport in Yugoslav history and society. Not even highly competent volumes such as Beyond Yugoslavia, which highlighted the country's culture, arts, religion, economy, and military, paid attention to what Yugoslavs called “the most important secondary issue in the world”—sport. Yet sport reveals not merely the pastimes of the Yugoslav peoples, but also the varieties of nationalism in the former Yugoslavia, including probably the most neglected of all local nationalisms: the official communist-era patriotic ideology of interethnic “brotherhood and unity.” The goal of this article is to highlight this type of nationalism manifested via state-directed sport using as a case study the most successful basketball program outside the United States.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , June 2001 , pp. 267 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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References

Notes

1. Some 130 foreign athletes have been drafted by NBA franchises in the 1990s—70 per cent came from the countries that once comprised the Yugoslav six-republic federation. According to Sports Illustrated, all-time top scorers among international players in the NBA league are the following: (1) Dražen Petrović (New Jersey Nets) from Croatia, who averaged 22.3 points per game in the season ‘92–’93; (2) Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks) from Germany (21.5 in the season ‘00–’01); (3) Dražen Petrović (20.6 in ‘91–’92); (4) Pedja Stojaković (Sacramento Kings) from Serbia/Yugoslavia, 19.7 in the season ‘00–’01; and (5) Dino Radja (Croatia), 19.7 in the season ‘95–’96. Quoted from The Salt Lake Tribune, 4 February 2001.Google Scholar

2. The first who wrote about hate-mongering fans was the Yugoslav sociologist Srdjan Vrcan. In the 1980s Vrcan, and later his student Dražen Lalić, published several essays on the rise of ethnic nationalism in sport arenas. See Srdjan Vrcan, Sport i nasilje danas u nas i druge studije iz sociologije sporta (Sport and violence in our country today and other studies in sport sociology) (Zagreb: Naprijed, 1990).Google Scholar

3. Sabrina P. Ramet, and Ljubisa S. Adamovich, eds, Beyond Yugoslavia: Politics, Economics and Culture in a Shattered Community (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995).Google Scholar

4. A version of this article was presented at the 5th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), “Identity and the State: Nationalism and Sovereignty in a Changing World,” Columbia University, New York, 13–15 April 2000. The author would like to thank, first of all, the anonymous reviewers for Nationalities Papers and the Editor-in-Chief. Also thanks to Gale Stokes, David F. Good, and Doug Hartmann, who read an early draft of this article, and to Ana Dević, Craig Harline, and Kendall Brown, who read a later draft.Google Scholar

5. See, for example, Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 142–143; Wilbur Zelinsky, Nation into State. The Shifting Symbolic Foundations of American Nationalism (Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1988), pp. 107–113; Mark Dyreson, Making the American Team: Sport, Culture, and the Olympic Experience (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997); Peter J. Beck, Scoring for Britain: International Football and International Politics, 1900–1939 (Portland: Frank Cass, 1999); David Mayall and Michael Cronin, eds, Sporting Nationalisms (London and Portland: Frank Cass, 1999).Google Scholar

6. A vivid and objective account of life in Yugoslavia in the 1970s can be found in Dusko Doder, The Yugoslavs (New York: Random House, 1978).Google Scholar

7. According to records of the Yugoslav Federal Sport Association, in the year of Tito's death, the Yugoslav national team won 93 world or European trophies (gold, silver, or bronze medals) and in 1981 105 trophies. In 1982, 175 Yugoslav athletes from 54 Yugoslav cities and from all Yugoslav republics and autonomous provinces, competing as members of the national team in official international competition in 22 sport disciplines, won 70 trophies worldwide; in that same year Yugoslav athletes won seven gold medals in world championships with 11 first places in European contests. According to the total output in international competition, Yugoslavia was ranked tenth in the world. Almanah jugoslavenskog sporta (Belgrade: Savez za fizičku kulturu Jugoslavije, 1982), p. 5.Google Scholar

8. Almanah jugoslavenskog sporta, pp. 2–4.Google Scholar

9. For example, among 206 Yugoslav athletes who won gold, silver, or bronze medals in international contests in 1980, 81 were from Serbia (two from Kosovo and 24 from Vojvodina), 58 from Croatia, 27 from Slovenia, 23 from Bosnia-Herzegovina, nine from Macedonia, and eight from Montenegro. In 1984, 220 athletes won prestigious international trophies; 77 of these athletes came from Serbia (three from Kosovo and 22 from Vojvodina), 69 from Croatia, 39 from Slovenia, 18 from Bosnia-Herzegovina, 11 from Montenegro, and six from Macedonia. Almanah jugoslavenskog sporta (Belgrade: Savez za fizičku kulturu Jugoslavije, 1984), p. 10.Google Scholar

10. In 1990, Yugoslavia won the World Basketball Championship tournament in Argentina. In 1991, Yugoslavia won the European Basketball Championship tournament. In the spring of 1991, during the fatal Serbo–Croatian armed conflict at Plitvice, a joint Serbo–Croatian effort (Živojinović–Ivanišević) in the doubles decided Davis Cup tennis match Yugoslavia–Czechoslovakia. In the 1990/1991 Euro-league season, the Belgrade soccer team Crvena zvezda (Red Star) won the first European club championship in the history of Yugoslav soccer and in 1991 triumphed at the Inter-Continental Soccer Tournament.Google Scholar

11. Aleksandar Nikolić was the head coach of the Yugoslav national men's team from 1953 to 1968 and again from 1976 to 1978. He recorded 101 victories and 39 defeats with the national team and triumphed twice in European club championship tournaments coaching professional Italian teams. Nikolić was the first Yugoslav to became a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame at Springfield, Massachusetts.Google Scholar

12. Dean Smith with John Kilgo and Sally Jenkins, A Coach's Life (New York: Random House, 1999) p. 170.Google Scholar

13. After a series of Soviet triumphs between 1964 and 1970, Yugoslav juniors took European gold medals in 1972, 1974, 1976, 1986, and 1988, with two world trophies in 1986 and 1988.Google Scholar

14. From 1972, when Krešimir Ćosić was selected by Portland Trailblazers, to the 2000 draft, some 70 Yugoslav basketball players were picked by NBA professional teams (to be sure, not all of the drafted players came to play in America). In addition, several dozen Yugoslav players have played since the 1970s for American colleges and universities. Finally, 400 Yugoslav players and coaches are at this writing employed with Western European and other foreign teams.Google Scholar

15. For example, in the 1999/2000 season, seven players from the former Yugoslavia (three Croatians, one Slovene, and three Serbs) played professional basketball in the NBA. Over 30 former Yugoslavs were in U. S. college basketball. Also in 1999, 125 basketball players from Croatia alone played in foreign countries, which exceeded the number of active players in the domestic A1 league. During the 1998/1999 season, the largest number of Croatians played in Slovenia (24), followed by Switzerland (16), U. S.A. (11), Hungary (9), Turkey (9), Germany (9), Poland (7), and Austria (6). Source: http://www.eurobasket.com/cro, 22 February 2000.Google Scholar

16. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), consisting of Serbia and Montenegro, won two European championships, in 1995 and 1997, and an Olympic silver medal and triumphed at the 1998 World Cup tournament.Google Scholar

17. The list of 24 countries runs as follows: 1. Italy, 647.0 points; 2. Spain, 329.5; 3. Greece, 328.5; 4. Lithuania 230.4; 5. Turkey, 178.0; 6. France, 175.0; 7. Yugoslavia, 149.8; 8. Russia 99.7; 9. Germany, 77.5; 10. Croatia, 71.9; 11. Israel, 68.3; 12. Poland, 65.0; 13. Slovenia, etc. Slobodna Dalmacija, 20 February 2000.Google Scholar

18. On 24 June 2000, the Sacramento Kings center Vlade Divac initiated a humanitarian game in Bologna, in honor of the late Krešimir Ćosić who played and coached in this Italian city. The Italian national team played a team called “Friends of Krešimir Ćosić” which included several Serbian players with one Slovene and one Greek player, but Croatians Kukoč and Radja declined to play.Google Scholar

19. According to Croatian sociologist Josip Županov, Yugonostalgia is “social sentiment,” conveyed by the generation that remembered the respect by the international community (in contrast to the post-1990 contempt and isolation), the free interaction of diverse cultures and companionship with citizens of now foreign countries, common summer vacations in the Adriatic archipelago, sport spectacles and victories of the Yugoslav national team, rock concerts, Western lifestyle, and prosperity relative to the other communist-ruled countries. Županov pointed out that “Yugonostalgia” appears as both a political and an apolitical cultural phenomenon but also has a “Great Serbian” wing which laments Serbia's ‘loss of Yugoslavia.’' Nacional (Zagreb), 8 February 1996, p. 51.Google Scholar

20. Feral Tribune, 12 July 1999.Google Scholar

21. In 1940, agriculture was the major branch of the national economy and 80% of the population of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (13 million) was rural. In the 1960s, 50% of the population of 18 million was rural. In the same period there were 14 urban centers with a population in the range 100,000 to 1.5 million (in the interwar kingdom, there were only three cities with over 100,000 residents). Industrial production was as follows: mining and manufacturing, 27%; agriculture, 22%; services and other, 51%. The literacy rate in 1990 was 90.5% of the adult population; infant mortality was 22 per 1,000 live births. In contrast to two universities and two institutions of higher education in the interwar kingdom, in the 1980s Yugoslavia had 19 universities and 160 colleges and institutions of higher learning. In terms of the number of college students per 10,000 people, Yugoslavia outranked all Western European countries except Sweden and The Netherlands, and all Eastern European countries except the USSR. Sources: ELZ -Enciklopedija Leksiko-grafskog zavoda (Encyclopedia of the Yugoslav Lexicographic Institute) (Zagreb: Leksikografski zavod FNRJ/SFRJ 1959–1980); and Yugoslav Survey, 1982–1991. See also Doder, The Yugoslavs, p. 197.Google Scholar

22. See for example, Steven L. Hoch, ‘Tall Tales: Anthropometric Measures of Well-Being in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, 1821–1960,’' Slavic Review, Vol. 58, No. 1, 1999, pp. 61–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23. See Doder, The Yugoslavs.Google Scholar

24. For example, NBA players such as Toni Kukoč (6' 11“), Vlade Divac (7' 1“), Dino Radja (6' 11“), Žan Tabak (7' 1“), Bruno Šundov (7' 3“), Stojan Vranković (7' 2“), Aleksandar Radojević (7' 3“); and Radoslav Nesterović (7' 2“).Google Scholar

25. Slobodna Dalmacija, 29 June 2000.Google Scholar

26. This author, as an active Yugoslav basketball player in the 1970s, took part in a survey conducted by sport psychologist Radoje Žarković and statistician Vinko Bajrović, both from Split. The survey tested educational background and intellectual profile of a sample of 350 basketball, water polo, and soccer players from several Yugoslav republics. According to the testing results, no soccer player was among the 100 “smartest.”Google Scholar

27. Ljubodrag Duci Simonović, Pobuna robota (Belgrade: Zapis, 1981).Google Scholar

28. According to testimony by Zvonko Bego, who was in the 1960 Olympic team. Slobodna Dalmacija, 5 September 2000.Google Scholar

29. Milutin Luta Pavlović, Ranko Žeravica u jugoslavenskoj košarci (Belgrade: Junior, 1992), pp. 72, 137–138.Google Scholar

30. Slobodna Dalmacija, 31 July 2000.Google Scholar

31. In an interview, a U. S. senator from Utah, Orrin Hatch, recalled Ćosić's 1970–1973 American college basketball career with the Cougars, at Brigham Young University, as follows: “He arrived on the BYU varsity basketball scene in 1970 like a cool wind off the Adriatic Sea, where he played as a child. He was a gangly summation of tendons and bones, loping down the court and driving everyone—the opposition, the coaches, the fans—a little crazy … Ćosić's versatility was astounding for his era. He could make a wraparound pass, dribble between his legs, put up a finger roll or nail the perimeter shot with supervising adeptness.” “Croatia & U. S.A” (Washington: Embassy of Croatia, 1996), p. 54.Google Scholar

32. Ibid., pp. 137–138.Google Scholar

33. He spoke at the conference “Past, Present and Future of Croatian Basketball,” held in Zagreb on 18 February 2000. Quoted in Slobodna Dalmacija, 21 February 2000.Google Scholar

34. At the time of writing, several dozen Yugoslav coaches work in Western Europe. A good international reputation is enjoyed by, among others, Bogdan Tanjević, Dušan Ivković, Božidar Maljković, Veselin Djurović, Željko Obradović, Svetislav Pešić, Petar Skansi, Željko Pavličević, Josip Grdović, and Slavko Trninić.Google Scholar

35. Novosel spoke at a conference held at Zagreb, on 18 February 2000. The conference, sponsored by the Croatian National Basketball Association (HKS), sought a way out of the crisis into which Croatian basketball had sunk after the collapse of the former Yugoslavia. Slobodna Dalmacija, 19 February 2000.Google Scholar

36. Feral Tribune, No. 768, 3 June 2000.Google Scholar

37. Feral Tribune, No. 768, 3 June 2000.Google Scholar

38. Slobodna Dalmacija, 19 February 2000.Google Scholar

39. On this function of sport, see Eric J. Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1870—Programme, Myth, Reality (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press 1990), p. 142.Google Scholar

40. Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), p. 564.Google Scholar

41. See James Riordan, ed., Sport under Communism: The USSR., Czechoslovakia, the GDR, China, Cuba (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1978), and Sport, Politics, and Communism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1991); Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), especially Chapter 9.Google Scholar

42. The importance of sport had continued to grow under all systems and regimes. “For most people,” Eric Hobsbawm has noted, “even the collective identification with their country … came more easily through the national sports, teams, and non-political symbols than through the institutions of the state.” Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914–1991 (New York: Vintage Books, 1994), p. 581.Google Scholar

43. Cited from Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 364–365. See also the discussion of sport as an instrument of nationalism in fascist Italy, in Rosella Frasca, E Il Duce le voile sportive (Bologna: Patron, 1983); Remo Basetti, Storia e storie dello sport in Italia: dalla unita a oggi (Venice: Marsillio, 1999).Google Scholar

44. Tonči Petrić, “History of Sports in Split (2),” Slobodna Dalmacija, 21 February 2000. An Italian account of early basketball on the Adriatic coast can be found in Talpo Oddone, I cento anni della societa ginnastica Zara: con l'alto patronato del comitato olimpico nazionale italiano (Rome: Assoziacione nazionale Dalmata, 1976). The Zara/Zadar-born author played for the Societa ginnastica and left the city after the 1943 capitulation of Italy.Google Scholar

45. See Nikola Žutić, Sokoli: ideologija u fizićkoj kulturi Kraljevine Jugoslavije, 1929–1941 (Belgrade: Angrotrade, 1991).Google Scholar

46. Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 143.Google Scholar

47. “Sportski vremeplov,” Slobodna Dalmacija, 15 May 2000.Google Scholar

48. Slobodna Dalmacija, 15 May 2000.Google Scholar

49. “Josip Broz Tito has been a faithful friend and supporter of sports … he is a deeply serious sportsman and an equally committed planner of policies designed to develop sports in Yugoslavia.” Krešo Špeletić, ed., Tito i sport (Zagreb: Stvarnost, 1979), p. 9.Google Scholar

50. See Alexander Wolff, “Prisoners of War,” Sports Illustrated, June 1996, pp. 81–90, and Douglas Hartmann, “From Thin Ethnicity to Thick: Basketball and War in the Former Yugoslavia,” in Stephen Cornell and Douglas Hartmann, eds, Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a Changing World (Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 1998), pp. 141–151.Google Scholar

51. Intervju, 1 March 1991, p. 68.Google Scholar

52. Robert Bellah described civil religion as “a set of institutional or official myths, beliefs, rituals and symbols, sacred to the political community or nation.” See Robert N. Bellah, The Broken Covenant: American Civil Religion in Time of Trial (New York: Seabury Press, 1975). See also Charles S. Prebish, Religion and Sport: The Meeting of Sacred and Profane (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992).Google Scholar

53. NIN, No. 1532, 11 May 1980.Google Scholar

54. Bilo je časno Živjeti s Titom (Zagreb: Vjesnik, 1980), p. 260.Google Scholar

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56. Hans Kohn, Pan-Slavism: Its History and Ideology (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1953).Google Scholar

57. The original hymn was written in 1834 by the Revd Samuel Tomašik and performed for the first time at the 1848 Pan-Slavic Congress at Prague.Google Scholar

58. Kohn, Pan-Slavism, p. 71.Google Scholar

59. Ibid., p. 251.Google Scholar

60. Ibid., p. 252.Google Scholar

61. Sports Illustrated, June 1996, pp. 81–90. See also Hartmann, “From Thin Ethnicity to Thick,” pp. 141–151.Google Scholar

62. Cited in Wolff, “Prisoners of War,” p. 84; and in Hartmann, “From Thin Ethnicity to Thick,” p. 142.Google Scholar

63. Ibid.Google Scholar

64. See Bože Šimleša, Sportske bitke za Hrvatsku (Sport Battles for Croatia) (Zagreb: Meditor, 1995).Google Scholar

65. Sport kao refleksija druatvenih odnosa (Sport as a Mirror of Social Relations), Republika, No. 233, 2000, pp. 68–80.Google Scholar

66. Associated Press, 15 December 2000.Google Scholar

67. Slobodna Dalmacija, 19 February 2000.Google Scholar