By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
AEK retired the jersey #13 worn by Stevan Jelovac.
The Serbian basketball player passed away on December 5, three weeks after suffering a stroke. As recently announced by his last team, the jersey retirement ceremony in his honor was held before the start of the Basketball Champions League Regular Season Gameday 5 fixture opposite Falco Szombathely at AEK Ano Liosia Arena.
Players and fans struggled to hold back their tears as the jersey was raised to the rafters of the Athens gym.
Jelovac was hospitalized since November 14 after he collapsed while attempting to recover from an ankle injury forcing him to the sidelines. He spent two weeks at the Μetropolitan General in the Greek capital in critical condition, before being moved to Serbia at the request of his family.
The basketball world has been mourning his death. He was 32.
As a member of the Queen, he averaged 12.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 0.7 steals per game over seven appearances between the BCL and Greece’s Stoiximan Basket League.
His career sent him from Serbia to Turkey, Germany, Russia, Spain, Lithuania, Italy. He went from Mega and Crvena Zvezda to Antalya, Caserta, Rytas, Zaragoza, Nizhny Novgorod, Brose Bamberg, and Gaziantep, and from Europe to Japan and NeoPhoenix.
At club continental competition European level, he made his way to 13 games of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, 41 in the 7DAYS EuroCup, 28 in the Champions League, and 16 in the FIBA Europe Cup. He was also capped at the senior level with Serbia during the 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.