By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Per the announcement by FIBA:
“The 2017 Class of the FIBA Hall of Fame was inducted on Saturday night at the House of Basketball, FIBA’s headquarters on the outskirts of Geneva.
Seven world-class basketball personalities and, for the first time ever, a team, were enshrined in a ceremony held in the Naismith Arena, FIBA’s exhibition space named after the inventor of basketball.
The 2017 Class of the FIBA Hall of Fame included seven
PLAYERS
Mickey Berkowitz (Israel)
Pero Cameron (New Zealand)
Toni Kukoc (Croatia)
Razija Mujanovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Shaquille O’Neal (USA)*
Valdis Valters (Latvia)
COACH
Dusan Ivkovic (Serbia)
TEAM
Dream Team (USA)
FIBA President Horacio Muratore said: “It is with tremendous pride that we induct these great basketball personalities into FIBA’s Hall of Fame as the Class of 2017. They have positively impacted our sport and assisted its growth in the four corners of the world for many years. 2017 is an important year as it marks FIBA’s 85th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of the FIBA Hall of Fame. It also means it has been 25 years since the Dream Team amazed us all at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. We normally would not induct a team into the FIBA Hall of Fame but we are making an exception for the Dream Team because of its outstanding contribution to the development of international basketball. Congratulations to all of the inductees that make up the 2017 Class of the FIBA Hall of Fame for receiving this well-deserved honor.”
One of the highlights of the event was the traditional Haka dance performed by Pero Cameron’s relatives.
Europe was represented in the induction by:
Dusan Ivkovic (Serbia): World champion in 1990 as head coach of Yugoslavia, four-time EuroBasket champion with Serbia and two-time EuroLeague champion with Olympiacos, among other distinctions.
Toni Kukoc (Croatia): World champion in 1990 and two-time EuroBasket champion with Yugoslavia, three-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and three-time EuroLeague champion with Jugoplastica, among other distinctions.
Valdis Valters (Latvia): World champion in 1982 and two-time EuroBasket champion with USSR.
Mickey Berkowitz (Israel): Gold medalist in 1974 Asia GAmes, silver medalist in the EuroBasket 1979 where he also won MVP honors and two-time European champion with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Razija Mujanovic (Bosnia): Silver medal in the 1988 Olympic Games and 1990 World Cup with Yugoslavia. Three-time EurOscar European Female Player of the Year (1991, 1994, 1995)