Žarko Varajić

Žarko Varajić (Serbian Cyrillic: Жарко Варајић; 26 December 1951 – 23 June 2019) was a Serbian professional basketball player and executive. He represented the Yugoslavia national team internationally.

Žarko Varajić

Personal information
Born	(1951-12-26)26 December 1951 Nikšić, PR Montenegro, Yugoslavia
Died	23 June 2019(2019-06-23) (aged 67) Belgrade, Serbia
Nationality	Serbian
Listed height	2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)
Listed weight	91 kg (201 lb)
Career information
NBA draft	1973 / Undrafted
Playing career	1969–1984
Position	Small forward
Number	11
Career history
1969–1981	Bosna
1981–1982	Al Ain BC
1982–1984	Bosna
Career highlights and awards
EuroLeague champion (1979) 3× Yugoslav League champion (1978, 1980, 1983) 2× Yugoslav Cup winner (1978, 1984) EuroLeague Finals Top Scorer (1979)
Medals Men's basketball Representing  Yugoslavia Olympic Games 1976 Montreal EuroBasket 1977 Belgium 1979 Italy

Early career

Growing up in Nikšić, Varajić pursued football in the FK Sutjeska youth system before fully devoting to basketball by switching to the basketball club within the same sports society — KK Sutjeska — and playing for its youth teams.

Playing career

In 1970, eighteen-year-old Varajić joined KK Bosna, a club competing in the second-tier level of Yugoslav basketball.^[1] With young players such as Anto Đogić, Rođeni Krvavac, and center Zdravko Čečur on its roster, the club sought a league promotion to the top-tier level Yugoslav First League, a feat that had been eluding them for decades.

During the summer of 1971, the club's head coaching post was taken over by the 24-year-old Bogdan Tanjević, who had just retired from playing. The young squad led by a young rookie head coach, and with the new acquisition of 22-year-old Svetislav Pešić from KK Partizan, the only player on the roster to have previously played top-tier level basketball,^[2] managed to gain promotion to the top-tier level Yugoslav First League. Varajić proved to be a formidable tandem with team-mate Mirza Delibašić, a tandem rivaled only by Dražen Dalipagić and Dragan Kićanović in Partizan.^[3]

Bosna won the 1979 FIBA European Champions Cup in Grenoble, France where Varajić scored 45 points – the record for the number of points scored in the finals of the FIBA European Champions Cup (later called the EuroLeague) – against the Italian club Emerson Varese by a score of 96–93.^[4]

National team career

Varajić was a member of the senior Yugoslav national basketball team. He played with Yugoslavia in 126 games.

Mostly used as backup to Dražen Dalipagić at small forward, Varajić won medals at the following tournaments: silver at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympic Games, gold at the 1977 EuroBasket, and bronze at the 1979 EuroBasket. He furthermore won golds at the 1974 Balkan Championship, 1975 Mediterranean Games, and 1976 Balkan Championship.

Post-playing career

• Marketing Manager for Marketing at the Bosnia University Sports Association.
• Secretary General of the Federation of Organizations for Physical Education of Sarajevo.
• Deputy Federal Minister of Sports.
• Sports Director of men's national teams at the Basketball Federations of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Serbia.
• Member of the Olympic Committee of the Winter Olympic Games, in Sarajevo, in 1984.
• President of the Expert Council of the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia, from 1987 to 1992 (golden years of Yugoslav basketball).
• President of the Programs` Commission of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee, from 1996 to 2000.
• Sports Director of the Yugoslav Olympic Team, at the Olympic Games in Sydney, in 2000.
• President of the Sports` Association, ``Sport for all`` of Serbia, from 2003 to 2006.
• Directly involved in the organization of the EuroBasket in Belgrade, in 2005.
• Director of the basketball tournament EYOF - European Youth Olympic Festival, in 2007.
• Directly involved in the organization of the 2005 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, and 2007 FIBA Under-19 World Cup.
• Director of the basketball tournament at the Summer Universiade, in Belgrade, in 2009.
• Actively worked on the realization of the project "National Awards".

Personal life

Varajić came to Sarajevo at the age of seventeen in 1970 to study and play. He lived there until the break-out of the Bosnian War in early 1992, and since then he lived in Belgrade. He graduated from the University of Physical Education, Academy for Basketball Coaches - Basketball and Academy for Sports Managers Section.

Death

Varajić died on 23 June 2019. He was interred in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens in the Belgrade New Cemetery on 28 June 2019.^[5]

Awards and honors as a player

KK Bosna

• 3× Yugoslav League Champion: (1978, 1980, 1983)
• 2× Yugoslav Cup Winner: (1978, 1984)
• FIBA Korać Cup Runner-up: (1978)
• FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) Champion: (1979)
• FIBA Intercontinental Cup Runner-up: (1979)
• Super Oscar for the best European player in all European Cups: (1979)
• The highest national honor of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Honored May 25, 1980)
• The highest national honor of the City of Sarajevo (Honored April 6, 1979)
• Three golden pins of SOFKA of Yugoslavia
• Decoration of ``Nemanja``, the first order of FR Yugoslavia
• Decoration of the Yugoslav Flag, the first order

Yugoslav senior national team

• 1974 Balkan Championship:   Gold
• 1975 Mediterranean Games:   Gold
• 1976 Balkan Championship:   Gold
• 1976 Montreal Summer Olympic Games:   Silver
• 1977 EuroBasket:   Gold
• 1979 EuroBasket:   Bronze

See also

• Yugoslav First Federal Basketball League career stats leaders

References

1. Tomašević, Aleksandar (16 March 1978). "Kad se Skenderijom prolomi "Varaja majstore!"". Ven. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
2. Sofić, Ibrahim (4 April 2014). "Boša o tituli iz 1979: Neki drugi svijet". Al Jazeera Balkans. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
3. bhbasket.ba (2019-06-23). "Skenderija je pjevala: Kinđe i Varaja, pobjeda do kraja" (in Bosnian). Retrieved 2019-08-31.
4. European club champions: 1958-2014
5. KSS (2019-06-28). "Žarko Varajić sahranjen u Aleji zaslužnih građana" (in Serbian). Retrieved 2019-08-31.

External links

• FIBA Profile