Crvenim Golfom upravljala je njegova tadašnja djevojka Klara Szalantzy, manekenka i košarkašica. (Petrovic and I) were too, too young. It's the day Drazen Petrovic died. "I think the outcome of Nets history would be different if Drazen had lived. Drazen Petrovic was voted as the best European basketball player in history by the players at the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket, and he was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Dentro de la cancha, su talento “And how much we take for granted.”. Klara Szalantzy Bierhoff – žena koja se zaboravila ispričati… Autor: Zoran Paškov / 7Dnevno / 12. lipnja 2015. The Nets general manager answered several questions from the media following the statement, but he could not continue due to his emotions. He was the main person for basketball globalization outside of the USA. Her tragic story was lost, not only in the immediate aftermath, but also in the ensuing years of stories and documentaries. Twenty-seven years ago Sunday, Drazen Petrovic was tragically killed in a car accident in Denkendorf, Germany while traveling to Berlin to play for Croatia in a qualification tournament for the 1993 EuroBasket. At the time of the crash, he was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown in the direction of the truck, causing him to receive deadly head trauma. Following Reed, Chuck Daly, the Nets head coach, faced the media. They were Dzanan’s coaches in the past and today he has a lot of great advice from them. I was gaining good money (playing professionally in Turkey). And Edebal's most destructive thought: Might she have been better off suffering the same fate as Petrovic? For Szalantzy, she spent the week in the hospital and was released. About. Der verunglückte 1993 tödlich bei einem Unfall, bei dem seine damalige Freundin am Steuer saß. Oliver Bierhoff y Klara Szalantzy Klara Szalantzy conducía el Volkswagen Golf rojo en el que perdió la vida Drazen Petrovic. This is obviously long before a Porzingis or a Parker and it is before Dirk. Juni 1993 holt die Münchner Basketballerin Klara Szalantzy, die seit 2001 mit Oliver Bierhoff verheiratet ist, ihren Freund Drazen Petrovic am Frankfurter Flughafen ab. “One of the best ways I can describe him is he is the guy that changed the landscape for European players,” Brian Lewis of the New York Post said. Petrovic was riding in the front passenger seat of a Volkswagon Golf with two women. “Basketball Beyond Borders: The Globalization of The NBA, Glue Guys Podcast: James Harden First Impressions and Nets Center Options. The truck was stopped, spread across all three lanes and the driver was waiving down oncoming cars to slow down. You couldn’t get any better. Bevor sie 1996 mit Bierhoff zusammenkam, war Klara mit dem legendären kroatischen Basketballer Drazen Petrovic liiert. She has tried to train her mind and develop a system, but it's a fruitless project. I zabili smo se ravno u kamion. Born: October 22, 1964 in Sibenik, Croatia hr Died: June 7, 1993 High School: Sibenik in Sibenik, Croatia Draft: Portland Trail Blazers, 3rd round (13th pick, 60th overall), 1986 NBA Draft I guess I can be happy I survived and I can walk and I didn't lose my ability to speak.". Yine de konsantre olmak istediği tek şey basketboldu. Daly retired. Drazen died, it's really horrible, I know, but if he would have survived, I don't know how it would have been for him," Edebal says. That's Edebal's biggest regret stemming from the accident. She only recently recognized it was the same car crash that killed Drazen Petrovic and devastated two basketball communities - one in Croatia, the other in New Jersey. "And she ruined my life.". We are all proud of the fact we knew him.”. Her brain was shaken and driven backward, Edebal says, resulting in eight comatose weeks and a rescinded scholarship at Niagara. Reports at the time misidentified her name as Hilal Haene and her age as 53 - off by a considerable 30 years. In his new book, “Basketball Beyond Borders: The Globalization of The NBA,’ Chris Milholen looks at the role Drazen Petrovic played in making the league international. Dražen Petrović (22. lokakuuta 1964 Šibenik – 7. kesäkuuta 1993 Denkendorf) oli kroatialainen koripalloilija.. Petrović aloitti kotipallon KK Šibenikin juniorijoukkueissa, joista hän nousi edustusjoukkueeseen vuonna 1979. Drazen left something behind him and that’s the passion for basketball. “I know that a lasting part of his athletic legacy will be that he paved the way for other international players to compete successfully in the NBA. He was the first that came from ex Jugoslavia to the NBA. Edebal would have jumped out of a window. Following the tournament, Petrovic decided to drive back to Croatia with his new girlfriend, Klara Szalantzy, and her friend Hilal Edebal, rather than fly with the team back to Zagreb. They picked up Petrovic, who had arrived with the Croatian national team following a European Championships qualifying game in Poland. Everyone wants to be there. The rescue workers noticed that he was wearing a gold watch, which stopped at the exact time of the accident: 5:20. The press conference room was ‘pin drop’ quiet. She knew Petrovic through Szalantzy - and says she attended some of his basketball games in the U.S. - but only enough to recall one characteristic: "He was very nice.". Sin embargo, con sólo unir esas dos palabras en un buscador de Internet se disparará automáticamente el nombre de Drazen Petrovic. Daly concluded his statements reminding the media even for a young man like Drazen Petrovic, who was coming off a career year and had a bright future ahead of him, nothing is promised. Nedjelja, 14. lipnja 2015. u 19:05. "I'm pretty sure he was going to end up back with us," Reed says. Not long before the accident, Petrovic made his last phone call to Goyak to announce his latest accomplishment: a spot on the All-NBA third team. This is an excerpt. The … "Everything was perfect before the accident.". "I used to be a national basketball player. In his final season with the Nets and in the NBA, he led the Nets to another playoff appearance with a 43-39 record, playing in 70 games and starting 67 of them. Edebal was a victim, too, on that rain-soaked night in Ingolstadt, Germany, where Petrovic's girlfriend, Hungarian model Klara Szalantzy, was behind the wheel of a Volkswagen Golf when it skidded into a truck. Before marrying Bierhoff, Szalanty made worldwide headlines when her boyfriend at the time Drazen Petrovic, a Croatian player who played for the Nets, was killed in a car crash in 1993. Why was she even in Germany while enrolled in college in the United States? Sie … The rescue workers desperately attempted to revive Petrovic, but their efforts were not successful due to the severity of the head trauma he suffered from the crash. Dražen Petrović. Her budding basketball career, which included a spot on the Turkish national team, was destroyed on impact. “Chuck was as unflappable as anyone I ever dealt with, with basketball, with games, injuries,” Brennan remembered. “You can’t get mad at a player like that, no way,” Daly said. They were dating for 5 years after getting together in 1996 and were married on 22nd Jun 2001. Willis Reed, the Nets general manager at the time, spoke first, reading a pre-written statement. "My parents came to the hospital every day, even though the hospital was two hours away, trying to figure out how I was doing, and whether I was going to wake up," Edebal says. Es sind die Tränen von Goran Dragic, die wohl am deutlichsten zeigen, welchen Stellenwert Drazen Petrovic im Basketball noch immer hat. “Probably people in the USA know a lot of nice stories about Drazen,” Dzennis Musa, Dzanan Musa’s brother said. Oliver Bierhoff is a 52 year old German Footballer. Vidljivost je bila vrlo slaba. It's so unfair. We are therefore going to look at four negative effects of betting in basketball in the US. Dražen Petrović (Petro, Mozart of the Hoops) Position: Shooting Guard Shoots: Right 6-5, 195lb (196cm, 88kg) . "It's just so unfair," she says, from her home in Istanbul, Turkey. He sort of had the pale look of somebody who had been hit so hard in the stomach, and the wind was knocked out of him.”. “In Germany, there are some speed limits, but in short places. “Going way too fast,” Edebal said. El croata, que hoy cumpliría 56 años, era considerado una pieza única en … As with a lot of incidences and acquaintances since the accident, she can't recall anything about the day her neurons shifted and her former life was snatched away. "It was devastating," says former Nets GM Willis Reed, who broke down in tears at the funeral. "I'm not old enough to retire.". Edebal, who is 6-2, wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was crushed in the back seat. "If you see the car, you know he couldn't have continued playing basketball. They said, 'She can survive.'". That was not the landscape at that point. And I don't know if he could have handled not playing basketball. Petrovic also received the Olympic Order in 1993, which is the highest award of the Olympic Movement regarding a sport. Petrovic, who was sleeping, flew out of the front window. It's all a blur. El croata, que hoy cumpliría 56 años, era considerado una pieza única en este deporte. Mit Cibona Zagrebgewann er unte… Chuck Daly was their Hall of Fame coach. "I don't give up because I want to work," She says. Schicksalsschlag für Nationalmannschaft-Manager Oliver Bierhoff (42). I couldn't find my way around in Munich, even though I grew up there. To this day, Petrovic was and is a huge pioneer in the NBA globalizing as a league. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. ", Ivanka Trump weeps as Trump administration comes to an end. Why did she lose her career and Petrovic lose his life, while the driver of the car soon returned to basketball and modeling? As Lewis said, Petrovic played a large part in the Nets success and he is convinced the team would have been long-term contenders if we got the chance to see Petrovic’s career pan out. He showed that European players can not only play in the NBA but thrive and be a go to player and that knocked down a few barriers or a glass ceiling. Hayranlarına karşı genelde çok kibar davranan ama onlarla kişisel iletişime hiç geçmeyen Drazen ondan hoşlanmıştı. Yine de konsantre olmak istediği tek şey basketboldu. Dopo una partita di qualificazione con la Polonia (in cui mise a referto 30 punti) Dražen scelse di tornare in Croazia in auto con la fidanzata Klara Szalantzy (attuale moglie di Oliver Bierhoff) piuttosto che in aereo con il resto della squadra, una scelta che si rivelerà tragica. David Stern, the NBA’s Commissioner at the time of Drazen Petrovic’s sudden death, spoke highly of him and how he paved the way for other international players. I had lost my memory completely. # DrazenPetrovic # Drazen # Petrovic DRAZEN PETROVIC Drazen Petrovic - Navijaci Drazen Petrovic Oggi Dražen Petrović avrebbe compiuto 56 anni, se non fosse morto prima di compiere i 29 sulla Golf guidata dalla fidanzata Klara, futura signora Bierhoff. Edebal says Szalantzy endured emotional distress following the crash, including death threats from fans of Petrovic, but also bears some blame for the accident. I thought if I jumped I could stop dreaming.". "I got back my senses," she says. He is a Roman Catholic. According to viewers and media who were in attendance, he did not take his eyes off the paper more than two times. She also has questions, lots of them: Why would Petrovic, a man of NBA wealth, ask for a car ride to Munich instead of catching a plane? Dražen Petrović (* 22. Bierhoff married Klara Szalantzy on 22 June 2001, Szalantzy was a model from Munich and former girlfriend of basketball player Dražen Petrović. According to a 1996 report in Germany's largest newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Szalantzy spent a week in intensive care at the hospital and then left on her own. There is no pattern to Edebal's forgetfulness. Juni 1993 starb der beste Baketballer Europas viel zu früh. Το 2006, η 13η επέτειος από το θάνατο του Πέτροβιτς στιγματίστηκε από τα εγκαίνια του Μουσείου Drazen Petrovic στο Ζάγκρεμπ, ενός πραγματικού "ναού" αφιερωμένου στην προσωπικότητα και … İki günlüğüne gelen Klara bir hafta kalıp Almanya’ya döndü. Reed had a five-year extension offer on the table for Petrovic, a free agent who also was entertaining a $4 million-per-year offer from a team in Greece, Panathinaikos. Still, today Dzanan has a lot of friends who played with Drazen in the past. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Instead, it was the shooting guard's father, Jovan, who uttered words that will forever stick in the Oregon-based attorney's mind: "Drazen is dead.". Drazen Petrovic war einer der besten Basketballspieler aus Kroatien. About. This was a guy that was kept on the bench in Portland, he was not going to get those opportunities with Clyde [Drexler] there, but to come over to New Jersey and averse 20 and almost 45 percent shooting from deep, he was a perfect foil for those guys. At approximately 5:20 p.m., they encountered a truck that had crashed through the guard rails and was blocking all lanes of traffic. She frequently finds herself between jobs, yearning for the life she enjoyed before the brain damage. Jordan respektierte und fürchtete ihn. “I was one of those people who welcomed him to Portland when he came from Europe. Bierhoff and his wife had a daughter on 27 January 2007. U samom naponu karijere,Dražen je izgubio život u 29. godini kod njemačkog Denkendorfa 7. lipnja 1993. Contribute. On their way back, Edebal sat behind the couple in the backseat. According to the accident report, Petrovic died on impact. “It’s not like today, where everybody, every draft you see, is filled with guys whose names end in ‘ic or ‘nic. So were the hard-luck Nets, a team that hadn't made the playoffs in the six years prior to Petrovic's arrival. She married German soccer star Oliver Bierhoff in 2001. Help us build our profile of Klara Szalantzy and Drazen Petrovic! Tal vez Mozart y el básquetbol no tengan coincidencias. Each and every day in practice he would be the first guy to come and the last guy to leave the gym. Hours following the fatal crash, the Croatian national team received the news of their captain being killed in a car accident. A day later Petrovic called Miocic in the early afternoon, as he usually did on game days, asking if he would be at the game that night. She is hoping for the best, less than two weeks into her latest job as a tourism organizer in Istanbul. Petrovic had done it all in Europe, met nearly every challenge - he'd earned multiple domestic titles, four European titles, six European Player of the Year awards and two Olympic Silver medals, as well as providing the rest of the world a worthy international nemesis to Michael Jordan. No doubt about that, because he's that kind of player.". I am not going to say he singlehandedly changed it but he came pretty close. He was also the first European player to be named All-NBA.”. At the time, Petrovic was registered to board the plane and fly back with the team. New York was an ideal place for him.". His girlfriend, Klara Szalantzy, 23, was driving. Following his death, the New Jersey Nets retired his number 3 jersey and in 2002, his number 10 was retired by Cibona, the second professional club he played for overseas. But while his name lives on, another victim of the accident lives alone in Istanbul. Το 2006, η 13η επέτειος από το θάνατο του Πέτροβιτς στιγματίστηκε από τα εγκαίνια του Μουσείου Drazen Petrovic στο Ζάγκρεμπ, ενός πραγματικού "ναού" αφιερωμένου στην προσωπικότητα και … Edebal vaguely remembers Szalantzy visiting her in the hospital, and then subsequent meetings at coffee shops after returning to Munich.