Vilmos Lóczi

Vilmos Lóczi (Serbian Cyrillic: Вилмош Лоци; 19 January 1925 – 12 July 1991), also credited as Vilmoš Loci, was a Yugoslav basketball coach and player. He represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internationally.

Vilmos Lóczi
Vilmos Lóczi bust in Zrenjanin
Personal information
Born(1925-01-19)19 January 1925
Veliki Bečkerek, Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Died12 July 1991(1991-07-12) (aged 66)
Zrenjanin, Yugoslavia
NationalityYugoslav
Career information
NBA draft1947 / Undrafted
Playing career1946–1960
Number6, 13
Career history
As player:
1946–1947Proleter Zrenjanin
1948–1950Partizan
1951–1960Proleter Zrenjanin
As coach:
0000Proleter Zrenjanin
1974–1975Central African Republic
Career highlights and awards
As player

Lóczi was one of the best Yugoslav players from the 1940s and the 1950s according to Nebojša Popović, Aleksandar Nikolić, Ranko Žeravica and Mirko Novosel.[1]

Early life

Lóczi was born in Veliki Bečkerek to Hungarian parents from Pest. His father was a construction worker who died in Albania.[2]

Playing career

Lóczi started to play basketball for his hometown team Proleter of the Yugoslav Basketball League. In 1948, he moved to Belgrade-based team Partizan where he played until 1950. Over three seasons with Partizan, he averaged 11.7 points per game.[3]

In 1951, Lóczi moved back to Proleter. On 19 June 1951, Lóczi played one game for Crvena zvezda at an international cup tournament in Milano, Italy. He recorded game-high 19 points in a 54–24 win over Ginnastica Roma.[4] During his second stint with Proleter, he won the National Championships in the 1956 season.[5] Lóczi was a part of the group of players known as the Proleter's Five, which included himself, Milutin Minja, Ljubomir Katić, Dušan Radojčić, and Lajos Engler.[6][7]

In 1960, Lóczi announced his retirement from playing after Proleter got relegated from the First League.[3]

National team career

Lóczi was a member of the Yugoslavia national team that participated at the 1950 FIBA World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Over four tournament games, he averaged 7.8 points per game.[8] The World Championship in Argentina was the inaugural tournament. At the 1953 FIBA European Championship in Moscow, the Soviet Union, he averaged 6.7 points per game over eleven tournament games.[9]

At the 1954 FIBA World Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Lóczi averaged 7.0 points per game over five tournament games.[10] At the 1955 FIBA European Championship in Budapest, Hungary, he averaged 8.2 points per game over nine tournament games.[11] On June 10, 1955, he scored a national team-high 16 points in a win over England.[12] At the 1957 FIBA European Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria, he averaged 2.8 points per game over eight tournament games.[13]

Lóczi is the first player who appeared in 100 games for the Yugoslavia national team.[14][15] He averaged 6.7 points per game over 101 career games for the national team.[3] Lóczi was the national team captain from 1953 to 1957.

Coaching career

Lóczi began his coaching career in Proleter. Also, he coached teams in Saudi Arabia.[2]

Lóczi was the head coach of the Central African Republic national team for two years. He led the national team at the 1974 FIBA World Championship in Puerto Rico.[2] He also coached the United Arab Emirates national team.[3]

Career achievements and awards
  • In the 2015 Serbian sports drama We Will Be the World Champions Lóczi is portrayed by Ivan Zablaćanski.[17]
  • The 2016 Serbian documentary, Šampioni iz pedeset i šeste (transl. The 1956 Champions), portrays Lóczi and the achievements of the Proleter basketball team in the mid 1950s and how they won the Yugoslav Championship in 1956.[18][19][20]

References
  1. "Četiri selektora izabrala najboljeg jugoslovenskog košarkaša". yugopapir.com. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  2. "ON JE ZASLUŽAN ZA USPON KOŠARKE U EVROPI: Vilmoš Loci (1925-1991), virtuoz igre pod obručima i legenda zrenjaninskog Proletera". novosti.rs. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  3. Miletković, Duško (2018). Stojadin (First ed.). Souly. pp. 113–115. ISBN 9780359306060.
  4. "Daba: Kad je Zvezda osvajala Milano…". kosmagazin.com. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  5. "Košarkaška prvenstva Jugoslavije (1945-91) – treći deo". strategija.org. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  6. "DISKRETNI ŠARM ŠAMPIONA I VIRTUOZA POD OBRUČIMA". sportinfo.rs. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  7. "Košarkaško prisećanje: Proleter Zrenjanin 1956". utakmica.rs. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  8. "1950 Yugoslavia 13 - Lotci Vilmos". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  9. "1953 Yugoslavia 13 - Vilmos Loci". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  10. "1954 Yugoslavia 13 - Vilmos Loci". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  11. "1955 Yugoslavia 13 - Vilmos Loci". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  12. "1955 - YUGOSLAVIA - ENGLAND: 98-53". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  13. "1957 Yugoslavia 13 - Vilmos Loci". fiba.basketball. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  14. "OD A(rgentine) DO Š(panije): (Ne) živi se od stare slave". mvp.rs. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  15. "Istorija košarke - Period 1945–1959". kss.rs. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  16. "Zrenjanin u znaku košarke". kss.rs. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  17. "We Will Be the World Champions (2015) Full Cast & Crew". imdb.com. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  18. "Šampioni iz pedeset i šeste". kss.rs. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  19. "Film Šampioni iz pedeset šeste prikazan u Ljubljani". zrenjanin.org.rs. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  20. "ŠAMPIONI IZ PEDESET I ŠESTE". on YouTube. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
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