The Euroleague mourns the passing of Boban Jankovic and extends its condolences to his family, friends, teammates and associates. Mr. Jankovic, a European basketball legend, passed away on Thursday. Jankovic, age 43, died on a boat on his way to the Rhodes island in Greece. He suffered a heart attack near to the Syros island and the captain stopped there to take him to hospital, after more than a decade paralyzed in a wheelchair. It all happened in 1993, when he was playing for Panionios, as he disagreed with a referee decision midway through a game against Panathinaikos and crashed his head against the basket structure, which paralyzed him. Boban's jersey was retired that season. Born on December 15, 1963, he joined Crvena Zvezda at age 16. He played 326 games for Zvezda during 12 seasons before moving to Vojvodina and making it to Panionios in 19
92. He was a regular member of the Yugoslavian national team at all ages, and was a candidate to play the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. One of his best game came against Virtus Roma in 1992, in which Panionios needed to overcome a 30-point deficit from the first leg of a Korac Cup two-way elimination round. Panionios won by 32 points and he scored 41 points that day, earning the nickname of "the Bomber". He was averaging 20.8 points and 3.8 assists in the 1993 Korac Cup before the accident. Jankovic will be buried in Athens on Saturday and all expenses will be covered by the Municipality of Nea Smirni, where Panionios is based. His son Vladimir, age 16, is a member of Panionios' cadet team and has alreayd playd for the Greek cadet national team.
92. He was a regular member of the Yugoslavian national team at all ages, and was a candidate to play the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. One of his best game came against Virtus Roma in 1992, in which Panionios needed to overcome a 30-point deficit from the first leg of a Korac Cup two-way elimination round. Panionios won by 32 points and he scored 41 points that day, earning the nickname of "the Bomber". He was averaging 20.8 points and 3.8 assists in the 1993 Korac Cup before the accident. Jankovic will be buried in Athens on Saturday and all expenses will be covered by the Municipality of Nea Smirni, where Panionios is based. His son Vladimir, age 16, is a member of Panionios' cadet team and has alreayd playd for the Greek cadet national team.
