May 23, 2013
 
50 YEARS CELEBRATION IN ZAGREB, CROATIA
50 Years celebration: Cibona Zagreb
An emotional night for Cibona
In an arena named for a world basketball icon whose star rose among them, the legends of Cibona were honored on Thursday, January 17, as the season-long 50 Years of European Club Basketball celebration made its first 2008 stop in Zagreb, Croatia. There could be no more appropriate setting than center court at the Drazen Petrovic Basketball Center in Zagreb to remember the playing and coaching greats who put the club in the pantheon of Europe's best. The emotions flowed as Biserka Petrovic accepted the award for her late son, Drazen, while his brother and fellow honoree, Aleksander Petrovic, looked on, and when Ljerka Cosic, the widow of another Croatian hero, Kresimir Cosic, accepted for her late husband. The Petrovic brothers won Cibona's first Euroleague title together in 1985 alongside another honoree, Mihovil Nakic, the club's current sports director, all playing under head coach Mirko Novosel, who was also awarded Thursday. Nakic and Drazen Petrovic repeated as Euroleague champions in 1986, this time under coach Zeljko Pavlicevic, another of the center-court honorees. Another of Croatia's top stars ever, Stojan Vrankovic, was also honored, while an institutional award for its great contribution to 50 Years of European Club Basketball was accepted by Cibona president Ivo Jelusic. "We are all happy to be part of the European club basketball family and to have this event in Zagreb tonight," Nakic said. The presenters for Thursday's awards were Croatian Basketball Federation president Danko Radic, Adriatic League president Radovan Lorbek and Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu. "We are very happy to be in Zagreb to celebrate 50 Years of European Club Basketball, with the possibility to honour Cibona, a two-time Euroleague champion to is always a solid team in the competition," Bertomeu said. "I received some good news today, as the major of Zagreb announced to me this morning that Cibona will have a 17,000-seat arena ready next year. This is great news for Cibona and the competition."
CIBONA CHAMPS

HISTORIC VIDEOS

INTERVIEW: ZORAN CUTURA
Zoran Cutura (second from left) with Cibona teammates
To understand Cibona's legacy in the city of Zagreb, you have only to ask a player born and raised in the Croatian capital who helped lift the club's two Euroleague trophies in the mid-1980s. Zoran Cutura was an ahead-of-the-curve shooting power forward who later won Olympics silver and World Championships gold medals with the historic Yugoslav national teams of the era.
"At the time, we were aiming all the team to the same things, to be the best, to win all we could, and (Drazen Petrovic) was definitely the leader. He was the ultimate leader, because he was a great worker. He wasn't a leader with words. He became a leader because of his work ethic and basketball attitude. Without him, we wouldn't have been the best in Europe, for sure, and I mean 150 percent sure."