Drazen Petrovic

My hero is Croatian basketball player Drazen Petrovic. He was born on 22 October 1963 in Sibenik in Croatia. He was born to mother Biserka and father Jole, he also had older brother Aleksander. When he was young he was playing basketball with his brother. He had a key for the school gym and he was getting up early and went there to play basketball. He practised 8 hours a day. When he was only 15 years old he started to play with Yugoslavia national team. For him it was not enough just to win a game, because he wanted that people enjoy at his moves. He grew up in Sibenik. At first he was playing for Sibenka and with it he won a Yugoslavia cup against Bosnia. He continued his career in Cibona (also in Croatia). With Cibona he won everything what he could in Europe. He won Euroleague, Yugoslavia cup... Every time when they were playing against Real Madrid he played great. So it was not unusually that Real wanted him for their team. So he went to play for Real. There he also played great. He also won Euroleauge and of course other individual awards (like MVP of Euroleague...) He was the first European basketball player who played in the professional basketball league-NBA. At first he was playing for Portland, but he did not get an opportunity, so he moved to New Jersey. There he "exploded", every game he scored 20 points and he was the best player at his team. His last season he played the best. He thought he will play on All-star game, but he did not. He died when he was returning from a basketball qualification for Poland. His girlfriend came him to pick up and she was driving the car. In Germany the road became slippery and they crashed into a truck. He died on 7th September 1993. He was accepted into the Hall of Fame, as the first European basketball player.

I like him, because he worked hard for his dreams and he never gave up. I like him, because he was the first European basketball player, playing in NBA and we can say that he opened the door to all European basketball players who played there. I like him also because he was not scared of anybody, he just played his game and it did not matter against whom. I think he is famous, because he started to play in national team when he was JUST 15 years old. Then he was only getting better. I think that he also became famous, when he scored 112 points in one game against Union Olimpija. With Sibenka he won Yugoslavia cup, with Cibona he won Euroleague, Yugoslavia cup..., with Real Madrid he also won Euroleague and Spanish cup. In NBA he did not win anything, because he died too soon. He also won a lot of individual awards like: MVP of Euroleague and World Championship. The best thing what I like about him is, that he played every game like it is his last and he never stop playing, no matter if they were winning for 40 or losing for 40 points. So he is my hero and he always be. :)