FIBA celebrates 89th anniversary with Hall of Fame Class of 2020

MIES (Switzerland) - Today marks the 89th anniversary of FIBA and in recognition of this important date the FIBA Hall of Fame Class of 2020 online ceremony has been published. The ceremony was filmed at FIBA headquarters, the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball.  

Isabelle Fijalkowski (France), Mieczyslaw Lopatka (Poland), Steve Nash (Canada), Agnes Nemeth (Hungary), Park Shin-ja (Korea), Modestas Paulauskas (Lithuania), Kenichi Sako (Japan), Alexander Volkov (Ukraine), and Jure Zdovc (Slovenia), along with  legendary coaches Ruben Magnano (Argentina), Svetislav Pesic (Serbia) and Tara Van Derveer (USA) have been enshrined as members of the Class of 2020.

Each inductee gave an acceptance speech on June 2, 2021, via a virtual ceremony. The ceremony could not take place in 2020 due to the global pandemic and was filmed at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Switzerland, along with the 2021 ceremony.  

To view the acceptance speech click on the links below for each inductee: 

Isabelle Fijalkowski became a European champion in 2001 and is the all-time leading scorer in the French national team.

Mieczyslaw Lopatka is a four-time Olympian with Poland and was the leading scorer at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 1967.

Steve Nash was a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and Canada national team icon.

Agnes Nemeth is the all-time record holder for appearances with Hungary's national team.

Park Shin-ja was the MVP of the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 1967 while representing Korea.

Modestas Paulauskas of Lithuania was the youngest MVP at the FIBA EuroBasket 56 years ago in Moscow at just 20 years of age while playing for the Soviet Union.

Kenichi Sako was an inspirational player for many years in Japanese basketball as a fiery point guard and leader.

Alexander Volkov of Ukraine was a leading player in Soviet Union teams that won FIBA EuroBasket 1985 and captured the 1988 Olympic gold medal.

Jure Zdovc of Slovenia was with Yugoslavia a FIBA Basketball World Cup winner and two-time FIBA EuroBasket champion.

Ruben Magnano coached Argentina to the Olympic Gold Medal at the 2004 Athens Games.

Svetislav Pesic of Serbia guided clubs and national teams to numerous titles in a career spanning nearly four decades, including Germany to the FIBA EuroBasket win in 1993 and Yugoslavia to the FIBA Basketball World Cup title in 2002. 

Tara Van Derveer won three NCAA titles as a coach and also led the USA to the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympic Games.

To find out more about the FIBA Hall of Fame click here and to view the full ceremony click here.   

FIBA