Pedro Ferrandiz obit

Hall of Fame coach Pedro Ferrándiz passes away at 93

 

He was not on the list.

MADRID (Spain) - Pedro Ferrandiz, a beloved member of the basketball family, has passed away. The legendary FIBA Hall of Fame and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach was 93.

Ferrándiz, a beloved member of the basketball family, has passed away.

The FIBA Hall of Fame and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach was 93.

Best known for his time at the helm of Real Madrid, Ferrándiz also coached the Spain national team between 1964 and 1965.

He has no equals as a club coach in Spain. After holding the reins of Hesperia from 1957 to 1959, he led Real Madrid for 13 seasons (1959-1962, 1965 and 1967-1975), and guided it to four European Cups, 12 Leagues and 11 Spanish Cups.

He steered Real Madrid to two undefeated seasons in the Spanish league, in 1962 (18-0) and 1973 (30-0).

At the helm of Madrid for 490 games, Ferrándiz remains the coach with the most league titles and cup triumphs in Spain. He also spent three seasons as Madrid's technical director.

Ferrándiz was enshrined in both the FIBA Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007. At FIBA's headquarters, the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in Mies, the library is named in his honor.

Spanish Basketball Federation President Jorge Garbajosa said: "The loss of Pedro is a huge loss for Spanish basketball. He is an absolute reference, a coach who transcended the figure of a coach."

Real Madrid also paid tribute to the great.

The club said in a statement: "Pedro Ferrándiz is one of the great legends of Real Madrid and world basketball and his legacy will be eternal, not only because of his titles, but also because of his spirit of innovation and for being a visionary of the game, a unique figure who changed and revolutionized this sport for forever."

Even after his coaching days ended, Ferrándiz remained active in the sport. He co-founded – along with fellow Naismith Hall of Famer Cesare Rubini – the World Association of Basketball Coaches.

He also founded in 1991, and served as president, the Pedro Ferrándiz Foundation,  in Alcobendas (Madrid, Spain), an international basketball museum devoted to the study and diffusion of the culture of basketball.

The initiative had the sanctioning and financial backing of FIBA.

In 2006, Pedro Ferrándiz proposed to Borislav Stankovic the creation of the FIBA Hall of Fame, which had its inaugural induction ceremony in 2007. Amongst the inductees was American basketball legend Bill Russell.

When the museum closed its operations in 2012, the collections, comprised of 40,000 items, were moved to the newly built House of Basketball and made available to the public. The permanent exhibition includes the "Pedro Ferrándiz Library” with 7,000 books in over 40 languages. It is one of the largest basketball libraries in the world.

 FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis paid tribute to Ferrándiz.

“Pedro Ferrándiz will be sorely missed," he said. "Both as a legendary coach and as a visionary administrator with particular attention to basketball's cultural heritage. Without his devotion to the history of international basketball, the collections that form the backbone of the Exhibition in our headquarters would not be the same. We will honor his memory by maintaining and growing the collections, including the FIBA library that bears his name, with more than 7,000 basketball-related books."

Among the honors bestowed upon Ferrándiz was the Olympic Order, which he received from the International Olympic Committee.

FIBA