Name Miloslav Kriz | Role Basketball Player | |
Miloslav Kříž (29 May 1924 – 20 May 2013) was a Czech basketball player. As a player, he played first for Uncas Prague, and later for Sparta Prague, but he was better known as a coach and trainer, especially as the coach of the Czechoslovakia women's team. He was awarded the FIBA Order of Merit for services to basketball in 2002.
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Playing career
Kříž played for Uncas Prague from 1940 to 1943, leaving to join BC Sparta Prague in 1944, where he remained until 1948.
Coaching career
While still a player at Sparta Prague, he began coaching both the club's women's team (from 1945) and men's team (from 1947). He finished in both of those roles in 1950, moving to coach ATK Praha for one season. In 1953 he returned to Sparta Prague, coaching the women's team for 11 years.
During the same period, Kříž was the coach of the Czechoslovak Women's National Team from 1946-48, and again from 1960-68. The team finished third in the World Championships in 1967. They were also runners up in the European Championships in 1962 and 1966, and third in 1964.
Kříž then moved to Germany, where from 1968-71 he was the coach for the German Men's National Team and also VfL Osnabrück, who were the club champions of Germany in 1969.
He also coached the European team for nine games between 1964 and 1968.
Czechoslovakia
Kříž was also active in a variety of basketball organisations. Within Czechoslovakia, he was a member of the board of the Czechoslovak Volleyball and Basketball Federation (1946-51), president of DSO Spartak (1953-56), and leader of the Czechoslovak Basketball Federation's International Commission (1956-68). From 1973 until 1986 he was president of the Czech Basketball Federation and vice-president of the Czechoslovak Basketball Federation. From 1990 until 1993 he was the president of Sparta Prague, and made honorary president thereafter.
FIBA
Internationally, Kříž held a number of positions within FIBA. He was a member of staff for the European zone from 1956-68, and again from 1973-80, as well as a member of the FIBA European cups commission from 1972-76 and from 1990-94. From 1980-90 he was a member of FIBA World and president of the Women's commission, and from 1994 until 2000 he was FIBA commissioner, presiding over 678 games in total.
Later career
Between 1970 and 1985, Kříž was the chief of the sport section at the Czechoslovak press agency. In his later career he practised law.