Trajko Rajković

Trajko Rajković
	Rajković with Yugoslavia at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
Personal information
Born	7 December 1937; Leskovac, Vardar Banovina, Yugoslavia
Died	27 May 1970 (aged 32); Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serbian
Listed height	2.10 m (6 ft 11 in)
Listed weight	96 kg (212 lb)
Career information
NBA draft	1959: undrafted
Playing career	1956–1970
Position	Center
Number	9, 7, 14
Career history
1956–1959	Železničar Belgrade
1959–1967	OKK Beograd
1967–1968	Fargas Livorno
1968–1969	Noalex Venezia
1969–1970	OKK Beograd
Career highlights and awards
	FIBA European Selection (1965); Italian League Top Scorer (1968); 3× Yugoslav League champion (1960, 1963, 1964); 2× Yugoslav Cup winner (1960, 1962);
Men's basketball
Representing Yugoslavia
Olympic Games
FIBA World Cup
EuroBasket

Trajko Rajković (Serbian Cyrillic: Трајко Рајковић; 7 December 1937 – 27 May 1970) was a Yugoslav professional basketball player. He represented Yugoslavia internationally.

Playing career

Rajković played for OKK Beograd, during their so-called "Golden Era", in the late 1950s, and the first half of the 1960s, in the Yugoslav First League. Some of his teammates were: Radivoj Korać, Miodrag Nikolić, Bogomir Rajković, Slobodan Gordić and, Milorad Erkić. OKK Beograd's head coaches during that time were, Borislav Stanković and Aleksandar Nikolić, and the club's sports director at the time was Radomir Šaper. In that period, the club won three Yugoslav League championships, and two Yugoslav Cups.

Rajković went to Italy in 1967, where he played two seasons, with Libertas Livorno and Reyer Venezia, of the Lega Basket Serie A.^[1] Rajković was the best scorer of the Italian League's 1967– 68 season, with 521 total points scored.

National team career

Rajković played with the senior Yugoslavian national basketball team, from 1963 to 1970. During his senior national team career, Yugoslavia won two EuroBasket silver medals (1965 and 1969), and one bronze medal (1963). They also won an Olympics silver medal (1968), in Mexico City. He also won a FIBA World Cup silver medal (1963), and a gold medal (1970, in Ljubljana, Slovenia). He played in a total of 113 games with the senior Yugoslav national team.

Death

Rajković died in his sleep due to a heart defect, on 28 May 1970, just four days after winning the World Championship with Yugoslavia (Yugoslavia's first-ever gold at the competition).

He is interred in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens in the Belgrade New Cemetery.