Split, August 20, 2024 - At the age of 81, we have lost Rato, a symbol and iconic figure of Split's Jugoplastika. Simply mentioning his name is enough to evoke recognition far and wide that it refers to Rato Tvrdić, the "mustachioed man who never missed a basket."
Ratomir Tvrdić was born on September 14, 1943, in Split. He began his basketball career at the Split Basketball Club Marjan.
He started playing basketball at nearly 17 years of age and, by the time he was 23, he had already made it to the Yugoslav national team, for which he played 157 games and scored 753 points.
Rato Tvrdić first donned the national jersey in 1965 at the Balkan Championship. The following summer, he competed in the unofficial World Championship, participated in the 1967 European Championship in Helsinki, and skipped the Olympic Games in Mexico—better said, he declined to participate—due to his involvement in the establishment of a TV service. His national team career lasted from 1969 until 1975, culminating in the European Championship where the team of the former country secured a gold medal in Belgrade. As team captain, he led his squad to the podium at the European Championships in 1973 in Barcelona and again two years later in Belgrade. In the interim, he claimed the World Championship trophy in San Juan, as well as a gold medal at the legendary 1970 World Championship in Ljubljana. He also competed in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Tvrdić joined the national team during the era of Ivo Daneu, Radivoj Korać, and their generation, and retired after 1975, just as the generation of Kićanović, Jerkov, Delibašić, and others were coming onto the scene. In a way, he was a bridge not just between two but among four or even five basketball generations, serving as a cornerstone of basketball during that time.
He was even more significant in his beloved Jugoplastika. With Rato playing a leading or key role, the "Yellows" won the Yugoslav championship titles in 1971 and 1977, as well as victories in the national Cup in 1972, 1974, and 1977, and the Korać Cup in 1976 and 1977. They also played in many other major finals, often finishing as the runners-up, just behind the national champions.
For his favorite and only club, Rato Tvrdić scored 5,575 points. His farewell from active play in 1977 brought some of the biggest names in world basketball to Split. He bid farewell in a dignified manner at his home court, Gripe, where a European selection team played as guests. Present were the top figure in world basketball at the time, William Jones, and Bora Stanković...
After retiring from active play, he remained involved in basketball with his "Yellows," holding various roles. He was a long-time member of the Technical Commission as well as the club's sports director.
He was a member of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee from 1977 to 1985.
In 1979, he received the Republic's Lifetime Achievement Award for Physical Culture. He was awarded the Croatian Olympic Committee's "Matija Ljubek" Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, the "Fabjan Kaliterna" Trophy of the Split Sports Federation in 2007, and in 2022, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Split-Dalmatia County. He was also decorated with the Order of Danica Hrvatska with the likeness of Franjo Bučar.
With the separation of Croatian sports from the former state, Rato actively participated in the formation of the Croatian Olympic Committee. He was a member of the Croatian Olympic Committee Council from September 1993 and later served as the Vice President of the Croatian Olympic Committee from 1997 to 2000.
The President of the Croatian Olympic Committee, Zlatko Mateša, and the Secretary General, Siniša Krajač, sent a condolence telegram to the family of the late sports giant, Rato Tvrdić:
Dear Tvrdić family,
We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Rato, who was not only a cherished member of your family but also of ours. Alongside his brilliant basketball career, he was also an outstanding sports official. We are immensely grateful to him for his selfless engagement in the creation of the Croatian Olympic Committee, to which he later contributed an indelible mark as a Council member and as Vice President during one term. On behalf of the Croatian Olympic family and personally, please accept our deepest condolences!
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