Boban Janković
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| Slobodan Janković | |
| Born | December 15, 1963 Lučani |
|---|---|
| Died | June 29, 2006 (aged 42) |
| Occupation | Basketball player |
| Children | 2 |
Slobodan "Boban" Janković (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан "Бобан" Јанковић) (born December 15, 1963 in Lučani, Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia — died June 29, 2006 in Rhodes, Greece) was a Serbian basketball player.
He joined his first professional club Red Star Belgrade in 1980, still short of his 17th birthday. Over the next 11 seasons he grew into a dependable power forward for the club.
In 1991 he transferred to KK Vojvodina of Novi Sad but stayed there only one season.
In 1992, Vlade Djurovic, Boban's mentor from Red Star days, coaching Panionios BC at the time was instrumental in bringing him to the Greek side. Almost 30 years of age at this point Janković enjoyed a good run of form for his new club, but it would all come crashing down on April 28, 1993 when he got fatally injured during the playoff game between his Panionios BC and PAO in Nea Smyrni (Panionios' home court).
Eight minutes before the end of a tense playoff match, Janković scored on a drive to the hoop while being guarded by PAO's Fragiskos Alvertis, but had his basket wiped off by the referee who called him for an offensive foul. It was Janković's 5th foul, which meant that he had to leave the game.
Out of anger and frustration with the referee's decision, Boban slammed his head against the basket. The knock was quite strong and caused permanent paralysis of his body. He damaged his spinal cord and was unable to walk from that point on.
Being bound to a wheelchair, he started to gain a lot of weight and eventually died of heart failure on June 29, 2006 while on a holiday cruise on the island of Rhodes. He was 43.
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