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		Club History
	Club	Club Names	Club Presidents

SPARTA PRAGUE is amongst the oldest and most popular sports clubs in the country, with a with a number of fans not only in Prague but throughout the whole of the Czech Republic. The foundation of the club dates back to 1893 (AC Sparta Prague). Club colours: red, yelow, bleu.

 

   Name changes of the all-sport club 

  Champion titles and placement in european club competitions

  Sparta Prague - Basketball 

The basketball section was founded in 1939. Since that time it has been a long-term member of the basketball elite. This is confirmed by its results both in the First League and the participation of its players in the national team. During the course of its history, the Sparta basketball has been headed by as few as four representatives. The first chairman was Vaclav Jerabek (1939-52), the second Josef Ezr (1952-90, a full 38 years!), the third Miloslav Kriz (1990-93), today the honorary president, and the fourth Pavel Majerik. Amongst important functionaries and coaches in the history of the club are for example Josef Klima, Lubomir Bednar, Hana Ezrova, Cyril Mandel, Vladimir Heger, Zdenek Miskovsky, Lubos Dobry, Zbynek Kubin and Michal Jezdik.

 THE MEN’S TEAM - TWO LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHIES 

 The basketball players of Sparta Prague played their first match against the Prague Sokol team on 23rd December 1939 and won 42:35, similarly as in the second match on the 20th January 1940 when they beat YMCA Prague 44:19. In the season 1939/40 the Sparta basketball players won their First League championship trophy with the team: Bartonicek, Bartu, Ctyroky, Dolezal, A.Dvoracek, L. Dvoracek, Faloun, Hlousek, Hruda, Jencek, Klima, Labohy, Prokop, Trpkos, with coach Jerabek. In the season 1959/60 Sparta won their second league championship trophy with the team: Baumruk, Kinsky, Krasny, Lodr, Prazak, Rojko, Tomasek, Czesany, Kliner, Pietsch, Rotter and coach Ezr.

Also to be counted amongst Sparta’s successes are 10 seasons in which Sparta was runner-up in the First League (1949-51, 56,59,61,89-91,93), and 10 seasons in which Sparta finished third in the First League (1942, 57, 62, 64, 66-69, 76, 94), as well as second place in the Czech Cup in 1995 and third place in the same tournament in 1996. 20 main coaches have worked with the team: Vaclav Jerabek, Josef Klima, Jaroslav First, Miloslav Kriz, Lubomir Bednar, Josef Ezr, Vladimir Lodr, Vladimir Heger, Vladimir Senkyr, Jiri Baumruk, Vladimir Mandel, Lukas Rob, Lubor Blazek, Jiri Ruzicka, Jiri Zidek, Pavel Majerik, Michal Jezdik, Michal Velensky, Vladimir Vyoral and Jaromir Gersl.
 The Sparta team is in second place in the historical table of the First League, behind Zbrojovka (now A Plus) Brno and ahead of Slavia VS (now USK) Prague. In the history of Sparta there are two particularly successful periods: 1959-64 (once champions, twice runners-up, twice third place) and 1989-94 (4 times runners-up and once third place).

   THE MOST PROMINENT PLAYERS IN THE HISTORY OF SPARTA 

The success of the Sparta basketball team is documented both by its results in the First League: 22 medals for the men’s team and 31 for the women’s team, and also by the participation of a whole range of its players in the national team. Amongst the most prominent players in the history of Sparta are Josef Ezr, Jiri Baumruk, Bohumil Tomasek, Zdenek Dousa, Milan Voracka, Vladimir Vyoral, Michal Jezdik, Vaclav Hruby, Jiri Zidek (first Czech NBA player 1995-98), Jiri Welsch (2nd Czech NBA player since 2002), Pavel Milos and for women Hana Kopackova-Ezrova, Milena Veckova, Dana Ptackova-Klimesova, Hana Jarosova-Dousova, Alena Weiserova, Svatava Kysilkova, Eva Kaluzakova-Blazkova, Zora Brziakova, Irma Valova and Eva Antonikova.

Josef EZR (born 1923), a player at Sparta from 1948-1959, 1946 European champion in Geneva, 1947 academic world champion and silver medallist from the European Championship in Prague, was twice in the starting line up of the Czech team at the Olympic Games (1948+52), and represented the country in 40 games. His wife Hana was also a Sparta player and the captain of the Czech women’s basketball team.

Jiri BAUMRUK (born 1930), a player at Sparta from 1949-1964, played in 193 matches for the national team in the years 1951-61, participated in six European championships, where he gained three silver and one bronze medal. He was twice in the starting line up at the Olympic Games (1952+60). In his day he was one of the best players in Europe (he was voted the best player in Europe at the European Championship in Sofia in 1957). He played a significant part in the excellent fifth place finish of the Czech team at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960. He died on 23rd November 1989 in a car crash at the age of 59.

Bohumil TOMASEK (born 1936) played for Sparta in the years 1956-1966, then three seasons for VS and from 1969-72 in the German Bundesliga for SSV Hagen. He played a total of 205 games for the national team over a period of 12 years. He took part in the European Championships in the years 1959-67 and gained two silver medals. He also played at the Olympic Games in Rome (5th place) and for the European team in Antwerp in 1967.

Zdenek DOUSA (born 1947) played for Sparta in the years 1966-87. He took part in the Olympic Games three times (1972+76+80), three times in the World Championships (1970+74+78), and three times in the European Championships, gaining one bronze medal (1977). He is the fifth best shooter in the history of the First League. He played 246 games for the national team. His wife Hana (Jarosova) was also a Sparta and national player and in her day was one of the best pivotal players in Europe. They have two sons. The oldest, David (22 years old, 210 cm tall) is a player for the Sparta league team, the youngest, Daniel (19 years old, 218 cm) played in the Sparta youth team and since the season 2000/2001 has been playing for the First League Sparta team.

Vladimir VYORAL (born 1961) played for Sparta in the years 1970-1991, later in Germany and for Slavia Prague. He returned to Sparta in 1996 and remains an important personality of the First League. He played twice in the European Championships (1985+91), and gained a silver medal in Stuttgart in 1985. In the years 1982-91 he played 139 matches for the national team.

Michal JEZDIK (born 1963) has been at Sparta constantly since 1976. He was in the starting line up of the Czech team at the European Championships in 1981. Between 1985 and 1994 he played 146 games for the national team. In the years 1995-97 and since 1999 he has been the assistant coach of the Czech national team and since December 2000 he is the coach of the Czech national team. He is the fourth best shooter in the history of the First League (behind Brabenec, Zidek and Bobrovsky).

Jiri ZIDEK (born 1973) is a pupil of Sparta (he played for the Sparta schoolboy and youth teams, and in the season 1990/91 at the age of 17 began playing for Sparta’s First League team). He is the first player in the history of Czech basketball to have played in the American NBA, in the years 1995-98. The participation of the first Czech player in the NBA undoubtedly contributed to the popularisation of basketball in the Czech Republic. In the season 1998-99 he played an outstanding season for the Lithuanian team Zalgiris Kaunas, which won the Euroleague (the European Clubs’ Championship) and played an important role in the qualification of the Czech national team in the European Championships in France 1999. 2000-01 he played for Real Madrid, then was transferred to ALBA Berlin (2001-02) and Prokom Trefl Sopot (2002-03). Since the season 2003-04 he come back to the Czech Republic and played for BK Nymburk (Czech champion 2004).

Jiri WELSCH (born 1980) played for Pardubice till 1998, Sparta Prague (1998-2000) and KK Union Olimpija Ljubljana (2000-02). He is the second player in the history of Czech basketball to have played in the NBA (Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics) because was drafted as 16^th pick overall in the NBA draft 2002..

Other prominent Sparta players: Milan Voracka (1944) 94 starts for the national team, Jiri Marek (1940) 76, Dusan Zacek (1961) 69, Milan Korec (1951) 43, Josef Klima (1950) 40, Jan Mrazek (1946) 38, Celestyn Mrazek (1940) 33, Milos Prazak (1940) 33 (currently Secretary of the Czech Basketball Federation), Jindrich Kinsky 23, Libor Vyoral (1960) 22, Petr Kapoun (1942) 21.

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