KK Vršac

Vršac
Nickname	The Pharmacists
Leagues	KLS
Founded	1946
History	KK Jedinstvo 1946–1959 KK Mladost 1959–1967 KK Inex Brixol 1967–1977 KK Agropanonija 1977–1981 KK Vršac 1981–1989 KK Inex 1989–1992 KK Hemofarm 1992–2012 KK Vršac 2012–present
Arena	Millennium Center (capacity: 4.400)
Location	Vršac, Serbia
Team colors	Maroon, White
President	Predrag Kanački
Head coach	Milan Gurović
Championships	1 Adriatic League (2005)
Website	kkvrsac.rs

Košarkaški klub Vršac (Serbian Cyrillic: Кошаркашки клуб Вршац) is a professional basketball club from Vršac, Serbia. The club participates in the KLS. Their home arena is the Millennium Center, with a capacity of 4.400.

Over the years, the club competed under different names, mostly after sponsor companies. The most significant results were achieved under the sponsorship of a pharmaceutical company Hemofarm.

History

The club was founded in 1946 under the name KK Jedinstvo. From 1959 to 1967, the club competed under the name KK Mladost, when the name got changed to KK Inex Brixol due to sponsorship reasons. In the 1968–69 season, they won first place in the Vojvodina lower-league. In 1977, the club changed its name again, this time to KK Agropanonija. Four years later, in 1981, they again became champions of Vojvodina, which has won them the right to participate in the First B League, where they competed under the name KK Vršac. In 1989, Inex Hemofarm became principal sponsor and club changed its name to KK Inex.

The Hemofarm years

Under the sponsorship of the Hemofarm Group since 1992, the club went from average participants of the lower leagues in Vojvodina to one of the leading clubs in the country. In the first season under the name of KK Hemofarm, they competed in the First League of Vojvodina and from year to year, went a step forward. In the 1995–96 season, team was led by Marin Sedlaček, a young and ambitious professional, who led the team to the higher league.

Hemofarm's top league status was achieved in the 1997–98 season, under the guidance of coach Slobodan Lukić. The first season among the elite kept their survival, but the following season, 1999–2000, they finished fourth in the standings, providing a first participation in Europe – in the Korać Cup. As newcomers to the competition, the 2000–01 season, led by coach Željko Lukajić, they reached the finals, where they were stopped by Spain's Unicaja Málaga, which was headed by Božidar Maljković. That same year, the team's quality was confirmed with placement at the National Cup final tournament, which was organized in Vršac for the first time, at the opening of the Millennium Center.

In the 2001–02 season, they played the playoff semifinal of the national championship, where they were, this time, stopped by Budućnost after five dramatic games. In the next season, they played in the final of the National Cup, where they were defeated by FMP, and in the 2003–04 season, were also close to the title, playing National League finals against Partizan. The "Black and Whites" celebrated series victory in the fourth game of the playoffs, with the uncertain final basket by Vlado Šćepanović scored with the sound of sirens for the overall final series 3–1 win.

The 2004–05 season was the most successful in the club's history. As rookies, they won the regional Adriatic League. Hemofarm finished the regular season in first place in the standings, and at the Final Eight in Belgrade, they eliminated Bosna, FMP and Partizan in the final. That same season, Vršac was again hosting the final tournament of the National Cup, but Hemofarm lost to Budućnost in the first game. In the ULEB Cup, they reached the semifinals, where they were stopped by the Greek team Makedonikos.

In the 2005–06 season, they played once again in the ULEB Cup semifinals and took part in the Adriatic League Final Eight. In 2006–07, they played in the semifinals of the National Cup and the Adriatic League semifinals.

In the 2008–09 season, the team was taken over by Stevan Karadžić who led them to the semifinals in all competitions – Radivoj Korać Cup, Basketball League of Serbia, ABA League and Eurocup. Reaching the Eurocup Final Eight in Turin was a great success for Serbian basketball, especially as Hemofarm had the youngest team in the whole competition. In the first match of the tournament in Italy the "Pharmacists" have made another surprise, defeating favored Dynamo Moscow, but are uncertain in the semifinals in a precarious lost to Lietuvos rytas, which went on to win the competition.

In the middle of the 2011–12 season, Hemofarm Group stopped to finance the club after 20 years because of the financial crisis in the company. All of the players were informed that they are free to leave the club.^[1][2]

In the summer of 2012, the club changed its name back to KK Vršac.

Honours

National

Serbia and Montenegro League

• Runners-up (2) – 2004, 2005

Basketball League of Serbia

• Runners-up (3) – 2008, 2010, 2011

Radivoj Korać Cup

• Runners-up (3) – 2003, 2006, 2008

Regional

Adriatic League

• Winners (1) – 2005
• Runners-up (1) – 2008

European

Korać Cup

• Runners-up (1) – 2001

Current roster

KK Vršac roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Age PG 4 Pavković, Miljan 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 76 kg (168 lb) 35 – 20 April 1981 G 5 Pavlović, Mladen 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 27 – 26 January 1989 SG 7 Dimić, Miloš 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 83 kg (183 lb) 27 – 17 October 1989 PG 8 Avramović, Saša 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 23 – 16 January 1993 SG 11 Krstović, Bojan 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 86 kg (190 lb) 36 – 1 November 1980 F 13 Uzelac, Marko 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 19 – 31 December 1996 F 16 Savović, Miloš 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 27 – 20 July 1989 PF 34 Stojadinović, Marko 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 92 kg (203 lb) 27 – 27 February 1989 PF 46 Marelja, Aleksandar 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 24 – 12 June 1992	Head coach Milan Gurović Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 2016-09-14

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Bench 3
C	Aleksandar Marelja
PF	Marko Stojadinović	Marko Uzelac
SF	Miloš Savović	Stefan Mitrović
SG	Bojan Krstović	Miloš Dimić
PG	Miljan Pavković	Saša Avramović	Koca Jovović

Notable former players

Milutin Aleksić Vukašin Aleksić Danilo Anđušić Darko Balaban Stefan Balmazović Mladen Jeremić Zlatko Bolić Petar Božić Milivoje Božović Marko Brkić Andrija Ćirić Đorđe Gagić Nemanja Dangubić Miloš Dimić Vladimir Dragutinović Đorđe Đogo Branko Jereminov Raško Katić

Dušan Kerkez Nemanja Krstić Bojan Krstović Milan Mačvan Boban Marjanović Stefan Marković Darko Miličić Nikola Milutinov Nenad Mišanović Luka Mitrović Jovan Novak Nikola Otašević Miljan Pavković Stevan Peković Vanja Plisnić Petar Popović Marko Simonović

Slavko Stefanović Dragiša Šarić Predrag Šuput Vladimir Tica Milenko Topić Dragoljub Vidačić Vladan Vukosavljević Jasmin Hukić Aleksej Nešović Marko Šutalo Saša Vasiljević Bojan Bakić Nebojša Bogavac Miloš Borisov Savo Đikanović Ivan Maraš Nemanja Radović

Boris Savović Goran Jagodnik Nebojša Joksimović Rawle Marshall Márton Báder Jerome Jordan Moon Tae-Jong Mustafa Abdul-Hamid Robert Conley Vonteego Cummings Gerrod Henderson Kyle Hill Trey Johnson Rashad Wright

Players on the NBA Draft

Position	Player	Year	Round	Pick	Drafted by
C	Darko Miličić	2003	1st round	2nd	Detroit Pistons

See also

• ŽKK Vršac

References

1. "All the players are free to leave Hemofarm Vrsac". sportando.net. January 25, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
2. "Crisis at KK Hemofarm Vrsac: Coach resigns, sponsor pulls out, six players declared free agents". ballineurope.com. January 25, 2012. Retrieved September 12, 2012.

External links

• Official website (Serbian)