Vatutin – about Yuri Panov: “The fact that in the 90s our basketball did not become a lifeless form is the merit of such enthusiastic coaches”

Basketball coach Yuri Panov was a hard worker who “did his job patiently and honestly” and worked in difficult conditions “for an idea, not for money,” CSKA president Andrei Vatutin said , at .

On Thursday, it became known about the death of the honored coach of Russia, Sergei Panov’s father, Yuri Panov. Yuri Panov died at the age of 85.

– All memory is subjective. My story about Yuri Ivanovich will be doubly so, because in the 90s and at the beginning of this century we were good friends with Sergei Panov and I knew, as they say, the whole family from the inside. Yuri Ivanovich was not a nationally famous coach at all. He was such an ascetic, a modest worker who, quietly, without pomp and noisy interviews, did his work patiently and honestly. The fact that in the 90s and subsequent years our basketball did not completely die, did not become a lifeless form, is the merit of such enthusiastic coaches who, despite everything, got to work all days and remained faithful to their work. Fans often like to remember the famous CSKA team, when the guys, without actually receiving salaries, fought in the Euroleague with rich giants. So, Yuri Ivanovich’s “Ryazan”, of course, did not beat “Real” and “Olympiacos” and did not sound throughout the country and Europe, but in the same living conditions “for an idea, not for money” continued to play and remained loyal to basketball. Without Yuri Ivanovich, this would have been impossible.

Just because Sergei Panov, his father’s best student, made his famous pass for our basketball in Athens in the semi-finals with the American team – this already means that Yuri Ivanovich did not live his life in basketball in vain. May his memory be blessed,” Vatoutine told .

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