[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 94 (Friday, June 9, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8083-S8084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
KRESIMIR COSIC
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, a beloved friend and adopted son of Utah,
Kresimir Cosic, passed away May 25. At that time I paid a tribute to
him on the floor of the Senate. Since then, others have also paid
tribute in Utah newspaper articles. I ask unanimous consent that these
comments be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
There being no objection, the material ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
[From The Deseret News, June 3, 1995]
(By Lee Davidson)
Cosic Was a True Man of Principle
Washington.--He skipped the chance to be a basketball-star
millionaire and never looked back. Instead, he choose to
sacrifice for his God, his country, his friends and his
family.
But that made Kresimir Cosic, 46, who died last week, among
the happiest people I've ever known, even when he suffered
from cancer.
As Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said--giving maybe the highest
honor I've seen a politican offer at the death of another--
``I never saw Kres without a smile.''
That's hard to say about other sports stars and celebrities
who spend millions or act outrageously thinking it will make
them happy. Cosic found the type of joy through service that
money cannot buy, nor can sickness or even death destroy.
My own story of Cosic begins where most others end--after
his basketball career, mostly because I didn't meet him until
he arrived in Washington as deputy ambassador for Croatia.
That's when I wanted to find out how an athlete became an
ambassador.
Of course, Cosic was among the greatest of all basketball
stars at Brigham Young University and led the former
Yugoslavia to many Olympic medals (including a gold in 1980)
as a player and a coach.
But Cosic's power in politics (and religion) came because
the 6-foot-11 center--who could dribble, pass and score from
three-point range as well as a guard--turned down offers from
the Los Angeles Lakers and others that would have made him a
millionaire.
Cosic said riches weren't as important as his country and
helping The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints.
He returned to Yugoslavia and almost single-handedly turned
it into a basketball powerhouse with world and European
championships. He found and developed players such as the
Chicago Bulls' Toni Kukoc (a Croat) and the Lakers' Vlade
Divac (a Serb).
They would become millionaires, unlike Cosic. That didn't
bother him. During an interview at his middle-class home last
year, Cosic would not dwell on unfound riches, but instead
his eyes twinkled when he told how rewarding it was to coach
such players from differing (and now warring) ethnic
backgrounds.
He didn't return to Yugoslavia just to build a basketball
team. He wanted to build principles of democracy and sought
to reconcile ethnic groups of Yugoslavia. Such work would
later win him the prestigious Freedom Award.
He also wanted to build up the LDS Church there and at age
23 became the country's presiding elder.
He even translated and published The Book of Mormon in
Serbo-Croatian and assumed all responsibility for it
before the Communist hierarchy.
Cosic's politics and religion were an irritant to Communist
leaders--but his popularity and talent on the basketball
court made them withhold action against him.
His patriotism showed again when Yugoslavia dissolved into
a multisided civil war at the end of communism. At the time,
Cosic was coaching a professional team in Greece--and could
easily have stayed far from the conflict.
But he contacted leaders of Croatia (whom he knew because
he was a sports hero) to volunteer for whatever they needed.
Because he has lived in the United States and had contacts
with key members of Congress, they sent him to Washington as
a deputy ambassador to tell their story.
After a year into his assignment, the cancer was
discovered.
Even with it, Cosic looked--as always--for a bright spot.
The energy-depleting treatments forced him to stay at home.
Instead of complaining, he spoke with a smile about how nice
it was to have more time with his wife and three children.
He said it also gave him a chance to work on his family
history, which he said he had been too busy for too long to
research well.
Even with illness, he seemed to be almost always at the LDS
Church's Washington Temple. Some church assignments of my own
often took me there, and I always ran into Cosic. I joked
that the must live there. He smiled and said he enjoyed the
peace he found there--and enjoyed being near a temple, which
he lacked for most of his years as a member of the LDS
Church.
That's how I will remember Cosic. Always finding a reason
to be happy no matter what problems he faced or opportunities
he had to skip--even though they were often not only big, but
monumental.
____
[From the Deseret News, May 26, 1995]
(By Brad Rock)
Colorful Cosic Brought Joy to BYU Basketball
Pete Witbeck can see him even now, dark hair tousled and
untamed, laughing in the doorway of the coaches' office 25
years ago. Which is how he wants to remember Kresimir Cosic.
Cosic, one of the legendary basketball players in BYU
history, died early Thursday in a Washington D.C. hospital at
46, after fighting cancer for over a year.
The loss cast a pall over the athletic department at BYU.
It wasn't only that they lost a former player; it's that with
the passing of Cosic, a little of the joy was lost from the
game, too. Because nobody played for the joy of it all like
Cosic.
He arrived on the BYU varsity basketball scene in 1970 like
a cool wind off the Adriatic Sea, where he played as a child.
He was a gangly summation of tendons and bones, loping down
the court and driving everyone--the opposition, the coaches,
the fans--a little crazy. He had an 18-foot skyhook and a
baseline hook and a set shot beyond what is now the 3-point
arc. His game ranged from unorthodox to unpredictable to
flat-out weird.
``Everyone just fell in love with the guy and the way he
played,'' says Witbeck.
When Witbeck, now BYU's associate athletic director, was an
assistant basketball coach for the Cougars, he recruited
Cosic from the former Yugoslavia. Since Cosic lived under a
Communist regime, contact was limited.
Several years after first being contacted by BYU, when the
Yugoslavian national team was in Naples, Cosic defected. He
arrived in Salt Lake City in the still-dark hours of the
early morning, where Cougar officials picked him up at the
airport. ``It was like an episode from `Mission
Impossible,''' says Witbeck. ``Cloak-and-dagger.''
Once in Provo, though, Cosic never turned back. As anyone
who ever saw him lead a fast break can attest, Cosic wasn't
one to turn back. ``When you got Kres, you got 110 percent of
him,'' says his friend, Bill Nixon.
Bursting to the forefront after a year on the freshman
team, Cosic caught the fans, the opposition and even the
coaches by surprise. He was a reedlike 195-pound, 6-11 center
who loved bringing the ball up the court. The guards
complained that centers shouldn't be leading the break, but
to no avail. Cosic would smile engagingly and protest that he
only brought the ball up because he was open.
Cosic's versatility was astounding for his era. In a time
of mostly slow, post-up centers, Cosic ranged across the
court. Before David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon or Sam Perkins,
there was Cosic. He could make a wraparound pass, dribble
between his legs, put up a finger roll or nail the perimeter
shot with surprising adeptness. He was Pete Maravich with six
more inches. Fans packed the Smith Fieldhouse and later the
Marriott Center to see him cast his spell.
Witbeck's enduring memory is of a tight game for the
conference championship against rival Utah. Cosic was
bringing the ball down
the middle on a fast break, when Utah guard Mike Newlin came
over to check Cosic, expecting him to pass it to the wing.
But Cosic unexpectedly lifted into the air near the free
throw line, tucking his knees under his chin like a 737
folding up its landing gear, and laying the ball off the
glass.
Cosic looped out from under the basket, trying hard not to
smile. The coaches, who had been worrying about Cosic losing
the ball out of bounds, exhaled. The Utah players gaped in
astonishment. ``The things he'd do were unbelievable,'' says
Witbeck.
Cosic ignored overtures from the NBA in order to return to
Yugoslavia, where he spent most of the rest of his life in
church and civic work. When he died, he was serving as
Croatia's deputy ambassador to the U.S.
But it's his career at BYU for which he will be most
remembered. Of all the stars in the school's history, none
could turn heads like Cosic. As fierce a competitor as was
Danny Ainge, as dramatic as Michael Smith, as accurate as
Devin Durrant, as spectacular as Jeff Congdon, as unstoppable
as Mel Hutchins . . . nobody could bring the crowd to its
feet like Cosic.
``Nobody who ever played for us was in his class,'' says
Witbeck. [[Page S8084]]
And none exuded the elation of basketball in quite that
way. In a sport now dominated by trash talk and shattered
backboards, navel rings and disrespect, there is something
sweetly appealing in the long-ago memory of Cosic, racing
exuberantly down the court, wondering what to do with the
ball, once he got to the hoop. Wondering if there were
anything in the world quite so much fun.
``I can see him now,'' says Witbeck.
Witbeck can still see Cosic, all elbows and knees, taking
in a rebound and turning to start the break. He pictures the
18-foot hooks and the court-length passes. He envisions the
angular shoulders filling up the frame of his office door.
And when he does, for just for a moment, he too can feel the
joy of the game.
Mr. HATCH. In these articles you find that Kresimir Cosic dazzled
many with his grace on the basketball court at Brigham Young University
and wherever he played or coached. He is also remembered as a devoted
patriot who served his country, Croatia, and ours, as Croatia's Deputy
Ambassador to the United States.
Although Cosic suffered later in his life from cancer, he still
remained in service to his faith, family, and country.
I hope my colleagues will take the opportunity to read these
articles, because they truly describe the great man Kresimir Cosic was.
____________________