Ljubodrag Simonović

Their father Jevrem, a Montenegrin Serb born 1911 in Kolašin whose mother died while giving birth to him and whose father died right after World War I, made a living as a tradesman (in addition to hairdressing he also worked as a seamster and tailor) and over time developed a staunchly communist worldview.

Simonović's mother Ilonka, born in 1921, came from a mixed background, born to German mother Ana Schumetz and Hungarian father János Dobay (the surname was later spelled as Dobai), a left-leaning officer who participated in the ultimately unsuccessful 1919 Hungarian Revolution before fleeing over the border into the recently established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to escape the White Terror of Miklós Horthy.

János initially settled in Subotica and eventually in Kraljevo where he worked as a machinist.

Duci's mother Ilonka later converted to Orthodox Christianity and took the name Jelena.

As a kid, Simonović took up chess, which he was taught at age five by his father, an avid player himself.

Simonović played the game frequently, later citing it as the first arena in which his competitive nature had been displayed.

He also loved playing football.

He got the nickname Duci after the Hungarian word böci.

Simonović started out with KK Sloga from Kraljevo.

Ljubodrag "Duci" Simonović (Љубодраг Дуци Симоновић, ); born 1 January 1949) is a Serbian philosopher, author and retired basketball player.

He played with Red Star Belgrade, with which he won two National Championships, three National Cups and one FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup.

Simonović moved to Belgrade in 1967 at the age of eighteen in order to play for KK Crvena zvezda as the latest addition to a talented squad led by twenty-six-year-old Vladimir Cvetković with a slew of up-and-coming youngsters such as nineteen-year-old small forward Dragan Kapičić and eighteen-year-old mercurial point guard Zoran Slavnić.

Having graduated from the XI Belgrade Gymnasium and simultaneous to his duties at the club, Simonović enrolled at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Law, attending lectures and studying for exams.

As a freshman at the University, Duci took part in the 1968 student demonstrations.

Coached by Milan Bjegojević, Zvezda, somewhat improbably, won the 1968–69 Yugoslav League title in Duci's third season at the club.

Winning the Yugoslav league title meant an automatic qualification to the European Champions Cup for the following 1969–70 season.

Starting off well against lesser opposition in the early rounds, Zvezda eventually got into a difficult quarterfinals group, losing all three of its home-and-away ties against Alexander Gomelsky's defending European champion CSKA Moscow, Aca Nikolić's Varese, and even the seeming minnows of the group ASVEL.

Simonović played for the senior Yugoslav national basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1970 FIBA World Championship.

He was also a three time FIBA European Selection.

After earning a Master of Laws from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law and a Doctorate in philosophy from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy, Simonović went on to become an accomplished author.

Born in Vrnjačka Banja to parents Jevrem Simonović and Ilonka (née Dobai), both of whom worked as hairdressers, young Ljubodrag grew up in Kraljevo with an older brother Vladimir.

On the domestic front, the club surrendered its title, finishing second to Olimpija as Simonović recorded another stellar season that recommended him for national head coach Ranko Žeravica's Yugoslav national squad at the 1970 FIBA World Championship.

Coming off the greatest success of his career, being part of the squad that won the 1970 World Championship, Simonović continued developing his game as Zvezda went through a head coaching change with Đorđe Andrijašević being brought in as replacement to the longtime head coach Bjegojević.

Andrijašević wouldn't end up sticking around for long, victim of Zvezda's another indifferent season in the Yugoslav League despite winning the Yugoslav Cup.

In 1971, Simonović graduated from the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Law.

Bata Đorđević became the new head coach, infusing new energy into the team by introducing new players Goran Rakočević and Dragiša Vučinić as Zvezda began piling up wins, both in the Yugoslav League and in European Cup Winners' Cup.

Simonović, who turned 23 years of age midway through the season, became the team's number one option on offense, putting up tremendous scoring numbers.

Among his many stellar displays throughout the season, one stood out — playing away at Hala sportova against the eternal crosstown rivals KK Partizan he scored 59 points.

Making this feat even more impressive is the fact that the three-point shot hadn't been implemented yet.

The season ended dramatically, as Zvezda lost the Cup Winners' Cup final in Thessaloniki 70–74 versus Olimpia Milano in late March 1972 before finishing the domestic league with the identical 17–5 record as KK Split (Jugoplastika), which meant playing a single-game playoff decider for the title.

Zvezda won 75–50 thus claiming its second title in three years.

By the summer of 1972, the Slavnić-Simonović-Kapičić trio had finally seemingly matured and big things were expected in the upcoming season.

Despite Simonović having an incident-filled summer with the national team at the 1972 Olympics, he was initially able to put it behind him and contribute greatly to Zvezda's European Cup run.

However, all was not well inside the Zvezda locker room as a simmering rift between local Belgrade-born-and-raised players who came up through the club's youth system (Slavnić and Kapičić) and those brought in from the outside (Simonović and Vučinić) had been gaining in intensity.

Cliques were being formed within the squad and things eventually boiled over on 10 January 1973 in Tel Aviv during the away contest versus Maccabi, the first game of the quarterfinals group stage.

Zvezda had been leading throughout the game with Duci pouring in baskets from all positions, however, he was not satisfied with the frequency and the quality of passes he is being fed by point guard Slavnić.

Slavnić in turn did not like Simonović's attitude so he decided to stop distributing the ball to him entirely.

It was not long before Simonović threw a fit, cursing out coach Đorđević right on the floor for not reacting to what is going on, as everything fell apart – despite Simonović scoring 38 points, Zvezda still ended up losing 113–102.

Upon returning to Belgrade, Simonović got fined YUD300,000 by Zvezda for "excessive individualism" and "inappropriate behaviour".

From 1976 to 1978, he played for 1. FC 01 Bamberg in the top-tier level German Basketball Bundesliga.