Simultaneous to his studies, Stanković played professionally for Crvena zvezda (1946–1948), Železničar Beograd (1948–1950), and Partizan (1950–1953), and was on the senior Yugoslav national basketball team for five years, in the early 1950s. After retiring from competitive basketball, he coached OKK Beograd for ten consecutive seasons (1953–1963), and for a season in 1965. Stanković then moved on to the Italian club Pallacanestro Cantù, spending three seasons as its head coach (1966–1969).
Throughout his lengthy involvement with basketball, Stanković was a part of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee, and the Board of Trustees at the Basketball Hall of Fame. He served as FIBA's second Secretary General from 1976 to 2002.[2]
From the beginning of his tenure as Secretary General, Stanković wanted FIBA to make NBA players eligible for international competitions, especially the Olympics.[3] At the FIBA Congress in Madrdid in 1986, his attempt to pass that resolution narrowly failed by a vote of 31–27.[4][5] Undeterred, he continued to campaign for the idea, and at the 1989 FIBA Congress in Munich, his resolution overwhelmingly passed by a vote of 56–13. Beginning with the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, NBA players began competing at all of FIBA's international competitions.[3][6]
Other than Serbian, Stanković fluently spoke six other languages. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991, as a contributor. He was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.[7] In 2007, he was enshrined as a contributor into the FIBA Hall of Fame. FIBA named the annual international basketball cup the "FIBA Stanković Continental Champions' Cup".
Stanković was born in Bihać, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina). Early in his life, he moved to Novi Sad, and then to the Syrmian town of Ledinci, during World War II. After the war, Stanković went to Belgrade, where he graduated from the University of Belgrade, with a degree in veterinary medicine. In 1966, he pledged his efforts to basketball full-time, ending a 10-year career as a veterinary inspector for meat control in Belgrade.[8]
Stanković died on 20 March 2020 in Belgrade.[9][10][11] He had one daughter, two granddaughters and two great grandchildren.
Orders and special awards
The following is a selected list of orders and special awards: