MONTREAL – Each Wednesday for a six-week period beginning May 20, one of the 2020 inductees to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame will be profiled. In the first installment, meet basketball's "Nasko" Golomeev.

Currently living in Spain, his lifetime achievements in the basketball world were recognized in August of 2019 when he became the only former Canadian university player to be inducted to the FIBA Sports Hall of Fame.

Born Atanas Golomeev on July 5, 1947 in Sofia, Bulgaria, by the time he was 21 years of age, he was already a member of the Bulgarian national team. Permitted to follow his family to Montreal, where his father was serving as a diplomat for Bulgaria, he enrolled in the faculty architecture at McGill and quickly earned a reputation as one of the best players in the country. During his freshman season, the 6-foot-8, 220-pound centre led the Onatrio-Quebec Athletic Association in both scoring and rebounding, averaging Canadian university records of 37.6 points and 18.1 rebounds per game. Stats from another league game were erased when the Montreal Carabins folded in mid-season and all their games were transformed into forfeits. 

Voted OQAA all-conference and CIAU All-Canadian, Golomeev was named team MVP and merited the Forbes Trophy as the McGill male athlete of the year. He still holds the team's single-season overall scoring record with 900 points in 24 games for a staggering 37.5 average points per contest.

Golomeev reached the 50-point plateau four times that season, scoring a school and OQAA record 56 in a 105-83 home victory over Queen's on Feb. 7, 1969, while pulling down a mammoth 27 rebounds in that contest. The 56 points was the fourth-highest total in Canadian university history, trailing the 74 by Acadia's Brian Heaney (vs. Mt. Allison on Feb. 17, 1968), the 62 by Carleton's Tom Gorman (vs. St. Patrick's on Feb. 1, 1966) and the 60 by Saint Mary's (vs. Dalhousie, Jan. 1964). Five decades later, both of Golomeev's marks still rank in the same spot near the top of the list in U SPORTS history.

Golomeev's personal best rebounding tally occurred in a 101-89 OQAA semifinal loss at Windsor (Feb. 28/69), the eventual Canadian university champions. In that game, he ended up with 37 points and a school record 30 rebounds before fouling out with 11:11 remaining. By halftime, he already had a "double-double" with 24 points and 21 boards.

In some of his other high-scoring affairs, he tallied 54 points in a 95-82 loss at Loyola (Feb. 4/69) and 54 in an 82-77 win at Bishop's (Feb. 15/69). He also had 52 points in a 98-79 exhibition victory (including 33 in the second half) over the Ottawa Braves, a strong senior team (Feb. 11/69). He also netted 49 points (32 in the first half) and 21 rebounds before being subbed out with eight minutes remaining in a 108-95 non-conference win over the NCAA's Fort Kent State (Jan. 21/69).

Golomeev spoke about seven languages but struggled with written English and returned to Bulgaria after the second semester. In 1972, the path was paved for a return to McGill but his father intervened, fearing a possible defection. Golomeev wanted to return but his father was a very high-ranking government official and decided otherwise. He feared that Nasko would never return to Bulgaria.

Italian and Spanish professional teams wanted him as well but Bulgaria, a firm ally of the USSR, wouldn't let him go. There were reports that the NBA's New York Knicks were interested in signing him but the idea of becoming a pro player was considered impossible due to the nature of his father's job and also because of the amateur rules back then. The Bulgarian federation would not grant him permission to turn pro as that would have meant that Golomeev could no longer participate on their national team. After leaving McGill, Golomeev played for the Bulgarian national team and appeared in five FIBA European championship tournaments, winning scoring titles in 1973 and 1975, where he scored an average of 22.3 and 23.1 points, respectively. He won eight Bulgarian league titles as a player, in addition to one more as a coach (1986).

In 1991, Golomeev was listed among the 50 greatest players in FIBA history. It was recognition for 25 years of a brilliant career that could have been even better but impossible due to political circumstances in Bulgaria. In "Frozen Hoops, a book published in 2012, author Curtis J. Phillips listed Golomeev among the top 150 male basketball players of all time.

From 1991 to 1993, he served as president of the Bulgarian Basketball Federation. He was also a member of several FIBA committees.

Other new laureates joining Golomeev in the 2020 McGill induction class include football all-star Glenn Miller of Beaconsfield, Que., and soccer All-Canadian Odile Desbois, a current Montrealer from Sherbrooke, Que., plus All-Canadian hockey players Bryan Larkin of Saskatoon, Sask., and Vanessa Davidson of Pte. Claire, Que. Elected in the builder category is Michael Richards, a resident of Westmount, Que., who originally hails from Estevan, Sask.

The hallowed Hall now has 157 honoured members, 27 of them Olympians, since the pantheon was initiated in 1996.
 
The 25th annual induction luncheon was expected to kick-off the University's 2020 Homecoming Week celebrations in late September but the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a probable postponement for a date to be announced later. Profiles for all previous inductees to the McGill Sports Hall of Fame are also available online at: www.mcgillathletics.ca/hof.aspx


SOURCE:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012 (Tel.)
m.athletics.mcgill.ca (mobile website)
www.mcgillathletics.ca
earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca