MONTREAL – Atanas "Nasko" Golomeev, the only former Canadian university player to be inducted to the FIBA Sports Hall of Fame (2019) and a McGill Sports Hall of Fame laureate (2020), died on Aug. 12 after a lengthy illness. He was 76.

News of his passing was announced Sunday by FIBA, the International Basketball Federation.

Golomeev, who was the first athlete in McGill University history to merit All-Canadian status, had a storied career on the international stage. He was listed in 1991 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.

"It is a very hard moment for all of us," said Georgi Glushkov, president of the Bulgarian Basketball Federation, in a news release. "He has always been close to basketball and a role model for us, on the court and outside. He was one of the biggest figures in Bulgarian basketball, very well known in Europe and the world – a Hall of Fame member. This is a great, great loss."

Born on July 5, 1947 in Sofia, Bulgaria, Golomeev was a member of the Bulgarian national team by the time he was 21. Permitted to follow his family to Montreal, where his father was serving as a diplomat for Bulgaria, he enrolled in the faculty of architecture at McGill and quickly earned a reputation as one of the best players in the country.

"He was perhaps the most dominant basketball player in McGill men's basketball history, if not in Canadian university history," says Richard Rusk, president of Friends of McGill Basketball, an alumni support group.

During his freshman season, the 6-foot-8, 220-pound centre led the Ontario-Quebec Athletic Association in both scoring and rebounding, averaging Canadian university records of 37.5 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.

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. More than five decades later, the 56 points currently ranks as the fifth-highest total in Canadian university 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 that season. 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 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 11 languages but struggled with written English and returned to Bulgaria after his second semester at McGill. In 1972, the path was paved for a return to University but his father, a high-ranking government official, intervened, fearing a possible defection.

Italian and Spanish professional teams wanted him as well but Bulgaria, a firm ally of the USSR, wouldn't let him go. There were rumours 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 position and also because of the amateur rules in that era. The Bulgarian federation refused to 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).

Golomeev made history in 1981 when at the age of 34 he became the first Bulgarian player to receive legal permission to play abroad - signing for the Turkish club Adana.

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

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS FROM FIBA

SOURCE:

Earl Zukerman
Sports Information Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGill University
514-398-7012
WEBSITE:www.mcgillathletics.ca
E-MAIL:earl.zukerman@mcgill.ca