"Cosic's spiritual conquest"

    No matter who you ask who might have crossed paths with Krešimir Ćosić at some point in their life, the very first thing they will tell you about this towering figure of global basketball is the quality of his character and his integrity—traits he displayed even back when he excelled on the hardwood as an athlete.

Things were not always that way, though. The environment in which he was born and raised did not favour religious freedom; atheism was the doctrine of Tito's Yugoslavia. "Krešo" was a far cry from the model athlete during his era in Zadar. From the age of 16, he drank, smoked, and stayed out late on a daily basis alongside his teammates. After every victory at the Jazine arena that brought Zadar closer to a title, the celebrations would last until morning.

Until 1969, when he travelled to America to attend Brigham Young University, Ćosić was the definition of wild youth. The transition and adjustment to life in the Mormon community were anything but easy; he felt suffocated in "sterile" Provo. His homesickness was intense, and his desire to return grew even stronger when he was crowned World Champion with the "Plavi" (the Blues) in Ljubljana in 1970. He went back to Utah almost by force, and, with his mind still in Yugoslavia, he had no appetite for his studies, let alone basketball.

By Antreas Tsemperlidis

One night, he packed his bags and prepared to drop out of the university. He called his friend, Kristina Nibley—whom he had met through a fellow Yugoslav student—and told her he was going to call a taxi to take him to the airport. He sounded so determined that Nibley didn't even try to change his mind; it would have been a futile effort.Three hours later, an ecstatic Ćosić was knocking on his friend's door. To her surprise, he told her he wasn't leaving after all; he now knew there was a specific reason he had to stay. In those few hours, his state of mind had completely changed: homesickness had given way to excitement.

"I was sitting on the couch, and he wouldn't stop pacing the living room and talking to himself, asking questions and immediately answering them. His hands were moving, his facial muscles were twitching—he looked like a man who had found the meaning of life, answers to questions that had been tormenting him for years"

Nibley would later recount about that night when Krešo discovered his destiny. His conversion was astounding. Even today, his friend cannot find an explanation for it—and neither could her father, Hugh Nibley, who was Ćosić's professor at the university. When she mentioned the event to him, he told her that Krešimir had always known his destination; he had just finally understood it. Hugh Nibley, who, besides being a teacher, was a scriptural scholar and interpreter, became Ćosić's mentor and the person who helped him bridge the gap between atheism and theology. After numerous meetings and endless discussions, Krešo felt something shift inside him. He began to see life differently; every action was now driven by a desire to serve his fellow man.

His behaviour, both on and off the court, changed completely, now guided by his faith. Ready to take the next step, he called his coach, Glen Potter, one day to inform him that he couldn't make it to practice. Worried, Potter asked for the reason, but Krešo replied that it was personal. At the next practice, he showed up as usual, approached his coach, and told him he had gone to Salt Lake City, where he had been baptised by Nibley. "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," as the Mormon religion is officially named, had gained a prominent new member.Ćosić's spiritual quest had begun. The race to discover God was not a marathon for Krešimir, but a hundred-metre dash—he ran with all his might to make up for lost years. When his teammates were relaxing, he was reading books. When they were sleeping, he would wake up at 4:00 a.m. every day to translate the Book of Mormon.

In the summer of '72, he was packing his bags again, this time very carefully, placing various religious books inside. He may have been a fervent supporter of the religion founded by Joseph Smith, but he was also a proud Yugoslav basketball player—the best in his country—and he wanted to represent it at the Olympic Games.Potter said goodbye to his player and set a date to meet on October 15, the day the Cougars' training camp began. When that date passed and Ćosić failed to show up at the facility, the coach called Krešo to see what was going on.

"Coach, I have a bit of a problem, but I'll be in Provo in a week,"

Was Ćosić's excuse. But when that deadline passed too and the Yugoslav remained nowhere to be seen, Potter began to worry. Another phone call, and the same response:

"I have a very big problem, Coach, but I can't tell you until I get to America."

It wasn't until November that the two finally met in Provo, and Krešimir explained the reason for his absence.

"Well," Ćosić began his story, "before the Olympics, our team went on a tour of Yugoslavia for friendly games, and some of us were asked to give speeches. In one of them, I told the fans I wanted to show them a film."

The film Krešimir chose to show was considered banned because it contained religious content. It was one of the most characteristic films Mormons used for proselytising, titled Man's Search for Happiness. Naturally, the high-ranking officials of the SKJ (League of Communists of Yugoslavia) did not like this at all. When the team returned from Munich, they sent a message to Ćosić saying that his actions were unacceptable, withholding his passport and forbidding him from leaving the country.

"And why didn't you tell me over the phone so we could do something?" was Potter's logical question.

Krešimir's response was definitive:

"They were watching me day and night; my phone was tapped so they could listen to my conversations."

Ćosić played one more year for the Cougars. He was selected twice in the NBA draft but turned down the opportunity to turn professional so he could keep playing for his national team, winning trophies and individual accolades. His talent was so rare that, combined with the purity of his character, it shaped a wonderful human being. Like another Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, the rebellious youth experienced his own spiritual revelation, and on that night in Provo, the new Krešimir Ćosić...

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