The earliest known description of a sporting event in Croatia is from the 16th century. It reffered to the 1593 regatta of seventy four (yes, 74) wooden fishing boats called falkusa, from the harbour of the town of Komiza on the island of Vis to the islet of Palagruza. It was the oldest known boat race in Europe. Falkusa is autochthonous Croatian boat of 9m of length, with the mast of equal size, in use from 11th or 12th century until the middle of the 20th century. A crew was composed of five rowers, and the marathon covered 42 miles, for which about five to fifteen hours of continuous and exhausting rowing was necessary, depending on weather conditions.

Falkusa, autochthonous Croatian boat from the town of Komiza, island of Vis

The very start of the marathon of the armada was announced by a cannon from the Renaissance tower in the Komiza harbour early in the morning of 20th May. One can imagine the foam raised by 74 boats and 370 rows in the harbour! The description of this interesting event is kept in the Liber Comissiae in the parish of the town of Vis on the island of Vis. In 1998 falkusa was included into the UNESCO World Heritage List. See Prvi zapis o Palagurskoj regati (in Croatian), Gajeta Falkusa, Vis (in Polish), The Falkusa.

A Croatian falkusa sailed from Komiza to Lisabon to be exhibited at EXPO’98, where Croatia was the greatest surprise. Postage stamp designed by Danijel Popovic, Zagreb.

Lit. Joško Božanić: Jadranski halieutikon / Gajeta falkuša – naslijeđe za budućnost, AGM, Zagreb 2017. (English edition in prepration)

The next earliest known description of a sporting event in Croatia is from the 18th century (1764). It referred to the regatta of two fishing boats representing the cities of Split and Makarska, from an islet near Milna on the island of Brac to the Split harbour. It was the Makarska boat that triumphed!

One of truly fascinating exploits in which Croatian mariners participated is related to ARCTIC EXPEDITION in 1872-1874, organized by the then Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The Croats at that time had the status of Kingdom within the Empire.

In 1898, at the age of 27, Croatian explorer Mirko Seljan walked 2800 km from St. Petersburg (Russia) to Paris (France), in just 110 days. In this way, he earned the title Champion Globetrotter. However, the greatest Croatian globetrotter (and probably of entire History) was Josip (Joe, Joseph) Mikulec.

The first international football (soccer) match where Croatia participated with its national name had been held in 1907 (with Czechia). The Croatian Sporting Union was founded in Zagreb in 1909. In 1911 the Croatian representation participated under its flag (and with its national name) on the European championship in Torino. In 1912 Franjo Gregl was the European champion in bicycling.

Marijan Matijevic in 1899, at the age of 21.
Many thanks to Andreja Malovoz, Zupanja, for her kind help.

Outstanding Croatian wrestler (“Junak iz Like” – Hero from Lika) was Marijan Matijevic (1878-1951). Matijevic traveled throughout the world to exhibit his extraordinary physical power (bending metal rods, stone breaking), including China and Japan. He is known to have surpassed Primo Carnera from Italy. Buried in the town of Zupanja near Danube. He is known for his numerous humanitarian public performances. Matijevic was enormously popular, which can be seen from thousands of articles published throughout the world in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Arabian, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese and other languages. Once in the USA, when he was once introduced as an “Austrian athlete”, he hastened to correct the announcer: “Dear gentlemen, I am not Austrian, I am Croatian born in proud Lika…”.

Among plenty of his decorations and medals let us mention that the last Turkish sultan Abdul Hamid V decorated him in person in Ankara with the medal of the Great Turkish Star in 1904 (on the above photo, source lickisamson.blog.hr), as the winner of the World championship in wrestling in Constantinople.

Marijan Matijevic’s famous walking stick made of steel, weighing 12.5 kg, kept in the City Museum of Vinkovci.

An announcement: Marijan Matijevic: Strongest man in the world, Junak iz Like (hero from Lika), holds with his mouth 950 lbs, holds on himself 2500 lbs,… Source lickisamson.blog.hr.

Marijan Matijević met Nikola Tesla in New York in 1921, and on that occasion he
financially supported Tesla’s experiments. Both Tesla and Matijević originate 
from the same part of Croatia, called Lika, north of the mountain of Velebit.

Reference

Stjepan Tomić: S Herkulom zlatna srca / Marijan Matijević – “Junak iz Like”, Hrvatski crveni križ, Vinkovci 2003. ISBN 953-99195-0-9 (many thanks to Mrs. Katarina Filipović, Županja, for information about this book)

In 1880 local Croatian young men began to play football in Županja, a small Croatian town near Danube river. Since there were only nine of the Englishmen who came to Croatia several years before, they invited local boys to join them. In 1914, professional coaches from England came to Croatia. James Donelly and Arthur Gaskhell, who were the coaches in “Gradjanski” club in Zagreb that in 1936 defeated famous Liverpool with the result of 5:1, are certainly worth mentioning.

The oldest Croatian soccer club is Bačka, founded in Subotica in Bačka in 1901, playing in the then Croatian league. It is also the oldest soccer club in this part of Europe.

 
Bacska, i.e., Bačka football club in Subotica, founded in 1901.
As we can see, it was decorated by Croatian Coat of Arms.
This photo is appearing on the cover page of [Dražen Prčić] and on nogomet.lzmk.hr.

Nikola Matkovic (1864-1946), living in Subotica, was a very successful athlete in the then Austria-Hungary. When the Subotica Gymnastic Society (Suboticko gimnasticko drustvo) competed in Belgrade in 1900, they won the first prizes in all disciplines. Furthermore, the newspapers reported that “…the Subotica sportsmen demonstrated in Belgrade the new game called Football, until then unknown in that city…” One of Matkovic’s pupils was Djuro Stantic, the world champion in walking on 75 km, in Berlin 1905.
See Ante Zomborovic: Nikola Matkovic prvi Hrvat-Bunjevac skolovani ucitelj tjelesnog odgoja, Suboticka Danica (nova), Kalendar za 2004, Subotica 2003, pp 192-194. Beginnings of soccer in Croatia by Croatian Football Federation.

The Documentary film “Toronto Croatia – Great Croatian Story…“, from Screenwriter Hrvoje Hitrec, Director Jakov Sedlar and Producer Josip Pavicic captures and for the first time presents the great and unrepeatable Historical documentation.  All important witnesses of these Historical accomplishments of Eusebio, Grnja, Bradvic, Bilic, Kenfelja, Ante Pavlovic, Simunic, Suker, Niko Kovac as well as Robert Iarusci, Bruce Thomas and Ante Pavelic testify to this unified and unique team. In 1976 Toronto Croatia won the Continental Championship with as many as 20 consecutive wins and became the champion of the North American League.

Picture in possession of Dr. Ante Cuvalo, Chicago

A detail on his breast: Croatian Coat of Arms

Croatian adventurer Josip (Joseph) Mikulec set out to circumnavigate the globe on foot in the span of five years. With the start of this journey he became a perpetual wanderer. Mostly hiking, he traveled the world some 28 years and achieved a degree of fame for having collected more than 30,000 autographs of world-famous people.

Jimmy Lyggett (1897-1955) was an American boxer and trainer of Croatian boxing clubs in Zagreb, as well as of Croatian boxing national team from 1939 to 1945. At the age of 20, he won the United States Championship for professional Black boxers, while the next year he won the Colored Championship of the World (light heavyweight). While he lived in Vienna, Austria, he met a woman of Croat descent, Roza, whom he married. The couple moved to Zagreb, Croatia in the early 1930s. There, he opened his boxing school in Ilica street. At the age of 33, he ended his career as boxer. He trained many young boxers in several boxing clubs in Zagreb, starting with boxing club Croatia, and later with clubs Herkules, Makabi and Radnik. After a while, he became a friend with a neighboring tavern owner. He gave him his warehouse in Preradovićeva as a training hall.

Jimmy Lyggett as a trainer of Croatian boxers in Zagreb. Source of the photo.

When the Independent State of Croatia was formed, its Minister of Sports, Miško Zebić talked Lyggett into training the Croatian national boxing team. He prepared the Croatian team for the cancelled 1940 Olympics. Despite his race, Lyggett was not interfered with by the Axis allied government of Croatia.

Jimmy Lyggett on the right and Mijo Drvarić in the middle, champion of Croatia and ex Yu (in 1940).

Lyggett was an anti-Communist. Before the end of the war, his brother invited him to return to the US. Finally he accepted the invitation and convinced his wife to move to the US. In 1945, they set off for the US via Italy. They waited for months the ship that would take them to United States. His wife got ill and died in Milan. Broken, Lyggett returned to America alone. His death place and death date are unclear. Some sources say that he died in US in 1955. In Croatia, among his friends he had a nickname “glista” (worm). Source of this text and more information at Wikipedia (and in Croatian). A film about Jimmy Lyggetty has been shot by Oktavijan Miletić. See 2 min. video about Lyggett in Croatia. Many thanks to Mr Tomislav Nürnberger, Zagreb, for his kind information about Jimmy Lyggett.

Rudolph Matz (1901-1988), a famous cello player and music educator, professor at the University of Zagreb, was a top Croatian sportsman. As a sprinter he won the first place in the Prague in 1921, beating also German sprinters. He was a record holder in Croatia on 100 (for 11 years!), 200, 4×100, and 400 m. He stressed that the work of a music educator is similar to that of a trainer.

Franjo Mihalic (1921) started his active sporting career in the period of the Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945), and after 1945 had to move to Belgrade, together with many other best Croatian sportsmen. He won a silver medal in Marathon at the Olympic Games in Melbourne (1956); he was the winner of the International races in Sao Paulo (1952, 1954), as well as Marathon races in Tokyo, Moscow, Boston, Athens, Cross de Nations in Paris (1950-1961). Nikolina Sustic Stankovic of Croatia ultramarathon world champion in 2018 (100 km!)

George Mikan (1924-2005), born in a Croatian family in Illinois (his ancesotrs are from Vivodina near Karlovac, in the region of Zumberak), was the best basketball player in the USA in 1944. He was the first dominant “big man” in NBA, known as the “Gentle Giant” (208 cm, or 6 feet 10 inches). He was also one of the most effective scorers of his time, averaging 22.6 points per game over his nine years long professional career, with the then record of 11,764 points. The Associated Press voted Mikan the greatest basketball player of the first half of the 20th century. When Mikan’s LA Lakers came to Madison Square Garden, the marquee simply advertized “Tonight George Mikan versus the Knicks!”. How basketball was played at that time, is indicated by the following: he lost four teeth (in his first professional game), had two broken legs, three broken fingers, broken wrist, broken nose and dozens of stitches. Even some NBA rules have been changed because of his superiority. George Mikan was named one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players in 1996 (on the occasion of 50 years of NBA), played four NBA all-star games, and is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. For additional information see the Vladimir Novak web page.

Sandy Cecere, 2005: We have fond memories of George Mikan in my family. He was a towering man with a big heart, and a faith in God that carried him through many rough times. He needed a special car so that he could fit into it. When he came to visit at our house he had to duck to get into our house, and into our car, and garage. My father, a dear friend of George was 5’8 inches tall, and George was 6’7″ tall. When the two stood next to one another, they were the true mutt and Jeff. George was a man of great faith, and I know that Sam and George are in heaven practicing law together, and talking about their love of sports. I will always remember George Mikans smile and what a great friend he was to my dad. When my dad was dying, Dad didn’t want to see anyone, but George didn’t care, he came into the hospital to see his friend Sam, and I remember my father’s eyes lighting up, and that my Dad felt good enough that day to have a long conversation with his friend George. In my family we were taught to always call our elders, Mr and Mrs., so I did. When I was in my 30’s George told me to call him George. I told him I just didn’t think I could do that. He laughed and made me!! His nickname for me was “the favorite one”. I will always remember him.

Perica Vlasic (1932-2004), a famous Croatian rower, was european champion in skiff in 1953 in Copenhagen. He could row for an unbelievable 58 strokes per minute. This brought him also the world title in skiff at the famous Henley Royal Regatta in London in 1954, and he was presented the gold cup by the English Queen in person, the patron of the regatta. It is funny that, to the amazement of other sportsmen, Vlasic came to the London town just a day before the competition, without his trainer, and without any boat. The boat was lended to him by an English trainer – God bless him.

The following few interesting lines are based on Sports in Zagreb:

• The famed scientist (biologist) and table tennis player, Professor Zarko Dolinar (1920-2003), who captured eight gold medals at world championship competitions. Dr. Dolinar still holds an unusual world record. He is the only athlete in the world who was a world champion as well as a doctor of science. He was former World Doubles Champion and had a prestigious position of ITTF (International Table Tennis Federation) Sports Science Committee head. It is interesting that he taught John Lennon to play table tennis (information by Nenad Bach). In China he was invited to have dinner with president Mao Tse Tung, together with R. Nixon, president of the USA (information by Nenad Bach). Except of being university professor in Zagreb and in Basel, he also had the title of one of Croatian Righteous among the nations.
• Students of Zagreb University founded the first sports society in Zagreb called “HASK” – the Croatian Academic Sports Club, already in 1903. It is little known that our eminent chemist and recipient of the Nobel Price for chemistry in 1975, Vladimir Prelog, was a “HASK” athlete and the first Croatian champion in the modern pentathlon in 1923!

On the background of this web-page is Nenad Bach’s song Can We Go Higher?, or We Will Win (on a Wild World Web), accompanied by the sound of Croatian tamburitza (Blue Adriatic – Plavi Jadran, from San Francisco).

Famous Croatian baseball players in the USA:

• Roger Maris (1934-1985), major league baseball player, was born in Hibbing, Minnesota the son of first generation Croatian Americans. Roger Maris (Maras) had a baseball record in the USA which was unbeaten for as long as 27 years. See Roger Maris Museum and www.croatia.org.
• Mickey Lolich

Source Vladimir Novak: Croatians in America

Gary Gabelich, USA Croat (his parents are from the city of Split), has won the world record with his automobile “Blue Flame” in 1970, achieving the speed of 622.4 miles/h (more than 1000 km/h). Even more interesting is that this record was unbeaten for as long as 13 years, see History for kids, Utah, USA. In 1985 the Long Beach City Council named a park in his memory, Gabelich Park (near San Pedro and Los Angeles).

Among the most outstanding Croatian sportsmen was Dragutin Surbek (table tennis), who had won hundreds of tournaments, from Tokyo and Beijing to Zagreb (37 medals from european and world championships!). In China he is known under the nickname Surbeka, treated as table tennis God there, and in Croatia as Surba.

History of Croatian Table tennis (in Croatian).