Zoran Kosanovic, 1956 - 1998
Cheryl Giblon
It is with great regret that I have to report that Zoran "Zoki"
Kosanovic
collapsed suddenly while playing in a soccer game in Toronto, was
briefly
revived, collapsed again, and died, on Wednesday night, February 4,
1998. He
had just celebrated his 42nd birthday on January 16, and is survived by
his
wife Darinka (also known as Doreen, nee Jovanov), as well as a daughter
Tanya,
16, and a son Sasha, 13, who was a spectator at that game.
Zoran's table tennis accomplishments were too numerous to mention, so I
will
touch upon just a few. Zoran was a member of the Yugoslavian Table
Tennis
Team (including stars Dragutin Surbek, Anton Stipancic, and Milivoj
Karakasevic) which won a Silver Medal behind China at the 1975 World
Championships, and a Gold Medal at the 1976 European Championships. He
was 5
times Yugoslavian Singles Champion from 1975-79. At one point, Zoran
was
ranked 7th in the world.
Zoran emigrated to Canada in the late 1970's, and was undefeated in his
first
few years against all North American competitors, most notably Eric
Boggan, Danny
Seemiller and Joe Ng. At the 1981 and 1983 Commonwealth Championships,
Zoran
was a triple Silver Medalist in Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles. At
the
1982 US Open, Zoran was suffering excruciating back pain the night
before the
final, to the point that he couldn't sit, stand or walk. Always a
fighter, he
received treatment that night, and in a thrilling match went on to
defeat
favoured Mikael Appelgren 21-19 in the 5th and deciding set, to capture
the
title. Zoran was 5 times Canadian Champion and several times North
American
Champion, primarily during the late 1970's and early 1980's. He also
led the
Ontario team (Joe Ng, Errol Caetano, Derek Wall) to a US Open Team
Championship in the early 1980's.
Zoran's emphasis in table tennis was on physical fitness and footwork,
as
anyone who attended his training camps can attest. At his peak, he was
considered by some to be the most fit player in the world. Zoran's
playing
style - termed "defensive looping" by some - was characterized by
spectacular
crowd-pleasing looping (topspins) from mid- and long-distance, supported
by
outstanding footwork to chase down every ball and wear down his
opponent.
Zoran was the coach of the Ontario Table Tennis Association during the
early
1980's, and helped develop many of Ontario's top junior players of that
era.
On a personal note, I had the privilege of being Zoran's primary
"sparring
partner" and student continuously from 1985 through 1989. Our routine
was for
the two of us to train every Monday to Friday from 5:45 am to 8:15 am in
a
dusty converted warehouse with cement floors and little heat in the
winter.
Zoran rarely missed a practice, and was able to do looping practice
drills
literally for hours on end.
After he retired from professional table tennis, Zoran was self-employed
as a
building contractor, specializing in maintenance and renovation of
houses and
apartment buildings. Zoran remained physically fit and active in
sports. He
continued to regularly play soccer, squash, tennis and golf. Zoran
coached
the Canadian Maccabiah (Jewish "Olympics" every 4 years in Israel) Table
Tennis Teams (Mitch Rothfleisch, Andrew Giblon, Steve Feldstein, Rene
Lewandowski, Boris Vaynshtein, Josh Kurtz) to a 4th place finish in
1985, and
to a Bronze medal in 1989, along with a Bronze in Mixed Doubles and a
Silver
in Men's Doubles. For the last 3 years, Zoran ran the soccer and table
tennis
programs at Upper Canada College, a private boys' school.
Zoran was never afraid to speak his mind. He was honest and very
trusting of
others, and would do anything for a friend. Zoran will be sorely missed
by
his family, friends, and table tennis fans the world over.
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made
to an
Education Trust Fund which has been set up for Zoran and Darinka's
children.
Please contact the Bank of Montreal, 3320 Yonge St. (at Fairlawn Ave.),
Toronto, at 416-488-0060 re: "Trust for Tanya & Sasha Kosanovic
Education
Fund", account #2974-8042314, or contact any branch of the Bank of
Montreal
and refer to that account number.
Visitation is at Murray Newbigging Funeral Home, 733 Mt. Pleasant Rd.
(south
of Eglinton Ave.), Toronto, Saturday February 7, 7-9 p.m., and Sunday
February
8, 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. The Funeral Service at the Funeral Home is
Monday
February 9, 11 a.m., followed by interment at York Cemetery, west of
Yonge
St., north of Sheppard Ave.
Written and posted by Andrew Giblon.
Larry Hodges
Cheryl Giblon wrote:
>
> It is with great regret that I have to report that Zoran "Zoki"
> Kosanovic
> collapsed suddenly while playing in a soccer game in Toronto, was
> briefly
> revived, collapsed again, and died, on Wednesday night, February 4,
> 1998.
Very sad news. I attended four camps run by Zoran Kosanovic (including
one as an assistant coach in the middle 1980s). I did a long writeup of
one of these camps in the USATT magazine in 1980. Zoran completely
dominated North American Table Tennis for a number of years. He was
also probably the best pure athlete I've ever seen in table tennis - a
world-class sprinter and a world-class long distance runner (these last
two I'm not making up - he was one of those rarities who was great at
both, nearly Olympic level). He was also a great soccer player. His
legs were huge from constant physical training. How he could suddenly
collapse like this is amazing ... and immensely sad.
-Larry Hodges
Vaughn Baber
Andrew,
Could you please post the obituary for all of us. He was my
coach at the Olympic Training Centre.
MV BABER
Vaughn Baber
Thank you for the e-mail, Andrew. I didn't realize that that
was the obituary.
MV BABER
