Adam Wójcik

Adam Wójcik
Player information
birthday	April 20, 1970
place of birth	Oława, Poland
date of death	26th August 2017
Place of death	Wroclaw, Poland
size	208 cm
position	Center / Power Forward
Clubs as active
1987–1994 Gwardia Breslau 1994–1995 Znicz Pruszków 1995 Bobry Bytom 1996 Sunair Oostende 1996–1997 Spirou BC Charleroi 1997–2001 Scepter Śląsk 2001–2002 GS Peristeri 2002–2003 Unicaja Málaga 2003–2004 Idea Śląsk Wroclaw 2004–2007 Prokom 2007 –2008 Pierrel Capo d'Orlando 2008–2009 PBG Poznan 2009–2010 Turów Zgorzelec 2010–2011 WWK Wroclaw 2011–2012 Śląsk Wroclaw 00000 00000
National team
1990-2009	Poland	149

Adam Wójcik (born April 20, 1970 in Oława ; † August 26, 2017 in Wroclaw ) was a Polish basketball player . With 10,087 points, Wójcik is the record scorer in the top Polish division Polska Liga Koszykówki (PLK) and the first player to score more than 10,000 points in his career in the PLK. In his 25-year career in the men's field, he won eight Polish championships and also played four seasons abroad, where he also won the Belgian championship in 1997 with Spirou BC Charleroi . With the Polish national team, he took part in four finals of the European basketball championship .

Career

Wójcik began his career in the youth teams of Gwardia from Wroclaw , for which he made his first games at senior level in 1987 in the top division PLK. After a few appearances in his first season, he finished sixth with Gwardia in 1989 after two runners-up championships. A year later, the team reached the runner-up again behind defending champion Lech Poznan and in front of local rivals Śląsk. After fourth place in 1991, Wójcik finished seventh among eight participating teams with the Polish men's national team at the 1991 European Championship finals . This was followed by another runner-up in the Polish league in 1992 and third place in 1993. A year later, the team under the name ASPRO came fifth in the placement round of the Polish championship. After Gwardia withdrew from the first division, Wójcik moved to Pruszków to Znicz for the 1994/95 season , who defeated Polonia from Przemyśl under the name Mazowszanka in the final series of the championship and replaced the four-time series champion Śląsk. Śląsk returned one season later in the final series, in which they defeated Bobry from Bytom , to which Wójcik had switched for the 1995/96 season. Wójcik had already left Bobry in December 1995 and moved abroad for the first time, where he played for Sunair from Ostend in Belgium from January 1996 . However, the team lost the final series of the Belgian championship against Spirou BC from Charleroi , who won the title for the first time. Then Wójcik moved to Belgian champions Spirou, who could only achieve one victory in 16 games in the group stage of the FIBA Europaliga 1996/97 . In a new edition of last year's final series, Spirou defeated Ostend again and Wójcik also won a title abroad with the championship in Belgium.

For the first time in six years, and for the last time for the next ten years, the Polish selection qualified for the 1997 European Championship finals . After a preliminary round victory over Latvia , two more victories were achieved in the second round over the third place in the World Cup without NBA stars Croatia and the German national basketball team , which was enough to qualify for the quarter-finals. After the quarter-final defeat against future World Cup hosts Greece , the Polish selection missed qualifying for the 1998 World Cup with a clear defeat against their neighbors and Olympic bronze medal winner Lithuania . Poland secured seventh place with the victory in the final placement game over Turkey . For the 1997/98 season Wójcik returned to Wroclaw, where he played after the withdrawal of Gwardia for local rivals Zepter Śląsk. In the final series of the championship, the team was able to defeat defending champion Znicz Pruszków, with whom Wójcik had won his first Polish championship in 1995, in just under seven games. This was followed by three more championships until 2001, each of which defeated Anwil Włocławek in the final series . During this time, Śląsk also reached the quarter-finals in the Saporta Cup three times , which was then the final destination. After the separation of the competitions between FIBA Europe and ULEB Śląsk lost in the second round of the FIBA Suproleague 2000/01 in two games against the eventual title winner Maccabi Tel Aviv .

As Most Valuable Player of the regular season and the play-offs of the PLK, Wójcik moved abroad again for the 2001/02 season and played in the Greek A1 Ethniki for GS Peristeri on the outskirts of the capital Athens . Third in the Greek championship, the team again took part in the now highest-ranking European club competition ULEB Euroleague 2001/02 , in which they were eliminated early after only three wins in 14 preliminary round matches. Also in the national championship, Peristeri was only sixth and was eliminated in the first play-off round. Wójcik moved for the 2002/03 season in the Spanish ACB league to runner-up Unicaja from Málaga . In the second round of the 16 best teams in the ULEB Euroleague 2002/03 , Unicaja managed only one win in six games and in the play-off semi-final series of the Spanish The championship was just lost in five games against Pamesa Valencia . Wójcik returned for the 2003/04 season at 33 years old again to Wroclaw to Idea Śląsk, who, however, missed their eleventh title win in 14 years in the final series of the championship and were clearly defeated by Prokom Trefl from Sopot . After two runners-up and their first title win, the team from the Tricity rose to become the new dominant Polish team in the following years and should also win the following eight championships. For the 2004/05 season they signed Wójcik, who won his championships six to eight in Poland with the club. After Wójcik was eliminated early in the ULEB Euroleague 2003/04 with Idea Śląsk after six wins in the preliminary round, Prokom Trefl was the first Polish team in the ULEB Euroleague 2004/05 to reach the intermediate round of the 16 best teams in the ULEB Euroleague. After seven wins in the preliminary round, however, they remained there without a win. In the two following competitions, Prokom Trefl won only five games in the preliminary round, but this was enough in the ULEB Euroleague 2006/07 to return to the intermediate round , in which the team achieved their first and only victory after extra time at the away game at Efes Pilsen Istanbul .

For the 2007 European Championship final tournament , the Polish selection was able to qualify for a final for the first time in ten years, in which 37-year-old Wójcik was also represented in the squad. However, Poland lost all three preliminary round matches and retired early. When ambitious club Prokom Trefl was no room for Wojcik, but this did not end his active career at first, but played one more season abroad in the Italian first division club Pierrel from Capo d'Orlando in Sicily in the Lega Basket Serie A . In the club's third season in the first division, they qualified for the first time as sixth in the table for the play-offs for the championship, in which the team beat cup winners A. Avellino remained without a win in the first round. For economic reasons, the team's license was withdrawn at the end of the season and Wójcik returned to his home country, where he played in the 2008/09 season for the first division promoted PBG Basket from Poznan , who was able to achieve relegation in third from bottom of the table. The 2009 European Championship final tournament took place in Poland and 39-year-old Wójcik was allowed to lead the Polish selection again. After two opening wins against neighboring Lithuania, among others, there were four defeats in the preliminary and intermediate rounds and the team finished ninth in the end. National coach Muli Katzurin gave the previously unseen Wójcik another eleven minutes of playing time in the last game against eventual title winners Spain . For the 2009/10 season Wójcik returned to Silesia and played for the team of PGE Turów from Zgorzelec in Upper Lusatia , which was the only Silesian team in the PLK this season. The former runner-up, however, lost in the quarter-final play-offs against the re-established Trefl Sopot after series champion Prokom had moved to Gdynia . After Wójcik had not played in the top division for WKK from Wroclaw in the 2010/11 season, he returned to the PLK for the 2011/12 season after record champions Śląsk returned to the PLK with a wildcard . On March 7, 2012, Wójcik scored his 10,000th point in the PLK in a game against his former team PBG Poznan. Śląsk finished seventh at the end of the season and Wójcik ended his active career after 651 games and 10 087 points in the PLK.

He died of leukemia on August 26, 2017 .

literature

• Jacek Antczak: Adam Wojcik. Rzut bardzo osobisty . Sine Qua Non, Breslau 2013, ISBN 978-83-7924-072-2 (Polish).

Web links

Commons : Adam Wójcik  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Adam Wójcik - player profile on the websites of the PLK (Polish)
• WOJCIK, ADAM - Statistics on the websites of the ULEB (English)
• archive.fiba.com: Players - Adam WOJCIK (POL) - Overview of participation in FIBA tournaments (English)
• Rozmowy M. Ceglińskiego: Adam Wójcik - Interview by Marek Cegliński on the PLK website (Polish; published May 8, 2012)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Zmarł Adam Wójcik. Miał 47 lat
2. ↑ Marcin Wesolek: Rekordzista Wójcik zaatakuje 10 tysięcy. Gazeta Wyborcza , February 15, 2009, accessed August 12, 2014 (Polish).  There are statistics that give Eugeniusz Kijewski 10 182 points, including points scored before 1976. (see also interview by Marek Cegliński)
3. ↑ REGION WALLONNE CHARLEROI / Euro League Men 1997 FIBA Europe , accessed on August 11, 2014 (English, club side and summary of results). 
4. ↑ ACB.COM: Adam Wojcik. Liga ACB , accessed August 11, 2014 (Spanish, player profile). 
5. ↑ Legabasket: Adam Wojcik. Lega Basket Serie A , accessed August 11, 2014 (Italian, player profile).