“President of Basketball” to Leave the Court

“I was going to play one or two more years, but I thought that it would be better to retire right now due to my weakening physical strength and for the development of the junior players. I want to have a long and excellent career as a coach just as I have as a player.”

“President of Basketball,” “Basketball Genius,” “Master of Basketball”… With the best nicknames to describe him, 39-year-old Heo Jae (TG) will retire after the playoffs.

Leading the championship of TG Sambo in the 2003-2004 Anycall Pro Basketball regular season at the age of 40, Heo announced his retirement suddenly at the office of Korea Basketball League (KBL) on March 8. He will leave the court after 29 years since first playing basketball in 1975 when he was a 10-year-old fourth grader at Sangmyoung Elementary School.

The oldest active player, Heo graduated from Yongsan High School and helped Chung-ang University reign supreme along with Han Ki-beom and Kim Yoo-taek. A natural dribbling guard, Heo joined Kia Motors in 1988, won three MVP titles at the Basketball Festival in 1991, 1992, and 1995, and received the MVP of the playoffs in 1997~98 season title, reigning as best player. Also, he was selected for the national team in 1984 and has worn the Taeguk mark for 15 years until 1999, including the 1988 Seoul Olympics and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In the pro basketball stage, he appeared in 365 games, scored 4524 points (9th place) and recorded 1148 rebounds, 1572 assists (4th place), and 508 steals (4th place, including both regular seasons and playoffs).

Heo is supposed to go to the U.S. for coach training after playoffs. TG is considering retiring his jersey number “9” permanently and a Heo Jae Basketball Scholarship Foundation will be created.

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com