Babic to be inducted into Tech Sports Hall of Fame Friday night
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Before he could tackle the challenge of anchoring an Ohio Valley Conference starting lineup, Milos Babic first had to overcome the toughest challenge of his young life. Learning the English language. After missing his freshman year to learn the language of his peers and become academically eligible, playing basketball seemed like a just reward for his efforts. But Babic treated it like a job and quickly turned into one of the better post players in a long line of historically strong big men to don the Tech purple and gold. At the conclusion of his three-year career, the Kraljevo, Yugoslavia native ranked first all-time in Golden Eagle history with 115 blocked shots, 10th with 597 rebounds, 12th with 65 steals and 16th in scoring with 978 points. Babic was selected as one of four inductees into the 45th class of the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame. Along with Babic, Lee Byrd (track and field, 1965-68), Kappy Lang Morin (volleyball, 2005-08) and Robert Taylor (football, 1993-96) will be inducted during the annual Hall of Fame Dinner on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Roaden University Center's Multipurpose Room. Tickets for the dinner are on sale by calling (931) 372-3940, visiting the Eblen Center ticket office or by visiting TTUsports.com.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Before he could tackle the challenge of anchoring an Ohio Valley Conference starting lineup, Milos Babic first had to overcome the toughest challenge of his young life. Learning the English language. After missing his freshman year to learn the language of his peers and become academically eligible, playing basketball seemed like a just reward for his efforts.
But Babic treated it like a job and quickly turned into one of the better post players in a long line of historically strong big men to don the Tech purple and gold. At the conclusion of his three-year career, the Kraljevo, Yugoslavia native ranked first all-time in Golden Eagle history with 115 blocked shots, 10th with 597 rebounds, 12th with 65 steals and 16th in scoring with 978 points.
Babic was selected as one of four inductees into the 45th class of the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame. Along with Babic, Lee Byrd (track and field, 1965-68), Kappy Lang Morin (volleyball, 2005-08) and Robert Taylor (football, 1993-96) will be inducted during the annual Hall of Fame Dinner on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Roaden University Center's Multipurpose Room. Tickets for the dinner are on sale by calling (931) 372-3940, visiting the Eblen Center ticket office or by visiting TTUsports.com.
The 7-footer took home all-OVC second-team honors following a senior campaign in which he averaged 12.4 points and 7.3 rebounds over 25 games. That same season he capped his third straight season of leading the Golden Eagles in blocks, averaging 1.3 per game. He also led the team with 1.0 as a sophomore (his first season) and as a junior he rejected a team-high 1.9 shots while also collecting a team-best 8.1 rebounds with a .500 field goal percentage. He took home the team's Top Rebounder Award in 1988-89 as well the Field Goal Percentage Leader Award and earned the team's first two Blocked Shots Leader Awards, in 1988-89 and 1989-90.
A four-time winner of the OVC Newcomer of the Week Award, Babic set the Eblen Center record for rebounds in the regular-season opener of the 1989-90 season, hauling in 18 boards in an 85-71 victory over Milwaukee. It also marked one of 26 career double-doubles by the big man, the third-highest career total in the program (record kept since 1959), ranking behind just Rich Stone and teammate Earl Wise.
For his career, Babic played in 80 games, making 75 starts and averaging 12.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game. He hit on 48 percent of his shots from the field and connected on 66.7 percent of his attempts from the charity stripe. His career-high of 27 points came in a home contest against Miami in 1988-89.
Babic played a crucial role in the Golden Eagles pulling off one of the best 180-degree turns in program history, improving from a 10-20 (3-9 in OVC play) record in 1988-89 for a remarkable 19-9 (9-3) finish in 1989-90 under coach Frank Harrell. With his senior performance, the Phoenix Suns made him the eighth player ever drafted from Tennessee Tech, taking Babic in the second round with the 50th overall selection in the 1990 NBA Draft.
He was immediately traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers on draft day, signing a deal with the team and playing in 12 games in the 1990-91 season. He signed with the Miami Heat a year later and played nine games in the 1991-92 season. Babic averaged 1.8 points, 1.0 rebounds in just over four minutes of action per game in his NBA career.
The post player spent the next 13 years playing professional basketball internationally, playing for teams in Argentina, Greece, Slovakia, Spain, Poland, Israel, Belgium, Portugal, Romania, and Iran. In 2005, Babic retired from professional basketball at 37 years of age and a 15-year career.
A high school classmate of NBA All-Star and one of the greatest European players of all-time, Vlade Divac, Babic played for his hometown club team in Kraljevo, Yugoslavia, averaging 23.3 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. He shot 56.7 percent from the field while knocking down 71.3 percent of his free throws. He also dropped 52 points in a single game.
He earned his bachelor's degree from Tech in marketing.
