Rik Samaey (’60 – F/C – 2m04) (Video)
In this #ThrowBackThursday we highlight the career of one of Belgium’s most honored basketball players and ultimate teammate: Rik Samaey. What is there to say about a man who achieved pretty much everything there is to achieve in Belgian basketball? In a career that spanned from 1977 to 1996 in the
In this #ThrowBackThursday we highlight the career of one of Belgium’s most honored basketball players and ultimate teammate: Rik Samaey.
What is there to say about a man who achieved pretty much everything there is to achieve in Belgian basketball? In a career that spanned from 1977 to 1996 in the Belgian First Division (EuroMillions Basketball) Samaey won pretty much everything there was to win:
– 1x Belgian Youngster of the Year (1978-’79)
– 10x Belgian Player of the Year (1980-’89 / 1993-’94)
– 12x Belgian Championship (1980-’85 / 1986-’87 / 1988-’94)
– 10x Belgian Cup (1980-’89 / 1993-’94).
Not bad for a humble down-to-earth guy who only really started playing basketball at the age of 17 after he was discovered at a sports-camp in the summer of 1977 by the manager of Sunair Basketbalclub Oostende. Together with Coach Lucien Van Kersschaever they approached Samaey and fairly easily convinced him that perhaps football wasn’t really his thing and that maybe he should give basketball a try.
Samaey did… and the rest is – as they say – history.
From only playing basketball at school to the Belgian First Division, to dominating Belgian Basketball throughout the 1980’s.
Pretty remarkable, wouldn’t you say?
From the 1977-’78 season until the 1984-’85 season Samaey played for Sunair Oostende and helped them turn the tide in the league by defeating the reigning Champs Racing Mechelen in the 1980-’81 season in the thrilling 3-2 Final-Series. Besides the title they also won the Belgian Cup that season to get the double, a feat they repeated for nearly every season from then on, in large part thanks to Samaey who – other than his usual great teamplay and defense – also got more and more involved on the offensive end and in the 1982-’83 season averaged an impressive 21.2 ppg to go along with his 11.6 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.7 spg & 4.0 bpg, while playing 35.7 mpg.
Oostende’s dominance over the Belgian league was coming to an end however and the departure of Samaey in 1985 was no stranger to that fact. Coach Van Kersschaever had taken over the reins of Racing Maes Pils Mechelen the previous season and knew that if he wanted to lead his team to glory he needed one more missing piece: the always hard-working and reigning Player of the Year (5 seasons in a row) Rik Samaey.
He was right… and the era of Racing Mechelen came into blossom.
Although Oostende still managed to prolong their title in Samaey’s first season with Mechelen, the guys in white/green quickly turned things around and won the double (league & cup) in the 1986-’87 season. Oostende got one more title the following season but from then on it was all Racing Mechelen with 6 consecutive Belgian League titles, 3 Belgian Cup titles and also 2 more selections as Belgian Player of the Year for Samaey personally.