János Rácz

In 1955, János Rácz started playing basketball in the colors of Bajai Bácska in his hometown. From 1961, he played for the Budapesti Honvéd, where he won seven Hungarian championships and five Hungarian Cups through 1968. Between 1962 and 1968, he appeared sixty times with the Hungarian national team. In 1964, he participated at the Tokyo Olympics, where he played in eight matches. In 1965, Rácz won a bronze medal at the Universiade in Budapest and participated in the European Championship. In 1968, he was chosen as the basketball player of the year in Hungary.

In January 1969, after a European Cup match in Brussels, Rácz left the team to seek political asylum in Belgium. He did not stop playing basketball abroad either, first playing for the Brussel Royals, then from 1970 for the French A.S. Berck for ten seasons. He won the national championships with the French team in 1973 and 1974, and reached the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup both times. In 1977, he reached the semi-finals of the Korać Cup. In 1973, he received French citizenship and from then on he played under the name Jean Racz. Starting from 1977, Rácz was already a player-coach in the team.

In 1979, Rácz left Berck and signed a contract with Ajaccio, as a player-coach in the third division, in Corsica. At the same time, he established a beach operator and sailing equipment rental business on the island. There was one more big jump and Rácz moved with his family to Alpe d’Huez in 1986, where he became the director of the local sports hall. In the mountains, his ten-year-old daughter Ophélie discovered skiing and later became a renowned ski champion.