János Simon

János Simon started his sports career as a basketball player in high school playing for Budafok MTE between 1947 and 1950. After a detour to Zalaegerszeg, he spent his military service in the sports battalion and became a member of the newly formed Budapesti Honvéd, where he played until the end of his sports career. Simon also occasionally played for his club’s handball team. As a basketball player for the Budapesti Honvéd he won 14 championship titles and five Hungarian Cup victories. Between 1951 and 1963 he was selected for the national team 218 times and participated in five European Championships, winning silver in Moskva in 1953 and gold in Budapest in 1955. In 1954 Simon was a member of the national team that won the World College Championship. He was not so successful at the Olympics; the Hungarian national team finished the Games after the group stage in Helsinki in 1952 and Roma in 1960.

Simon was the flag bearer of the Hungarian team at the Opening Ceremony of the 1960 Roma Olympics. After finishing his active sports career he was entrusted with the duties of ball games at Bp. Honvéd, and then between 1973 and 1976 and 1980 and 1982 he was the head coach of the affiliation. During these two periods he helped his team to the championship title five times.

In the 1990s Simon was the exclusive distributor of the sportswear manufacturer Nike in Hungary. He supported his sport financially as much as possible. Since 2012 the Honvéd sports hall has been named after him.