The successful season was behind us, there was still plenty of time left before the new one, and a vacation with the family lay ahead. But the Russian national team player did not get to the dacha in the donated car – a truck got in Alexander’s way.

A terrible accident ended the athlete’s career and life.

No trophies

On June 23, 1999, at the European Basketball Championship, which was hosted by France, the Russian team lost in the group stage match with a score of 69:72 to the future vice-champions of the tournament, the Spaniards. The result did not prevent our basketball players from taking first place in Group B and continuing to fight for the title, so the fans were not very upset. And there was still a reason for optimism – in addition to the proven personnel, debutants also performed well in the starting phase of the tournament. For example, 23-year-old Alexander Petrenko played an excellent match against Spain, scoring 19 points and becoming the team’s best scorer.

Alexander no longer played such outstanding matches in France, although he consistently received playing time in the national team. The team, although it was left without medals, qualified for the 2000 Olympics, where it played without Petrenko. However, it cannot be said that the basketball player’s career has declined. From Tula Arsenal he moved to UNICS for one season, then moved to CSKA. As part of the Kazan team, he won bronze at the Russian Championship, and the dominant army club, when Petrenko played for it, managed to not be among the winners twice in a row.

Then in Alexander’s career there were the ambitious Khimki, in which he played for four years. He never made it to the trophies, but in the 2005/06 season he fought in the final against his former team. Khimki had a good lineup: Petrenko’s partners were the experienced European Cup fighter Melvin Booker and the promising sniper Vitaly Fridzon. But against CSKA, which included the venerable Matjaz Smodis, Theodoros Papaloukas, John Robert Holden and other great masters, there was no special chance.

Alexander Petrenko / Photo: © BC Khimki

“I don’t remember further”

The captain was valued at Khimki; the player even received an SUV as a gift from the club. In this yellow car, Petrenko and his whole family went to the dacha of his wife’s parents. But the company never reached its destination. On the 80th kilometer of the Samara-Orenburg highway, a tragedy occurred: a KamAZ drove into the oncoming lane…

Alexander, who was driving, was unable to avoid the collision. The car overturned and flew ten meters off the road, lost its roof and turned into an accordion.

“I went to overtake, saw a Hummer, and then I don’t remember anything,” Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted the truck driver as saying.

Alexander, his wife, father-in-law and mother-in-law died. Only the basketball player’s seven-year-old daughter survived, from whom those around her initially hid the fact that her parents and grandparents were no more.

The red-haired captain is in our hearts

Basketball player Petrenko, whom his teammates always called simply Red, was 30 years old; of course, he did not yet plan to end his career. In two years, he could easily win the Russian Cup with the Moscow region team, perhaps even become the champion of the VTB United League in five years. Just a year after the terrible tragedy, the Russian team won the European Championship. Who knows, maybe the Khimki captain could find a place in the championship team of David Blatt.

Basketball players of the Russian national team / Photo: © Jasper Juinen / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

– Sasha was an example for me and other young guys. Now I have the honor of being captain. And, of course, I look up to the kind of captain Petrenko was. Everyone who knew him has only good things to say about him and what a kind and decent person he was. Sasha will always remain in our hearts,” Vitaly Fridzon told Soviet Sport.

Alexander nevertheless received a personal prestigious award. The RFB award for achievements in the field of Russian basketball “Golden Basket”, which was previously awarded only to Andrei Kirilenko, has found a hero. But, unfortunately, already posthumously.