Renato William Jones [SEP] country of citizenship
Renato William Jones
Renato William Jones (5 October 1906 – 22 April 1981), also known as R. William, or simply William Jones, was a British basketball executive and popularizer of basketball in Europe and in Asia. He held an honorary doctorate from Springfield College.
Biography.
Jones was one of the founding fathers of the Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur (FIBA) in 1932 and served as the first Secretary-General from 1932 until 1976. From 1932 he was eager to convince the IOC that an Olympic
was conceived at a meeting of the FIBA World Congress at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. Long-time FIBA Secretary-General Renato William Jones urged FIBA to adopt a World Championship, similar to the FIFA World Cup, to be held in every four years between Olympiads. The FIBA Congress, seeing how successful the 23-team Olympic tournament was that year, agreed to the proposal, beginning with a tournament in 1950. Argentina was selected as host, largely because it was the only country willing to take on the task.