Franjo Bučar studied history and geography at the Universities of Wien (Vienna) and Zagreb and attended courses in Swedish gymnastics and modern sports in Stockholm, Praha and Zgorelice, Poland. He then became a secondary school teacher and was responsible for modernizing physical education in Croatia. He helped popularize many sports in his native country, including football, tennis, field hockey, fencing, basketball, ice dancing, skiing, luge and ice hockey. After World War I he worked to form the Yugoslav Olympic Committee by combining the Serbian Olympic Committee and the Croatian Sports Association, and Bučar was the first President of the group, serving from 1919-27. He also held positions in other sports associations, including President of the Croatian (1919-35) and Yugoslav (1936-38) Skating Federations and Vice-President of the Yugoslav Fencing Federation (1928). Bučar became an IOC Member in August 1920 and served until his death in Zagreb in December 1946.
Yugoslavia