The locale was chosen on purpose: the two outstanding athletes were born in the Lublin region, and started both their grand careers in teams from Lublin and Świdnik. The guests of honour, along with eminent sports figures, their friends from the courts, coaches, and journalists, will reminisce on the greatest successes of Polish volleyball in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as address its current situation. The gala will be adorned by a match between two of the world’s top volleyball teams: Skra Bełchatów and Jastrzębski Węgiel.
The event’s official partners are two WSE-listed mining companies, Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa and LW Bogdanka. The proceeds from the entry tickets to the gala and the match will support the Miners’ Families Foundation.
Additional information:
Lech Łasko (b. 2 June 1956 in Świdnik), a coach and one of Poland’s top volleyball players (1975–1984), four-time European Championships silver medallist, and Olympic champion (Montreal, 1976). Selected for the Polish national team 261 times (1975–1984).
A former player of Start Lublin, Avia Świdnik, and Gwardia Wrocław; with the latter, he won 3 gold Polish Championships medals (1980-1982), 2 silver medals (1983, 1984), and one bronze (1979). With Avia, he won the bronze in 1976. When playing for Gwardia, he also won the Polish Volleyball Federation Cup (1981) and reached the finals of the CEV Champions Cup 1980/1981, where the Poles took the 3rd place.
His international career with the national team began with a bronze medal of the Junior Volleyball European Championships in Osnabrück, Germany, in 1975. He was a member of the Olympic team in Montreal in 1976, but made infrequent appearances on the court.
He was one of Poland’s top attackers and blockers, as well as Przegląd Sportowy’s best Polish player in 1982. A four-time European Championships silver medallist: Belgrade (1975), Paris (1979), Sofia (1981), and Berlin (1983).
After ending his sports career in Poland, he left for Italy and played for Dipo Vimercate. Among his awards are a gold and silver Medal for Outstanding Sports Achievements.
His son, Michał, is a member of the Italian national volleyball team and a leading player of Jastrzębski Węgiel.
Tomasz Grzegorz Wójtowicz (b. 22 September 1953 in Lublin), a Polish volleyball player, a golden medallist of the World Championships (1974) and the Olympics (1976), winner of the CEV Champions Cup, nominated to the top eight of the world's volleyball players and the American Volleyball Hall of Fame. He played for MKS Lublin and AZS Lublin, Avia Świdnik, and Legia Warszawa (1968–1990).
A silver medallist of the Junior European Championships in Spain (1972) and a bronze medallist of the European Championships in Voorburg, in the Netherlands (1973). Two-time Polish champion (1982, 1983) and runner-up (1981) with Legia Warszawa, and a three-time bronze medallist of the Polish Championships in 1976 (Avia Świdnik), 1976, and 1980 (Legia Warszawa). His teams’ achievements include the 1985 CEV Champions Cup, one of the fruits of his 8 years spent in Italy playing for, among others, Santal Parma.
He played 325 matches on the national team (1973–1984), winning such titles as the World Champions in Mexico (1974), reaching the finals of the World Championships twice, in Rome in 1978 (8th place) and in Buenos Aires in 1982 (6th place), and four silver European Championships medals in Belgrade (1975), Helsinki (1977), Paris (1979), and Berlin (1983; named best attacker). On three separate occasions he reached the top tier of the World Cup: in Prague (1973), reaching the 2nd place; in Tokyo (1977), 4th place, and once more in Tokyo (1981), 4th place.
He played in the Olympics twice: in Montreal (1976 – gold medal) and Moscow (1980 – 4th place). After the Moscow games he left for Italy, where for eight years he played for the Modena, Parma, Ferrara, and Città di Castello teams, winning the CEV Champions Cup in 1985 with Santal Parma.
Nominated for the title of the volleyball player of the century in FIVB’s grand competition, he eventually lost to the American, Karch Kiraly; in 2002 he became the first Pole to be inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, MA.
An Honoured Master of Sports, his awards include two gold Medals for Outstanding Sports Achievements. He was twice, in 1974/75 and in 1982/83, chosen as the volleyball player of the season in the Przegląd Sportowy plebiscite.
He is a TV commentator for volleyball matches.