| Lajos Engler | |
| Birth Date: | 20 June 1928 |
| Birth Place: | Bátaszék, Kingdom of Hungary[1] |
| Death Place: | Zrenjanin, Serbia |
| Nationality: | Serbian |
| Draft Year: | 1950 |
| Career Position: | Guard |
| Career Number: | 4, 7 |
| Career Start: | 1946 |
| Career End: | 1963 |
| Years1: | 1946–1947 |
| Team1: | Proleter Zrenjanin |
| Years2: | 1948–1953 |
| Team2: | Partizan |
| Years3: | 1954–1963 |
| Team3: | Proleter Zrenjanin |
| Highlights: |
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Lajos "Lala" Engler (Serbian: Лајош "Лала" Енглер; 20 June 1928 – 1 May 2020), also credited as Lajoš Engler, was an ethnic Hungarian teacher and basketball player, who represented the Yugoslavia national basketball team internationally.
Engler started to play basketball for team Proleter Zrenjanin of the Yugoslav Basketball League. In 1948 he moved to the Belgrade-based team Partizan where he played until 1953. In 1954, he moved back to Proleter.
During his second stint with Proleter he won the National Championships in the 1956 season.[2] Engler was a part of the group of players known as the Proleter's Five, which included himself, Milutin Minja, Ljubomir Katić, Dušan Radojčić, and Vilmos Lóczi.[3] [4]
Engler was a member of the Yugoslavia national team that participated at the 1950 FIBA World Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Over three tournament games, he averaged 1.0 point per game.[5] The World Championship in Argentina was the inaugural tournament. At the 1953 FIBA European Championship in Moscow, the Soviet Union, he averaged 6.5 points per game over eight tournament games.[6] At the 1954 FIBA World Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he averaged 5.8 points per game over five tournament games.[7] At the 1957 FIBA European Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria, he averaged 4.8 points per game over nine tournament games.[8]
Engler played 78 games for the national team.[9]
After retirement, Engler worked as a teacher of German language in the Zrenjanin Grammar School.[9]
Engler died on 1 May 2020 in Zrenjanin.[10] [11]