Olimpia Milan will celebrate the “Dan Peterson Night” on Sunday, April 2. During the half-time of the Italian league game between Olimpia Milano and Reyer Venezia, Dan Peterson’s career will be honored. Over nine and a half seasons, in addition to winning at every level, Dan Peterson redefined the figure of the coach in Italy and in Europe. Here is the story in his own words.

Olimpia from afar – “Rubini was a genius. He used to say I’m not a coach, I’m a personality. In one game, 27-12 for us, Ferracini was playing for him. He was labeled as the new Meneghin. It was too much for Ferracini. I had this center, Gigi Serafini who was scoring at will. After 16 minutes, he replaced Ferracini and never reinserted him. He sent Massimo Masini in, who was an outside shooter and never got him out. He won by one. Only a great coach does something like that.”

Chile years – “I was in Chile, coaching the National Team. The truth is: I was not happy, more than happy. I loved Chile, the federation, the Peace Corps that brought me there. I loved Santiago, the team, the players. I even loved the gym, which was a dump, ugly, dirty, but with time you grow to appreciate any place as your home. But I was there during the Allende years. We had tear gas every night, you couldn’t get in downtown Santiago for a walk. At every cross, you had eight cops and incidents every day. I sent my wife and the two kids back to US, because the Peace Corps suggested it. It was too complicated to live there. After it, Rollie Massimino signed for Villanova and Bologna remained without a coach. I was the only one available. They had promised to the fans an American Coach. They expected a big name. With the team we won an Italian Cup my first year with John Fultz. It was important for me, for the team, we went to play in Europe because of it. Five wonderful years.”

Olimpia Milan call – “Just like I didn’t want to leave Chile; I didn’t want to leave Bologna. Milan called me and I said, I come to talk, I’m a pro, I want to explore this option. I got to Milan and found our GM Cappellari who said “Coach, Owner Bogoncelli is not here. He is in Paris. We need to go there”. Bogoncelli was a classy guy, he dined in famous restaurants and to sit there you were obligated to wear a tie. Peterson didn’t have one. The waiters were waiting for an idiot like me to borrow a tie. First impression on Bogoncelli. Not the best to say the least. He impressed me big time, although. I was there to talk. I suggested to Doctor Bogoncelli to hire a former Olimpia player who was coaching. I was campaigning for somebody else. But we talked and he said: I want you to coach my team. I hesitated. So, he asked if I knew the reason. I guessed. Maybe because we won this Cup, this championship. No, he said politely, you are man I feel I can trust. He blew me away. My philosophy was to be demanding, not tough, but demanding. And that was my job description. They must trust you. And my team needs confidence. I can’t describe how much this hit me. I still get emotional thinking about that. I said to myself: I need to coach this man’s team. When we returned to Milan to sign, I also met Cesare Rubini. He said “Dan, I’m glad you are here”. Rubini. I can’t talk enough about how important he was for me. He had my back all the time. Every game. I could call him any time. He was in my corner, he was very close to the team, to Bogoncelli and eventually to me and vice versa.”

My First Year – “We were in Palalido. Casalini and Roggiani were my assistants. Players were getting ready. Casalini was eager to start practice. And I said “Franco, let’s wait for everybody”. And he said: “Coach everybody is here”. We had six juniors, Anchisi, Battisti, Gallinari, Friz and the Boselli Brothers, six kids, Mike D’Antoni and Mike Sylvester. Then we signed CJ Kupec and Ferracini came back. I had four experienced players and a kid as a starter. I couldn’t play only one of them and keep everybody else on the bench. I had to motivate them all, to have competitive practices. And I needed to make sure the young guys worked as horses. We won a lot of games running teams out of the gym, pressing, switching, breaking everybody. The satisfaction was in not being able to criticize them, even after a loss when a coach wants to be heard. They gave me everything. They overcame everything. We won twice in Varese in the playoffs. Nobody won in Varese, we did it twice in a week, losing one game in Milan. In Game 3, the starting line-up played 40 minutes. No subs that day. Nobody fouled out. Nobody got tired. My first year that team was special. Let me add one thing. When I go having team building speeches I’m always asked about the comeback against Aris and the so-called Banda Bassotti, the team supposed to finish at the bottom, made the finals overcoming limits, giving 101% of what they had. It was a pleasure, an honor to coach them.”

John Gianelli – “Gianelli was a character. He hated to practice. He was used to the NBA style. Eight seasons in the NBA, he played the game and never practiced. I said “John, in the NBA you got 80 games and 30 practices. In Italy it is the other way around. He never smiled; he was angry. He knew only one Italian word: “finito”. At the end he was asking Franco: “Franco, finito?”. Yes, John, we finished. His first season, he was booed. He never showed any emotion, everything was done in slow-motion. He seemed to sleep. But he was a terrific defensive player, he was 2.11 mt., long arms, he could guard small forwards, power forwards, some guards. There was a player in Gorizia, he used to lead the league in scoring. He played 34 minutes against us in Milan, John held him scoreless. In his first year, the other players didn’t understand him too. One day, we play in Forlì. I was sick. Franco called a time-out. They came toward me; I raised up fatigued. I was really sick. So, like I was drunk, I said to Mike “Don’t let Francescatto get under your skin. If they eject you, we are going to lose this game”. But Mike was out of himself. My words didn’t even touch him. After a 30-second monologue, Gianelli grabs me. Dan, I’ll take care of it, Mike, you call the L play. So, Mike calls the L play, Gianelli comes to set a screen and his forearm hit Francescatto and his head goes the other way. He never got closer than two meters from Mike the rest of the night”.

The semifinal loss to Cantù in 1981 – “I believed in shooting the free throws. Make them pay. Dino Boselli missed the first one, made the second. They responded with a right corner field goal, by Giorgio Cattini at the end. For a second, we didn’t win. It doesn’t change anything. It was my fault. I’m disappointed to this day. That was a team that surpassed the expectations. We weren’t supposed to win. We had Mike, we had Gianelli, but Sylvester left, Kupec, Bonamico, Cerioni was old. Dino Boselli got injured. No, he got injured the year before. Meneghin wasn’t yet with us, neither Premier. They shouldn’t reach the finals, but they could, and I was the reason they didn’t. I suffered, and I’m still struggling to accept my mistake”.

Valerio Bianchini, the nemesis – “I coached more games against Bianchini than against anybody else. 38 games. Once I was called the anti-Bianchini. No, I replied. He is the anti-Peterson. I tried to act. One season, I remember, a friendly game, he was coaching Cantù. We were up by 25 points. One of my players, maybe Andrea Blasi, makes a steal and go to score an easy lay-up. Cattini, I guess, comes from behind and throw him down. Almost a brawl. The message? I don’t care about being down, I won’t let you score an easy two. That was a killer mentality. With Bianchini you had to be prepared to play more than a basketball game.”

Dino Meneghin – “Meneghin, let alone his greatness as a player, he was the best ever in Italy. He was the best team player. He created the team, the group. He was a star but he didn’t act like one, he was the ultimate teammate. In the big games, people ask how you managed to come back against Aris. Dino Meneghin! He had a game, look at the film, McAdoo considers that game the most intense of his life. What Meneghin did that game! At one point, Mike D’Antoni missed an important lay-up. Meneghin made the put back. Huge!”

Roberto Premier – “Premier didn’t have a conscience. He had no fear. He wasn’t a regular guy. He didn’t know the actual score, he didn’t know the foul situation, he didn’t know the time. He was a playground player. He had the ball, he had the opponent, he had the basket up there. In fact, against Aris. We had to make up for 31 points, we were up by 29. Guess who made the three? He was that kind of player. Don’t know how many games he made us win.”

That first championship season – “The season we won the championship. I could have played some killers. Gianelli, Meneghin, Ferracini, Premier. In Turin, during the semifinal, we called the L play, so D’Antoni used Meneghin screen, and Gianelli and Ferracini were on the other side. Two more killers. Good for us the United Nations weren’t there, for war crimes. Sacchetti was guarding Premier, they set screens and Sacchetti was stopped, Premier came off the screen and shoot. Or Boselli. Boselli made four consecutive jumpers because of the screens set by Ferracini and Gianelli over Brumatti once, Sacchetti twice. There was no hope for them. Gianelli was a legend.”

Franco Casalini – “Franco Casalini was great. Great basketball knowledge, outstanding loyalty, he saved me a lot of energy handling practices by himself. I gave him the plan, and he did it. He had more energy than a nuclear plant. “Dino blue jersey, Mike the grey one”. He was also a great coach, won a lot of youth titles. In 1981 I told him to create a new defense to alternate to the 1-3-1 because people are studying it. We had a man-to-man with principles and Franco, a genius, called the new defense “pivot”. We had to double team on three different situations: when the ball went in to the center, we had one man from behind and the man defending the pass, then we rotated; on hand-off passes; and finally in the corners, when we screamed “pivot”. He taught it with three drills. He invented the defense, he established the defense and he made it work. The year before, with Sylvester and Kupec, we had the best offense; the year after, with this defense, and we lost some scorers, we had the best or second-best defense. Franco gave us a lot.”

The EuroLeague championship game lost in Grenoble – “My fault again. I was nicknamed the John Wooden of second places. Over a two-year span, we finished second four times in a row. It cost me a lot that game and the European Cup vs Real Madrid one year later. Antoine Carr was not eligible to play, Meneghin fouled out 15 minutes earlier. And we made the championship game, winning in Pesaro the semifinal, defeating Cibona Zagreb, with no Drazen Petrovic. We made miracles to get there. We deserved to win. Those two losses, and Cantù loss two years earlier, are still haunting at me.”

Earl Cureton – Mike D’Antoni came to me and said: “Coach, I can’t understand why with Cureton guarding the center nobody passes the ball in.” Then, Mike sat out one game and he saw. Cureton was on a side, behind, in front of him, everywhere. It was impossible to pass the ball in. Nobody took a chance. Inside game for them was done. And I don’t even need to talk about rebounds, shots blocked. An incredible player. With Earl, I never had this feeling again, we’d never lose a game the entire season.”

Antoine Carr – “Cureton left for the NBA. We signed Antoine Carr. Great player. To make you understand which kind of athlete he was. We were in Palalido, sitting on the bench. He came in. No stretching, no warm-up. He picks up a ball off the floor, jumps, touch the balls twice while on air and dunk”.

Joe Barry Carroll – “The love that Joe Barry had for Meneghin was incredible. Many times, he asked me to let him play against Meneghin in practice, because Meneghin was making him improve. A 25-point per game scorer in the NBA asking to be guarded by Meneghin because he makes him better. Joe Barry fell in love with everybody, you know the story about the watches that he donated to all his teammates. A big love gestures. That season we became the first team in Italy to win the playoffs with no losses and we finished undefeated in the Korac Cup too. 6-0 in Italy, 9-0 in the Cup. With Joe Barry.”

Russ Schoene – “Schoene came and I want to tell a story. The famous writer Enrico Campana, from la Gazzetta dello Sport, made his list of the 64 foreigner players in the league, from the best to the worst. The first was, I don’t know, let’s say, Abdul Jeelani. The 63^rd was Wally Walker, who also played for us and was replaced by Carroll, and the 64^th was Schoene. I didn’t say nothing. Schoene improved. That same year, we won the Korac Cup, beating Varese, and Schoene scored 33 points, the we won the playoffs. The following year, he was the best player in the league. Joking with my friend Campana, I asked him, to do the list again and see where Schoene fit. Russ Schoene. Like I said, two years, two Italian league championships, two cups, zero problems. He was a dream. He could play as a small forward, and guard the small forwards, as a power forward, as a center. He was a great passer, team player, no ego.”

Cedric Henderson – “In Milan, there’s still people who tells me “Hey Peterson you were very good, you won with Cedric Henderson”. These people don’t understand. Look up at the stats. In the playoffs, we played ten games. He grabbed 40 offensive rebounds. 4 offensive rebounds per game! If you average one offensive rebound per game you good, two you are great, Four? And steals! I remember Game 3 against Caserta, the championship game. Twice, Nando Gentile stole the ball from D’Antoni. That never happened. Mike used to struggle with Gentile and Nando was great. There was nothing between Gentile and the basket. Twice, he made a sprint for the length of the court, block the shot, and retained possession. He didn’t send the ball into the stands, he kept it.”

The mindset entering the Grand Slam Season – “We knew, we had to win the European championship one year earlier. The two finalists were Zalgiris, we beat them here by 29, and Cibona by 24. We were strong. But we lost the first two games on the road. To get to the final, we needed Real Madrid to beat Zalgiris at home. Real Madrid was leading by 10, 12, 15 then lost somehow. When we got to Zagreb, Drazen Petrovic scored 47 points but, in Milan, we held him to 16 and won big. I’m sure we were going to beat them and win it all. So, entering the next season I was confident and then McAdoo came.”

Bob McAdoo – “To convince Bob was a 4-year long job. Maybe five. He was with the Lakers. After the 1985 title, they let me him go, a Hall-of-Famer, and moved to Philadelphia. He was disappointed. For two years he accepted to come off the bench behind Kurt Rambis, gave minutes of rest to Kareem, gave everything and was moved to Philadelphia? There was no gratitude from his perspective. He was disappointed. I was talking to him and to his college coach from North Carolina, Dean Smith. Smith told him the maybe he was time to go to Europe. The first practice, I have to tell you the story, there were a couple of kids with him. There was Casalini. And you know Casalini, his mouth was running incessantly. There was no radio talking more than Casalini. But I noticed he was silent. I asked him if he was fine. Yes, I’m good. So, why are you so quiet? I was asking myself what the hell McAdoo is doing here? He couldn’t believe it.”

The Aris Comeback – “We are in October of 1986. McAdoo was not in shape. Barlow was not in shape. I started practicing late to have guys in shape later. We underestimated them. Me first. We didn’t have internet, cellphone, we didn’t know anything. I got a paper with Aris’ roster and didn’t know who the coach was, Ioannis Ioannidis. Giannakis? Didn’t know him well. Nick Galis? Oh yes, a Greek American, makes sense to be there, from Seton Hall, drafted by the Boston Celtics. Yes. We got there. Atmosphere? Can’t say enough. Referees? Intimidated. We played a bad game, they played inspired. Bad officiating. We lost by 31. We were 37 behind at one point, we reduced the margin at the end by six. It was a tragedy. During the following week I didn’t sleep. On Friday, we had practice, but Casalini did it, again on Saturday as I was sleepless. On Sunday, we won a game in Milan, and I can’t remember who we played. Casalini coached the team; he held the pregame speech and everything. The same the following days. Peterson was standing next to the basket; Franco was coaching the team. Never said a word. On Thursday, it is game day. I said two things: I want to win the game even by one. I know we are eliminated, we don’t even get to the group, it is a disaster, but I wanted to win, I never thought about coming back. But I wanted to win for the media, the fans, friends, for the club, the sponsors. Then I added: If you guys want to try to come back from that margin, and I never said 31 points I always talked about margins, don’t rush it. All it takes is recovering one point every minute. 40 minutes 40 points. Just in case you noticed. In the second half we recovered exactly 20 points over 20 minutes. And we won by 34. After the game, I have a low-level pressure, while the adrenaline was sky high. So, Peterson gets up, my legs were like concrete. Bob McAdoo comes from behind. He broke my right shoulder with a pat, basically. And he says: “Dan, we did it”. And I said: “Bob, I know, this is miracle”. And he is mad at me. “Miracle? What are you saying? We believed it”. I didn’t believe it, so I asked him why, for what reason, they believed? And he said “because we’ve seen our coach so calm during the entire week… Sometimes it is better not to say a word. People think I did a great job. I didn’t. The players did.”

The Grand Slam – “We completed the Grand Slam, we won the title three times in a row, other Cups. But I made a mistake. I’m sincere. I should have gone forward. But I was spent, emotionally, I didn’t want to hold Olimpia hostage of myself. And there was Franco waiting. I should have asked for some weeks to recharge, go to a beach, because it was a mistake. I had to stay. Not to win necessarily, but to take care of a rebuilding plan. Meneghin was 37, Mike was 36, Bob too. I had to handle the rebuilding, instead it was Mike, when he replaced Franco, to take care of it later with Pittis, Djordjevic. My desire was to do as I did in Chile, leave something to my successor. When I went to Chile, the youngest player was 24 years old. When I left the oldest was 23. I left a good team. The revolution destroyed everything. In Bologna I left to Driscoll the team that won two championships and in Milan I left to Franco a team that won more and more. I think it is part of the job to take care of the team that gave you an opportunity. And I did. But more than anything else, I was spent, tired. And then Mike was right I had won it all.”

That celebration feeling – “When you win a championship, you are the last. You push yourself in the last place. You are happy for everybody else, the general manager, the ticketing manager, the media manager, the players, the fans. You become unselfish. When you win. When you got an honor there’s a different sense of gratitude for the ones who allowed you to win. Because I didn’t win. Like I said, my players, at Olimpia, everyone of them, my champions, my heroes made me successful. The club. Adolfo Bogoncelli, Cesare Rubini, Toni Cappellari, Cavalier Gabetti, Giovanni Gabetti. And Giorgio Armani too. He made me return in 2010/11. He gave me an indescribable joy. That day when I came home, I was ecstatic. I cried. It was like completing a circle back to 1987. I’m grateful to everybody allowing me to see this number 36… Where will you place it? In the practice gym, great. I will come and take Laura with me. I will take a picture to send back to America”.