“I’m more nervous today than before any game I’ve ever played. But I’m also excited,” Keith Langford said before walking to center court and receiving his Olimpia’s Hall of Fame jersey and the special plaque prepared for him. He had a speech printed in his mind that he tried to repeat. It jammed once, initially, then it jammed a second time because the chant “Keith Langford, Keith Langford” wouldn’t stop filling the vaults of the Forum. “After my first year in Milan, it was a bad year for us, they asked me if I wanted to leave. No, I replied, I want to finish what we started and we did it”, he said, thinking about that championship that had been missing for 18 years in Milan and for this very reason it was welcomed as an event.

For this reason, on the evening of 27 June 2014 there was no awards ceremony, just a lot of joy, on and off the court. Langford has the championship medal from that night, but had never hoisted the trophy. He did it yesterday in front of 12,000 crazy fans. “When I came to Milan I was already an established player, but only here did I make the leap that led me to become… yes to becoming great”, he said. His brother was on the sidelines, his eyes swollen; his wife, who accompanied him from Austin, leaving their two children, aged 10 and 5, at home, filmed everything on her cell phone, smiling all the time. Bruno Cerella attended to greet him. He was also among his teammates. Like Nik Melli: “Nik was a young kid at the time, he was young, now I want to think he’s still young because if he isn’t, let alone me,” joked Keith who turned 40 in 2023. “I miss all this,” he said, referring to the fans’ welcome. “This is why we play,” he finished.

The docufilm “I’m Keith Langford-This is My story” will be available to all the fans here soon