Arthur Kenney was known as the Great Red. But everybody called him simply Arturo and in the Seventies he became symbol of the warrior mentality of Olimpia Milano, contributing to one Italian championship (but playing three tie-breaker games in as many seasons), two European Cups and one Italy Cup. And also a Champions Cup semifinal. Read More »
Cesare Rubini, The Prince. Enough said. He hasn't been just the Great Olimpia Milano's legend; he has been a lot more. Rubini has been the greatest athlete ever if we can mix two sports completely different one from the other, basketball and waterpolo. A Trieste native, he was brought in Milano to launch Adolfo Bogoncelli's Read More »
No player in the Italian League could be considered more important and famous than Bob McAdoo when he signed to play in Milano. It wasn’t just because his brilliant career in the NBA. Unlike many American stars in Italy, he was very known by Italian fans, because his reputation and also because he was playing Read More »
He was a Crystal City’s banker son. Crystal City is a small place in the middle of Missouri, not far from St. Louis. He had a lot of aspirations since in the early stages of life. Bill Bradley studied a lot and was very good at it, he was open to every kind a culture, Read More »
Everybody called him Ricky. Enrico Pagani was the Simmenthal captain and also some sort of symbol outside the lines: beautiful, with Asian eyes, the product of being born from a Russian mother in Shangai. They called him also “The Chinese” and had a role in a famous movie “The Dreams in the Drawers” along a Read More »
Here we start presenting the members of the Olimpia's Hall of Fame. The first one is obviously Adolfo Bogoncelli (Sandro Riminucci is in the picture with him). Adolfo Bogoncelli, the Bogos, is Mister Olimpia. All the club's history is part of his personal story. Bogoncelli is the one who founded Olimpia and then kept the Read More »
After completing the Grand Slam, Olimpia had to renew its roster to get younger and because coach Dan Peterson, at just 51, decided to retire (he was going to change his mind... 25 years later). The club traded for Piero Montecchi from Reggio Emilia giving up Franco Boselli, and for Massimiliano Aldi from Livorno (Vittorio Read More »
With a roster gradually getting older, the general idea was to start the training camp late to increase the lenght of the off-season and save energy for the last segment of any season although it was a risky move early. There was another additional advantage: the chance to pick the American players at the last Read More »
The first title in the Peterson era arrived in 1982, not coincidentally during the first season with Dino Meneghin playing for Olimpia. Born in Alano di Piave but raised in Varese, Meneghin was an early-age phenomenon when he quitted as a shot-putter to become the best center in the Italian basketball history. In Varese he Read More »
The great Simmenthal lost Bill Bradley, replaced by Red Robbins, reached the Champions Cup final again in 1967 but lost, on the road, against Real Madrid. Still, the great era kept going in Italy, with a season marred only by a couple of losses and the "scudetto" won beating out the usual suspects of Varese and Read More »
