Sandro Gamba began to play basketball in 1945, when he was 13 (he was born on June 3rd, 1932). On April 25th he was hit by a machine gun while Italy was about to reclaim its independence. Basketball was soon to become a magnificent obsession but at the time it was used for medical reasons. Read More »
Vittorio Gallinari is one of the guys from the class born in 1958, like the Boselli twins for example. He wasn’t particularly talented and probably he didn’t have a specific position to fill on the court. In Milano, he played center, power forward and even small forward. Coach Peterson liked him because he was a Read More »
280 appearances, 2746 points scored. Almost 10 points per game for a player, Vittorio Ferracini, Toio for everybody. Born in Pordenone but raised basketball-wise in Milano, never known for his scoring ability. Ferracini has always been known for his team work, a tough guy, great at setting screens, helping his teammates, make his presence feel Read More »
Ita was a different era. Duane Thoren, Skip for everybody, arrived in Milano in the summer of 1965, he won the Italian league and the Champions' Cup, he was the Simmenthal's American player in an era only was allowed and then another was signed only for the international competition. Alongside Thoren, there was Bill Bradley. Read More »
In his own way Sergio Stefanini has been an historical player for Italian baseball beyond what he did with the National team and in the domestic competition. During the decades linking the 40's and the 50's, he probably was the best Italian player, a four time league leading scorer, a winner of three championships in Read More »
Sandro Riminucci is the unofficial record-holder for most points scored in a series A game. According to the official record book, Carlton Myers is the holder because one day he scored 87 points. But Myers played in A2 while Riminucci scored his 77 points in the top league although against a modest La Spezia team. Read More »
His nickname was the Ariete because, yes, he was a guard but his weight clocked often over 100 kg and he drove head-first, fearless. But Roberto Premier, born in Spresiano in the January of 1958, was a terrific shooter and came to Milano, in the summer of 1981 for his characteristics of perimeter player with Read More »
Riccardo Pittis, a product of the Milano’s youth system, to become a great player had to overcome a cardiac malfunction at birth and eventually a right hand injury that forced him to shoot free-throws left-handed. But at that time he had already moved from Milano to Treviso, a dominant club of the era. The first Read More »
Sandro Gamba discovered Pino Brumatti in Gorizia. The young gunner, who eventually developed a terrific jump shot, stopping on a dime, was nervous, didn’t play well and convinced Olimpia’s superscout only after he attended a game without being spotted. Gamba says that Brumatti cost him a Rolex, the one he threw away disappointed after a Read More »
Mike D’Antoni has been the greatest point-guard in the Italian basketball history and also the first non-Italian captain in Olimpia (although he later became Italian not just for origin and passport but for basketball laws). D’Antoni, whose family is originated from the Umbria region, was the product of a basketball family. His father Lewis has Read More »
