Basketball in mourning, Tonino Zorzi dies

Basketball in mourning, Tonino Zorzi dies

Italian basketball mourns the passing at 88 of Tonino Zorzi, one of the landmarks of the Italian basketball movement, first as a player and later as a coach.

As a basketball player after his beginnings in Gorizia, he wore the Varese basketball jersey for a long time, from 1954 to 1962, and was the captain of the first scudetto in 1961. He was voted Varese’s best player ever. Twenty-two games with the Azzurri senior national team.

In his long coaching career, which began in 1963 and ended in 2011, he toured half of Italy leading Venice, Siena, Naples, Reggio Calabria, Pesaro, Avellino, Sassari, Rieti and Bologna. In his palmarés also a Cup Winners’ Cup won with Partenope Napoli, and five promotions from Serie A2 to A1.

Tonino Zorzi has been a member of the Italy Basketball Hall of Fame since 2011.