Sergio Stefanini

According to Dan Peterson, the American coach and well-known Italian sports commentator, Sergio Stefanini was one of the best Italian basketball players of all-time. He made his Italian league début in the 1937/38 season with Audax Venezia, before a move to Reyer Venezia when, in 1940/41, the team finished fourth in Serie A. The following two seasons, however, Reyer won the title. After the war, Stefanini played in Brazil with Fluminense between 1946-48. He then returned to Italy, and re-joined Reye, before a move to Olimpia Borletti Milano, with whom he won five consecutive Italian titles 1950-54. He was runner-up in the league’s scoring list to Romeo Romanutti in 1949/50 and to Tonino Zorzi in 1954/55

Stefanini made his début for the international team against Hungary at Roma in 1942. He went on to win 62 international caps and score 681 points. He competed at two Olympic Games, and won a silver medal at the 1946 European Championship in Geneva. He was inaugurated into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.