Luciano Vendemini was an Italian basketball center, or 5, who stood 2.13 metres tall. He started playing with the youth team in Cantù, helping them win the 1973 Korac Cup. That year he was hired by the national team and débuted that season, eventually earning 44 international caps. After playing at the 1976 Montréal Olympics, Vendemini was sold to Torino for a transfer price of 220 million lire. Sadly, his career ended tragically. On 20 February 1977, at the Palasport of Forlì, Vendemini died from heart block caused by undiagnosed Marfan’s syndrome. The main hall of the Palasport Flaminio in Rimini was named after him, inaugurated in 1977 with a friendly between Sarila Rimini and ChinaMartini Torino, played in his honor.
Italy