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00:07Thank you all
00:33I won everything and for a long time
00:3628 consecutive seasons without ever sparing me
00:43Always chasing a victory, a record, a challenge
00:48Yet I've never been the one with the best stats
00:52I often played against opponents who were taller or stronger than me.
00:57On the field the battle was real
01:01Against bodies and spirits
01:04Ready to give everything to win and be better
01:10But I had to defend our area, my teammates, my dreams.
01:17That's why I always gave everything I had.
01:20Every time I stepped on the field
01:27Because basketball for me has never been just a game
01:39He is the greatest Italian basketball player
01:41Number one is always him, Gino Menechini
01:50The legend of Italian basketball
01:54Gino Menechini, great lion
01:56The great Gino Menechini
01:57The Record Man
01:59The greatest European player
02:01You never stop admiring it
02:03The myth of sport
02:05Another Menechini is not yet black
02:34Born in the mountains
02:35In my opinion it was a bit of a blessing from the good Lord.
02:40My family, my father, my mother, my brother
02:42Then we lived for six years
02:45In this country it is called Fener
02:47Which is a fraction of Alamo del Piave
02:49In the province of Belluno
02:51The fun was going to play on the banks of the Piave
02:54Get plenty of exercise
02:56We were divided into two gangs
02:57My brother's gang who was three years older
03:00And then there was mine who was a little younger
03:03We were a little less reckless
03:08We are brothers
03:10I'm the eldest, not in height
03:12We have meadows, woods, etc. at our disposal.
03:17In short, we went running
03:18We went to do everything
03:21That's where the whole thing started.
03:23The spirit and love towards sport
03:26Growing up outdoors was definitely essential
03:29To play and to visit friends
03:32There was a lot of walking to do
03:34Both my grandparents and my father and my mother
03:36They allowed me and my brother to live in the most perfect way possible.
03:40So we don't miss anything
03:41Encouraging us to study
03:43And to be serious in life anyway
03:47In my opinion I got this height from my great-dwarf Massimiliano
03:51We have only seen one photograph of this character which was really big
03:57Because he was two meters and six
03:58The gene was that
04:16The father decided to move from Alano di Piave to Varese
04:20Because he had a job offer
04:22And that was the choice that led the family to move to Lombardy
04:27I don't think the passage from his native land was a trauma.
04:31To a region in which there were many conditions in which he could feel at ease.
04:39Dad moved here to Varese for work
04:43And we clearly had to follow suit.
04:47I will always thank him because if he had stayed with Alano
04:51I would never have played basketball
04:55In basketball at that time, Varese was a nascent state
04:58Giovanni Borghi and Ignis were already in his firmament
05:02And the team was climbing the Italian championship regulations
05:05It was aiming to become one of the leading teams in Serie A
05:09At that time there was the awareness that it was possible to reach an important level
05:14At the top of Italian basketball
05:32He came from athletics
05:34He was quite bored with being a shot putter.
05:38In fact he said that to cut those training sessions short
05:42He had found the way to take the ball and put it on the ground
05:47I was going more or less where 200 holes reached where it had the weight
05:51I took the weight and started making the holes like that while standing still
05:54Then I said prof I'm done good go see you in two days
05:57So that's why I also chose to play basketball because it was less boring
06:03There is his school that organizes student championships
06:07A bit by chance he went to attend this tournament together with a friend
06:11There he was noticed by Nico Messina who was a gymnastics teacher
06:16But he was already a coach who was quite well known in the Varese sports world
06:20Messina sees me there too, I'm half a meter ahead of the others
06:25He comes up to me and says, do you play basketball?
06:27God no
06:28Now he looks at me and says show me how you run
06:31And he made me run up and down the field a couple of times
06:35So he stops me and says no okay okay come tomorrow and we'll start training
06:39And as soon as I entered the field what struck me immediately was the noise
06:43The sound of shoes on linoleum
06:46These boys who were going back and forth playing with the ball
06:50You heard a really engaging noise
06:53And then I immediately said look, this is something I like.
07:00If talent exists, it is something that must be cultivated, nurtured, and cared for.
07:06Nobody gives anything away for free
07:09Thousands and thousands of shots attempted and missed
07:14Thousands and thousands of kilometers
07:16Repeated movements without ever looking at the clock
07:22Of sweat left on the parquet
07:24Of waking up with the sun still below the horizon
07:28To be all that we can be
07:32So that a boy's dream can come true
07:44Dino McGuin fits into this context
07:47It's a bit difficult at first
07:48He arrives here with an already amazing body
07:52Because Dino's shoulders, the ones now, are the same as those of then
07:56It's basically a closet
07:57A wardrobe that doesn't have antennas yet
08:00And in this case too Varese is much more advanced than the others
08:03Because Dino is built around a crazy frame
08:06And from there on this player's domination begins
08:12Dino's first training sessions were certainly not marked by technical purity.
08:18It was absolutely crude
08:19He was dribbling the ball in an awkward manner
08:22Just as he was pumping the ball
08:24It looked like it was almost going to break the floor.
08:27And I start dribbling like a madman
08:29The teacher goes there and says to me, no look, then bend your legs, raise your head, put your hand like this
08:34And he started teaching me the first rudiments of dribbling.
08:40He has always been determined, decisive, that's it, and convinced
08:45So he was good at his things
08:49Dino's growth has been, one might say, constant over time.
08:54But the training sessions were definitely tough.
08:56We ran a lot, jumping, leaping up and down
08:59I still remember those.
09:01You noticed the effort at the end
09:03When I sat at home at the table
09:06Together with my
09:07And many times I didn't even feel like eating
09:10Why I twisted it
09:21Dino has a statuesque physique, if we want
09:24Almost perfect
09:26His reactivity and his performance
09:29It was above the norm
09:33Every time he bumped into something or someone
09:36Or he hurt someone
09:38Or he got injured
09:41Dino Meneghin, forced to sit in the stands due to a broken hand
09:45Dino actually had several injuries, some of them serious ones.
09:50The underlying cause was related to the fact
09:53That he has always had a fairly high physical prowess
09:58Dino has always had this competitive fury on his side
10:02What characterized it
10:04I think it was linked to his vision of sport
10:07And always give your best, the great sacrifice
10:09And obviously you had to compete to the best of your ability.
10:13Against any type of opponent
10:15This was a bit of his characteristic
10:18And on the pitch he was truly another person.
10:21In the sense that it was transfigured
10:22He really became a warrior
10:26The characteristics of the young Dino Meneghin are immediately visible
10:30He plays with his back to the basket beautifully.
10:34Even though he also has the face-to-the-basket game
10:38Physical presence, takes up a lot of space
10:41Bad as garlic on the pitch since he was a kid
10:45Many teams chose the American pivot
10:48And other roles for Italians
10:50With the arrival of Meneghin in Varese
10:52The opposite happens
10:53That Americans are often intimidated by his presence
10:56The number 11 shirt
10:58Which would have been a symbol of his career
11:01He didn't choose it but it was given to him.
11:03There were no other numbers available
11:05So he got the number 11.
11:07And that would be his battle banner.
11:16They built the miracle of the strongest basketball team
11:20From the 60s and 70s
11:22The Innis Varese
11:23The 68-69 season marks a turning point
11:27The team was reeling from a disappointing season
11:30And it was decided to completely change the register
11:39That year the story of the Zerlo-Blu Avalanche began
11:42It was like a puzzle
11:44A puzzle that was created by Messina
11:49At the beginning everyone thought we were relegated.
11:53Because we were a very new, very young team.
11:56There was this fundamental environment for building a team
12:00I knew I was pressuring the man to carry the ball
12:02But I already knew that if he ran away from me there was someone who would help me.
12:06It was me, there was Dodo Rusconi
12:08Massimo Villetti, Chico Ovi
12:09Poor Claudio Malagoli
12:11Flaborea was the starting center
12:13I consider my brother older because of how many things he taught me.
12:18Then came Raga, the Mexican
12:20Extraordinary athlete
12:22Great shooter
12:25Rebounder
12:25Then he was hungry
12:27And he wanted to play, to fight, to win
12:29Even to make yourself known
12:31We tried to open a cycle with great humility
12:35And without any big announcements
12:37The result was one of the most sensational championships
12:40On the history of Italian basketball
13:11Racerda
13:12The result was one of the most
13:23The match ends, peaceful invasion of the fans, in five seconds I find myself in my underwear
13:32and from there I understood the enthusiasm we had transmitted to the people.
13:39But basketball in Italy is primarily a provincial phenomenon.
13:43In fact, all it takes is a good advertising combination and 3,000 sure viewers.
13:47and the team from a small town can become a national star or even a prestigious European team.
13:53Nicol Messina was also a humble person and was above all aware
13:57that his characteristics were more those of a physical trainer
14:02and he knew there were basketball coaches who knew more than he did.
14:06The person indicated was Asa Nicolich.
14:13Nicolich was a man of incredible precision
14:17and he never allowed himself to make the same mistake.
14:23In his whiteboard meetings he looked like an Air Force officer.
14:29He was a man ahead of his time.
14:31I believe Asa Nicolich was one of the greatest coaches in the history of European and perhaps even world basketball.
14:39He had an ascetic vision, if you like, of gym work
14:43and he was still a coach who had very modern ideas
14:47and he was certainly at that time the right person to entrust with an emerging and successful project like that of
14:55Ignis.
14:56But during the game there is no time to be afraid
14:59because everything goes fast and there is no time to think about fear.
15:04The transition from Nico Messina to Nicolich was traumatic.
15:08The first thing he told us was, he had this big voice that was bigger than mine and he was talking like this
15:14«You have to understand that here in the gym we don't joke around, you're not, here you have to work at it».
15:21Training sessions were very tough, you knew when you were going to start and you never knew when you were going to finish.
15:27I remember the first training session we did, after two and a half hours in the gym,
15:32He called us and said, “Are you tired?”
15:37And Dino looked at me and said, “I was exhausted,” and he said, “Professor, we’re a little tired.”
15:43"You're obviously not trained. Go take the stairs!"
15:45So, for a project, half an hour of stairs.
15:49I was one of those who believed a lot in work.
15:52But, guys, at the end of the year we win the championship, we win the Champions Cup,
15:58then we win the Italian Cup, then we win the World Cup.
16:02And so not just one year, but for several years.
16:05The European and Italian basketball champions, Ignis.
16:08They became the yellow avalanche, known precisely for the strength of their defense,
16:12the attack is absolutely crazy, but absolute for the fact that it looks like a granite block.
16:22There is something that is never said enough, that remains in the background of victories.
16:29What exists together with the individual and of the individual enhances the deeds, the team.
16:38Nothing would exist without the group, without the teammate who marks you in training until you drop.
16:47Who hands you the towel, who cheers you on after a mistake and who maybe comes to visit you in the hospital
16:56after an injury.
17:01It is with him and for him that you win.
17:04The companion who remains in the background, while the titles only talk about you, only mention your name.
17:12And no player will ever be anything without that teammate who is by your side and allows you to shine.
17:31Varese seemed to never stop, also because the opponents were a bit surprised by a reality that we all now give
17:39for granted.
17:40At the time it was something really innovative.
17:44The secret was to have a property as rich as the villages, to have a very important sponsor like Ignis.
17:50The employees are the first fans, the workers who assemble the refrigerators, you found them in these stands.
17:56Ignis Varese won the European Cup.
18:00Varese was the alternative to a club like Milan, which had always won the championship every year.
18:07My father decided to sponsor the team and at that time we worked hard to keep this team at the highest level.
18:17levels.
18:19For some reason, Varese had managed to transport this type of mentality.
18:23Everyone brought something that improved not only basketball here, but Italian basketball in general.
18:29And the others, including the teams from the big cities, Milan first and foremost, struggled at the beginning.
18:37Nikolic decided to leave Varese because he believed he had completed a sort of mission.
18:44Varese went fishing from Milan for Sandro Gamba, who was Rino Rubini's deputy.
18:51The aim was to give him the opportunity to become the leader of the team that had already stopped in the meantime.
19:01We at the Palacanestro have this advantage, that we have a constant model to follow, which are the American professionals.
19:09So seeing where they have arrived, let's try to get there ourselves.
19:13We copy, we try to adapt the Italian mentality to those systems.
19:20Three years of Nikolic had completely destroyed us.
19:24In Sandro we found a little more humanity, above all.
19:28It was a surprise for me because when we were training we were already really looking forward to meeting up again.
19:33Between one task and another, a joke would pop up.
19:38Maybe Dino would tear a shirt.
19:40The warm-up might have reached Lucchi, taken the ball away from him, and this guy would have gone crazy.
19:45We worked so hard and laughed.
19:47This thing was a reinforcement of a commitment that really led us to have something more than the other teams.
19:56The record of this Varese, six scudetti, but above all the unique thing that will always remain in any sport,
20:04these are the ten consecutive finals in the Champions Cup.
20:10Guys, we are talking about numbers that, in my opinion, are unreproducible.
20:15Then we had a big advantage, we really had the fans, the people who loved us.
20:20Our team lived with the city.
20:23You wanted to see Dino, Manuel or see me.
20:26You came downtown at noon and you knew we were passing by.
20:30And we exchanged words with everyone.
20:32There was this attachment from the fans that gave us even more strength.
20:39We were young and easy-going with everyone.
20:41For us, there was no such thing as putting on airs.
20:45It is dangerous for the young player, but we call to educate young people to feel the sport
20:52either as a profession or as a hobby.
20:56Someone wants to become a professional and says this is my job until I'm 30-35.
21:01I have to do it as a job.
21:03Sandro Gamba had a dubious role in Meneghina's career because she would have met him later
21:07also as technical commissioner of the national team.
21:11It's clear that Dino, even for Sandro, was one of his points of reference, he was one of his certainties.
21:17He's the coach who trained me the most.
21:19I had him first in Varese, then with the national team, until '84 at Empiedi in Los Angeles.
21:24He was a fanatic, and rightly so, of American basketball.
21:27He was trying to bring it here to us too.
21:30He dwelt on what you needed to do to improve yourself, how to make the transition, how much to do it.
21:34Sandro Gamba played a fundamental role in the journey of many people.
21:39A New York telephone book, this tall.
21:42Sandro is the character of our basketball.
21:46What you saw on the bench during the games was just the tip of the iceberg.
21:51Sandro, for Dino, for many others, was also, I wouldn't say a father, but still a figure,
21:59in English it is called father figure, which does not exactly mean the father figure,
22:04but a father figure that also envelops the character, the player.
22:10I have always considered him as a second father, because he, in addition to teaching me to play basketball,
22:16He also gave me advice on how to manage life, how to deal with certain things.
22:35What kind of father was he? My father, the absent one. He certainly wasn't a good father, he wasn't there,
22:41he was busy with his career, he made choices.
22:44Do you put your wife or your career, your profession, first?
22:48For me individually, she says.
22:50But I think that for now the career comes.
22:54Let's say the peak of a player's career can only be reached through sacrifices.
22:59These sacrifices also include neglecting something important which is undoubtedly the woman.
23:03Andrea Graziele's mother and I have known each other since we were kids.
23:08Andrea is born, but when he is born, the relationship is no longer great.
23:13But it's my fault, not the other's.
23:15I was too obsessed with basketball, I was always on the go.
23:18And so unfortunately I no longer had the head to be a family man.
23:24Then as time goes by, of course, when you make a mistake,
23:30you realize and you also try to make amends a little.
23:34We then managed to rebuild a very good relationship with my father.
23:39It took a bit of time, a lot of effort, but I'd say we're on the right track.
23:45And I realize that he would have become a great player
23:50because below where Andrea lived with his mother,
23:53underneath there is an oratory with an outdoor basketball court.
23:57And one evening we went down to play.
23:59He was ten, eleven years old, more or less.
24:02And we play together, me and him.
24:04I pass him the ball, I make a cut to the basket
24:07and he passes it to me perfectly squashed.
24:10And from there, I must say, my almost self-confidence was born.
24:14that he would become a good player.
24:16Basketball also helped a little because it obviously brought us closer together.
24:21This is also the first time we've played here in Varese, against each other.
24:27Crazy media event, interviews, calls, photographers, television, you name it.
24:35The debut, when we played here for the first time, I remember it was a great curiosity.
24:41The father against the son.
24:42And the coach tells me, Andrea, go on, come in, you have all this crowd in front of you.
24:48This emotion that you feel strongly and in the end you find it in front of you.
24:52At a certain point Andrea comes in, I was on the pitch, I'm on defense.
24:57I miss the gold shot, I get the rebound and I feel someone jump on my back.
25:03So I turn around and say, who is this guy who's doing this to me?
25:05Then I see that he was the one trying to hit the ball from me.
25:08And right there at that moment it extended my career because usually if you do something like that to my
25:13Father, you risk finding yourself on the ground.
25:15I said, I don't like this guy, this guy is going to be good, ah this guy is really good.
25:22Here is the hug between father and son right now, one of the most beautiful postcards I can ever imagine.
25:30having offered yesterday's sport.
25:33I always feel guilty towards him, I try to make up for what I don't do to him as much as I can.
25:40he gave.
25:41I know it's not possible, I know it's very difficult, if not impossible.
25:48However, I try to look to the present but above all to the future without forgetting what has happened.
26:01Looking back on that NBA near-miss, do you still feel regretful about it?
26:05Yes, I think that's the only big regret I've had, as far as my sporting life is concerned.
26:10Dino was the first Italian to re-enter the NBA's orbit.
26:16And the New York Knicks arrive, they want to take him, Dino says, but it could be the worthy crowning of my career.
26:25What's happening? He hurts his meniscus, one of Dino Meneghin's many injuries, at the wrong time, in the wrong place.
26:32In 1974 I received an offer from the Knicks, from the Knickerbockers, but I had just torn my meniscus and so I was in
26:38re-education phase and I had to skip it.
26:40And this is a regret, I won a lot, I am satisfied, I finished, but there remains that hint of doubt about the fact
26:48if I had been able to play with those great champions then.
26:57Hundreds of matches, thousands of training sessions and therefore the pace must always be very high and by increasing all this the
27:06injury risks.
27:08At the time when Dino Meneghin had cut his teeth in big-time basketball, his real bones
27:13they began to give in.
27:15Two fractures in my hand, one in my nasal septum, a torn meniscus in an accident.
27:19Dino was a gladiator, he always played at the highest levels.
27:24Like all professionals, he suffered from these injuries, these ailments, which are usually the conditions that shorten a career.
27:34of a player.
27:36We need to work a lot on a psychological level so that he can mentally begin the re-education in the best way possible.
27:46possible.
27:46My first thought was to say, it's over, the games are over.
27:56One day you fall, because you can't take it anymore, you have no more energy, because you don't know how to stay on the pitch anymore,
28:05you no longer know how to fight to emerge.
28:08You fall, because that's the first time you feel pain, real pain.
28:14What you have built seems to be fading away.
28:18And you feel the din of the cheering turn to silence.
28:23You become alone.
28:25In the hospital or at the gym.
28:27On the sidelines, while the others train.
28:32And in that infinite solitude, a question repeats itself endlessly.
28:37It gets into your brain.
28:39Simple, but inevitable.
28:44Will you be able to recover?
29:04The team needed a new coach.
29:07The one who had learned the most from Nikolic and Gamba, because he had lived through all the past, was certainly Dodo Rusconi.
29:18Dodo was a great coach.
29:21There aren't many people like Rusconi, who works like a Dodo on the pitch.
29:26Maybe he sinned a little in his personal relationships.
29:30Unfortunately, I broke my arm.
29:33The most important moment is the vintage.
29:35I undergo surgery, they put a plate on me.
29:38With that plate I played the Champions Cup final in Grenoble against Bosna Sarajevo, coached by Tanjevic.
29:45The traumatologist told him that it was probably best for him to play just one half.
29:50It was a huge tragedy, because we lost by three points.
29:54The refusal also gave rise to a bit of fear of hurting himself, because he had had this problem with his arm.
29:59If he had started at the beginning, maybe things would have changed.
30:03Then you know, these are things that had to be seen.
30:07And Dodo had had an outburst that Dino had deemed unfortunate.
30:13Dodo had declared Meneghini a former player.
30:17In the newspaper I see that Dodo Rusconi says that I am just a name.
30:23And then this had hurt me incredibly.
30:30At thirty I felt like a finished player.
30:34The worst year of my entire career.
30:36Precisely because I couldn't balance the positive feelings with the negative ones,
30:41find the necessary grit.
30:43And I was in that limbo where I still didn't know what would happen to me.
30:47For the first time I saw that he was insecure,
30:51that he felt awkward, that he wasn't psychologically well.
30:55He had become a person who suffered a situation, who was not at peace.
31:04The national team helps Dino Meneghin regenerate.
31:09If you look at his career, the golden age is over here in Varese.
31:14He needs to find new stimuli and he finds them in the national team.
31:17He wore it 272 times, which is a record.
31:20No, Piero Marzorati has 274,
31:23who is my national teammate, but we are there.
31:34For me, talking about the Italian national team means having played 277 matches.
31:43Playing with Dino Meneghin meant having a point of reference for the whole team,
31:49not only on the competitive and character aspects, but it was about feeling protected.
31:56A player who charged up his teammates.
31:59The relationship with the national team was splendid from the very beginning.
32:03It's that you play for the national team against those who are usually your opponents during the championship.
32:09First, in quotes, you hate yourself.
32:11When you are in the national team, however, the type of relationship changes,
32:14so we are a real team, all friends, brothers.
32:18Largest in the history of Italian basketball.
32:21An Olympic silver in Moscow in 1980, the European gold in Nantes.
32:25This is just to name the most important successes.
32:28Meneghin arrives at the Olympics, I would say, at the most brilliant moment of his career
32:34regarding age, TV coverage, satellites and everything else
32:39show the Meneghin dominant throughout the world.
32:41There's already the satisfaction of having arrived there.
32:44There are only 12 places in the entire world.
32:46Incredible sessions.
32:49I remember many factors, like that 7-point victory against Australia
32:56after Cuba beat Australia.
33:00The match against Spain, I remember that I played very well, more than 20 points.
33:06I think our great achievement was beating Russia in the final group.
33:12The practice was an all-star team.
33:16We enter the field and they appear a bit arrogant.
33:20Dino Meneghin had the great honor of marking Tachenko, 2 meters and 16, 2 meters and 18, for 160
33:30and 70 kg.
33:31But with the skill and speed that he had, he was able to limit it.
33:39And from there, at least in my opinion, we go on to beat them, who are the favorites in the final.
33:45They are the hosts, playing in front of their home crowd.
33:48There we all play like gods, all of us play well.
33:58It seemed that Dino would continue to be a Varese player for life.
34:03But things didn't go that way.
34:05For a very simple reason, the Borghi family had decided to reduce its involvement in basketball.
34:14There was no real interest among the future owners of the company in Dino remaining within the company.
34:22For the world of basketball it was a strange and unexpected epochal moment, which created a lot of friction.
34:29Because in Varese the fans were outraged that their national monument went to ACR, my rivals.
34:37I get a phone call from Giancarlo Gualco, who was General Messi, who tells me
34:41"Look, Toni Cappellari, manager of Cimetal Milano, will call you."
34:46And I said, "Hey, we're changing teams here."
34:56Going to Milan to see my enemies, the ACR, was certainly not a good experience.
35:01He needed the good word, he didn't need criticism.
35:05We tried to stay close to him, but unfortunately it wasn't enough.
35:11I will never forget the photo, the arrow pointing to Milan and him waving nearby.
35:17I suffered a lot from it, honestly.
35:20I have the Minis flag, among other things because she believes I am the only Varese native in the team.
35:24No, I'm not the only one, there's Rusconi too.
35:27Ah, there's also Rusconi.
35:30Then there's Meneghin who is a Varese native by adoption.
35:32Of adoption, of adoption.
35:33«It was difficult to move from Varese because I had practically lived in Varese since I was eight years old.
35:40and so I felt it a bit like my home.
35:44The first times were difficult, but I chose that path,
35:49so I tried to, in quotation marks, not forget,
35:53but put aside the thought of Varese for a moment and think about Milan.
35:57Forgetting Varese is definitely impossible."
36:01Milan offered him the benefit of a historic location,
36:05of a very ambitious program which also included a return to the European stage.
36:12Dan Peterson played a key role in the arrival of Dino Meneghin.
36:17The first phone call, knowing Dan's timing,
36:20It must have been around 6.30 in the morning.
36:22He must have pulled him out of bed and Dino probably thought it was a joke.
36:26If Meneghin had any doubts, once that phone call ended, they disappeared.
36:32Peterson says to me, Dino, you have to think about the Los Angeles Olympics, okay?
36:38Los Angeles is 84, 4 years later.
36:40I said, yes, yes, coach, okay.
36:42And inside I said, this guy is crazy, I'll let him play for another 4 years.
36:47It's terrible, he was athletically superior to everyone.
36:52He would still be modern today, he had a great winning mentality.
36:57Number one, absolutely, there was not even a comparison.
37:01Meneghin's Milanese period was a successful one,
37:05But he started out in a difficult situation, because as soon as he arrives he gets hurt.
37:10Milan had the merit of waiting for him and not considering him finished,
37:15because clearly the moment he arrived and got hurt,
37:19obviously the fans started to think, we got a broken one.
37:22I knew he was a winner, but I didn't know how much.
37:27When we took Dino, he was out for the first six months for knee surgery,
37:32and he worked like a mule, like a horse,
37:37that is, every day he diligently managed to get in just a moment before the forecasts.
37:43I am the first, all the coaches say that basketball is a team game that counts as a whole,
37:49but here's the fact that when you weren't there, they were losing their minds.
37:52You got there, they won, what happened?
37:54Let me give you an example of how important he was.
37:57That year, 32 games, first 16, that is, exactly half,
38:03We won 7, we lost 9.
38:06With Dino, 14 wins, 2 losses, 3.
38:09To say the impact he had, his presence,
38:12what he conveyed as a sense of security to his companions,
38:15he turned the team around like that.
38:18Without doing anything exceptional, he won everyone over.
38:22You couldn't help but admire the way he played,
38:25the effort he made to win and conquered them with his game, his being.
38:34Meneghin was a pivot, despite his size, very athletic and very fast
38:39and it integrated perfectly into a system of that type.
38:43With Meneghin healthy, a dynasty begins and the golden age begins.
38:46One, the match is over, Vigli is the champion of Italy,
38:51Kicanovic compromised the sport of his team with his decisive errors,
38:58Antoni coolly led Vigli to success.
39:01In these seven years in Milan you can see everything a fan would like and should see.
39:07The team's characteristic is tough people,
39:11people who didn't want to accept anything from the other team at all, they wanted to win.
39:17An excellence in Mike D'Antoni, the point guard who changed basketball,
39:22the Boselli brothers, perfect gregari, the perfect Americans,
39:26John Gianelli, more malleable than ever.
39:28Then someone comes along as prime minister and opens the box from the outside.
39:32Milan manages to put together everything it needs
39:35and from then on, precisely, with a conductor like Dan,
39:40the glorious period begins.
39:43I was the young Virgulto who came from Gorizia
39:47and Dino introduced himself as if he were the most normal person in the world.
39:53He was a leader, a driving force, you could see it, you could see it on the pitch,
39:57You could see it off the pitch too, he was a great motivator,
40:01he had an iron will.
40:05In Grenoble, an all-Italian final,
40:08I went by car with the then basketball teleconist Aldo Giordani,
40:12I was a shop boy, a very strange ending.
40:17Now you're already playing against Cantù, it's a crazy derby,
40:20even more so in the Cup final.
40:22We were down 15, Dino got his fifth foul and there were 15 minutes left.
40:27I played the worst game of my life there.
40:29We played below our capabilities.
40:32and much of this shot was mine.
40:35It was one of the perhaps rarest of our games that we played wrong.
40:40I couldn't even say what happened in Grenoble.
40:43Zero points and I don't know what happened.
40:46If a player plays badly, he plays badly.
40:48But if an entire team is underperforming,
40:53the coach must answer.
40:54Surely the company thought that I would give them a contribution
40:57for the great experience of the finals, how to manage.
41:00Instead, there, nothing.
41:02But exactly 6-0-0-0.
41:03We made a comeback, comeback, comeback.
41:05Even, a few seconds to go,
41:08one down, Franco Buselli was shooting.
41:18The ball hit the rim, and I felt terrible about it, obviously.
41:23The game ended, 69 to 68.
41:25If you tell me, would you like to play a game of that again?
41:30Well, that left me with a great bitterness,
41:33so much so that even now that 40 years have passed,
41:36if I think about it, I get a cramp in my stomach,
41:39precisely because that wasn't me.
41:50I didn't know anything about basketball,
41:52but then I got too passionate about it.
41:55We met,
41:57thanks to a mutual friend.
42:01She watches a match on television
42:04where I get an elbow right here in the middle of my forehead
42:07and I'm going down.
42:08A sympathy was born immediately.
42:10Then I immediately fell in love with him.
42:13and so anything was fine.
42:16We started dating
42:18and we're still together.
42:20She is a special woman,
42:22tenacious, tough, stubborn,
42:24but at the same time sweet and understanding.
42:27Friendly.
42:28You couldn't help but be with him.
42:33A huge fan.
42:34When I went to see the first basketball games,
42:38then it hit me.
42:39She gave me that lightness
42:41which allowed me to continue playing for many years.
42:45He always left me free to choose, to do,
42:48but he has always been by my side in whatever decision I have made.
42:56He is definitely one of those
42:58which is most striking for its character,
43:02for the constancy, for the strength,
43:04which is the ability to recover from difficult times.
43:07He had lost the championship with Banco Roma,
43:09had lost the championship at home to Virtus Bologna.
43:12It seemed like a moment of insurmountable difficulty.
43:15Osanna was a bit of a synthesis of a technical and human project
43:22that Olimpia had created around the figure of Meneghin
43:27and that match was one of the most beautiful
43:30and of the most important of those years.
43:33Certainly the character of Meneghin
43:36he found the pedestal to stand on with that famous match.
43:42Returning to winning ways in Europe too
43:44it's something Milan wants to do.
43:55Milan reaches a very tough final.
43:58After 21 years the Milanese team won in 1966.
44:04We played in Lausanne in an ice palace.
44:14The crowd was incredible, we couldn't disappoint them again.
44:21It's a wonderful accambi in every way.
44:28The enemy pivot, they play jumpships there.
44:31Kevin McGee, Lee Johnson, Mickey Berkowitz,
44:35we knew this was a battle.
44:38Dino was always the last one to go on the pitch.
44:42Dino, I want to hear your voice.
44:48You are the heart of the team.
44:51If I hear your voice, my comrades hear your voice.
45:01I saw the '86-'87 finale on TV.
45:06I also remember the physicality of that final.
45:09Judo clashes under the basket.
45:12A really tough final.
45:21I remember that I had never suffered from stomach ache from that date on.
45:27D'Antoni picks up five fouls, one with 43 minutes to go.
45:35I saw really badly there.
45:41It was an epic finale.
45:43Cramps were the order of the day.
45:46Beneghin, at this point, remains on the pitch.
45:50He is truly a hero in his condition.
45:53Two or three days before I iron my cufflinks.
45:56And then goodbye, here,
45:57with the final it's still a problem.
45:59Look at this close-up of Beneghin.
46:02Truly stoic, truly gladiatorial.
46:04Before the match the doctor gives me an injection.
46:07I basically played 40 minutes on tiptoe.
46:10I knew him and I knew he was a rock.
46:15Many others would not have even come to Lausanne in his condition.
46:19He would never, ever, ever have missed a match like that.
46:23In 28 seconds not only a season is played,
46:27a historical phase is being played out.
46:28These are situations that revolve around a ball,
46:32on this jump ball.
46:34It's much more agile, of course,
46:37Beneghin's opponent.
46:40That other one, we have to imagine if this jump here is massacred.
46:43Yes, go, Beneghin must jump,
46:44which does not have the possibility of going to generation.
46:47But it was Beneghin who recommended the ball.
46:50It's Beneghin, who...
46:51But I was right on time,
46:52so I caught her, luckily,
46:54because, thank God,
46:55because otherwise Meccadu would have massacred me even more.
46:59Yeah, every time we see each other,
47:00I beat myself up over that missed shot at the end.
47:03There's a ball, you have to free the ball,
47:05Beneghin!
47:06Beneghin was wrong!
47:09It's super Beneghin!
47:10I had to remove Dino,
47:12but you know, Alenitino Meneghin,
47:14you don't want to take it off your head.
47:15I think we were so excited,
47:18so convinced.
47:20Our will to win that match was unique.
47:23The eyes, the gaze of Beneghin,
47:24towards D'Antoni,
47:26towards his companions
47:27and towards the bench it is not that of someone who says
47:31I was wrong, it's over.
47:34Not at all, I was wrong, we'll win anyway.
47:36Four, two seconds.
47:38A three-pointer, but from too far away.
47:42In the end, which was short,
47:44Meccadu took the rebound
47:45and I resurrected myself.
47:49Bob Meccadu gets the rebound
47:50and I start swinging to waste time.
47:53He's already finished the game.
47:54Look, you're making me lose the ball.
47:56And I say, it's over, it's over.
47:59We won, we won.
48:03The players rejoice.
48:06The coaches fall to the ground.
48:08It's a relief.
48:11But it all ends
48:12and let's bring this thing home
48:15with great effort and with great difficulty.
48:17It was truly a pain for me.
48:29To me, Peterson,
48:30she would never have wanted to
48:32coach the NBA.
48:34I won the Champions Cup.
48:35And between my NBA
48:36this is it,
48:38It's Dino and Mike,
48:38this is it.
48:39It was so important to me.
48:46It's an immense joy.
48:47There were times
48:51wonderful
48:52and full of emotions.
48:57When you win
48:58something as important as the Cup
49:00it's one,
49:01okay, say,
49:02easy satisfaction.
49:04Winning it at that age
49:05with all the suffering
49:06that we have all suffered.
49:07That's really it
49:08the highest gratification.
49:16and all this makes basketball become legendary.
49:19It all comes from that vintage.
49:21It's such a beautiful moment
49:23that we are still here
49:25getting something out of it
49:26how many are there now,
49:2840 years later.
49:31For me Dino
49:32represents
49:33a symbolic character
49:35of Italian sport.
49:36The talent
49:37It exists by nature
49:38but it can also be
49:39enriched
49:39and improved
49:40with work,
49:41with sacrifice,
49:42with consistency.
49:44The sporting legacy
49:45who leaves my father
49:46it is definitely linked
49:48to the fact
49:49of total dedication
49:50to this sport.
49:51An example to follow
49:52in the world
49:53of the basketball court
49:54it also became
49:55a dad
49:56but the best thing
49:57is that he became a grandfather.
49:58So this is
49:59what matters most to me
50:01that it is also
50:01an excellent grandfather
50:03for my girls.
50:06The wish that
50:07Meneghin
50:08be passed down
50:09from father to son,
50:10be used a little
50:12like a story
50:13that the father tells
50:15to the son
50:16or to the nephew
50:17never to be forgotten.
50:26Winning is like a second skin
50:29and the victory
50:30you're looking for it
50:31Always
50:32like something
50:33absolutely necessary.
50:39Basketball
50:40made me
50:40a better man
50:41because there is a perimeter
50:43of the game
50:45and the clear rules.
50:49because at the beginning
50:50of all this
50:51there is always
50:52a child
50:53who dreams
50:54a sport
50:55and this sport
50:56he teaches him
50:57that is possible.
51:02This sport
51:03for me
51:04it's called basketball
51:07and basketball
51:08it's not something
51:09of different
51:09from that
51:10what we do while living.
51:12Here you are
51:13what was it
51:13for me
51:14basketball.
51:45Basketball
52:00Thank you all.
52:26Thank you all.
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