The disappearance of Antonio «Tonino» Zorzi, but for all the «Paròn» brings us back to a «palalcesto» that would later evolve into «basket» and finally into «basket». They are three names that can be traced back to the same sport, but which represent as many distinct eras of the same, for the way of interpreting it and for the game technique. Zorzi, who died at the age of 88, lived it all, boundless navigator of the parquet, in particular thanks to his vocation as a coach much longer than that as a player (he retired at just 27 years old).
But the basketball player was purebred. He was a talent that struck for flexibility and ability to achieve. Having blossomed among the baskets of his native Gorizia, he tied his destinies to the growth of Varese and to the first successes of what would later become the Grande Ignis. Paròn, top scorer in the 1954-1955 season, debutant for the national team at just 18, would lead the Varese team to the club’s first Scudetto of ten, in the 1960-61 year. That was enough for him to be elected in a referendum among the fans as the best player in the history of Pallacanestro Varese. Curiously, he never coached the team to which he had dedicated the vast majority of his career on the field. Of it, as a technician, he was always an opponent.
The Paròn in the coach version was an explorer of various ports – 14 companies that have had his services, as head or as deputy and with frequent round trips -, even if the most important landings were Naples (brought to success, under the name of Partenope, in the 1969-1970 Cup Winners’ Cup), Venice (Reyer was a reference den for him), Reggio Calabria (it is one of the 3 clubs with which he collected a total of 5 promotions in Serie A), Pavia (here he trained the Brazilian scorer Oscar Schmidt). Moreover Zorzi, who contributed to the training of many young coaches who later became important, was also an excellent assistant. His passion for basketball was total and as long as it was physically possible he never failed to give advice and contributions: often vicar of the various blue coaches, he had also specialized in the role of consultant. Important, for example, was the partnership alongside Frank Vitucci in an Avellino that was climbing the peaks of values. His anecdotes filled the evenings – the story of that match in Athens at the old Olympic Stadium was memorable: the Greeks cut the telephone lines for a couple of days, Naples was shaken up and no one was able to tell the abuses he had suffered – and the journalists they were also witnesses of the sanguine character of the Paròn. When at the 1990 World Cup in Argentina, in Rosario’s group, the Brazilians – among whom was the Oscar that was supposed to play for him in Pavia – “sold” the match to Australia and allowed it to qualify at the expense of Italy, Zorzi positioned himself in front of the lift of the team hotel. That game had been marked by a solemn nonsense – that’s where the idea of the match fix was born – committed by the point guard Guerrinha: in the last action Brazil had the ball of potential victory, but the green-and-gold playmaker made a pass behind the back, shortly after half court, who instead of serving Oscar ended up in the stands. Here, the Paròn was waiting at the gate for the Brazilian villain to insult him: twice the doors opened and, seeing Zorzi’s grim face, Guerrinha risked the button on his floor. But at the third the Paròn was still there and then the reprobate passed between the gauntlet of his insults.
The life of Antonio Zorzi from Gorizia/Varese could not but be narrated in some book. And Tonino did it, also because one of his hobbies – also cultivated on the pages of Corriere della Sera, as well as on those of other newspapers – was writing. The last of his trials was “My Ithaca”: in his case the equivalent of the island of Homeric Ulysses is Gorizia. The “basketball player” journey starts and ends there, but we wouldn’t be surprised if the Paron, from where it is now, added a chapter. Do you want him not looking for a parquet and a basketball hoop?
2023-08-19 14:37:30
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