101 Greats of European Basketball

A Spaniard with
a Yugoslav wrist
Juan Antonio San Epifanio, better known as
Epi, is a Spanish basketball legend who for
several reasons never managed to win the
European crown. Just like life, sports are
sometimes unfair. But despite not holding
the top trophy in continental basketball,
there’s no denying that Epi was a huge player on the
court and a gentleman off it. It has been almost 25
years since FIBA organized a great homage to Epi
for his retirement. That day, a selection of European
players defeated FC Barcelona 118-92, but the score
was the least important thing. Some 8,000 fans
packed Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona to show respect
to a player who had been their hero for 19 years. Juan
Antonio Samaranch, then the president of the International
Olympic Committee, bestowed upon Epi the
Olympic Order of Merit. The full board of directors for
FIBA was also at the game, led by general secretary
Borislav Stankovic and his closest collaborators, including
Raimundo Saporta.
In a very emotional appearance, Epi played for just
5 minutes and missed both of his last 2 shot attempts,
but he was already a retired player and dressed in his
uniform only for this special occasion. His last official
game had been played at the end of the 1994-95 season,
in the Spanish League playoffs. On May 25, in the
fifth game of the final series against Unicaja, Barcelona
beat the team from Malaga 73-64 to win the league.
Thus, Epi retired with his seventh national title for Barcelona.
He only played the last 26 seconds, enough to
score 2 free throws, the last 2 points of the game, and
more than enough for a long standing ovation. It was
the end of a brilliant career for a one-of-a-kind player, a
star on the court and a humble man on the street.
Tagging along with his brother
Epi, born on June 12, 1959, was the youngest of
three brothers of a family living in Zaragoza. The two
elder brothers played basketball and Juan Antonio
followed in their footsteps. But he suffered a big blow
when the coach of Helios, the club where he played in
the youth categories, left him off the team because of
his “lack of talent.” Epi didn’t despair and didn’t waste
the second chance he was offered, at 15 years old,
thanks to his brother Herminio. Barça had set its sights
on Herminio, but he had one condition: that the club
also sign his brother, Juan Antonio. Barcelona, though
not convinced, accepted and made one of the best
signings in the history of the club. After two years in
the youth categories, Epi would become a hero to the
Barcelona fans for 19 years. A man who never tired of
scoring more and more points, he was without a doubt
the most profitable signing ever for the club.
I can’t exactly remember when I first saw Epi play, but
I do know when I heard his name for the first time. After
the U18 European Championship in 1976 in Santiago
de Compostela, Spain – where Yugoslavia (Aleksandar
Petrovic, Predrag Bogosavljev, MVP Rade Vukosavljevic)
won its third straight gold medal – Yugoslav
coach Bogdan Tanjevic was talking about outstanding
players. He spoke about Vladimir Tkachenko, but also
about Juan Antonio San Epifanio, as future stars. As
almost always, he was right. Spain finished third in that
tournament with a great generation that gave a lot of
101 greats of european basketball
Juan Antonio San Epifanio
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