101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
good things to Spanish basketball: Epi, Joaquin Costa,
Nacho Solozabal, Fernando Romay, Juan Manuel López
Iturriaga and Josean Querejeta, among others.
If not before, I am sure that I saw San Epifanio at the
1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. He was among the
youngest players, but he finished the tourney as second-best
scorer on the Spanish team, with 18 points
per game, including 25 against Cuba, 22 against eventual
champ Yugoslavia and 21 against the USSR. You
could see at first sight that he had an incredibly easy
time shooting the ball. Epi was a 1.98-meter forward
and a natural attacker with skills to score from anywhere.
His favorite spot was the corner, but he scored
just the same from mid-range, on the fastbreak or penetrating
to the rim. He was young enough to play before
the three-point shot was adopted, though from 1984 it
would become his main weapon.
After Moscow 1980, I saw Epi many times, including
at the 1983 EuroBasket in France, where Spain won the
silver medal thanks to one of his baskets against the
USSR in the semis; and at the 1984 Olympics in Los
Angeles, with a silver medal for the ages for Spain, with
Epi averaging 18.9 points. After that, I saw him also at
the 1989 and 1991 EuroBaskets, the 1990 World Cup
and the 1992 Olympic Games. And from the autumn of
1991, I also saw him play in many Spanish League and
Spanish King’s Cup games, as well as with the Spanish
national team. Once I told him that, in Yugoslavia, after
one of his scoring fests, his surname was spelled as
“Epifanich”. He laughed and took it with good humor –
and as a compliment, because the Yugoslav shooters
of the 1970s (Kicanovic, Delibasic, Dalipagic, Solman,
Plecas, Simonovic, Vilfan) were among Europe’s and
the world’s best. Epi really was a natural at shooting,
with a level of skill that you can improve, but you can’t
learn. It’s that famous combination of natural talent,
hard work, sacrifice and personal ambition.
A career with 25 trophies
Starting with his debut on Barcelona’s first team
in 1976-77, at only 17 years old, Epi set many records.
He won 22 trophies at the club level: seven national
leagues, 10 national cups, 2 Saporta Cups, 1 Korac Cup,
1 Intercontinental Cup. Then, he also took the bronze
and silver medals with the national team at the 1983
and 1991 EuroBaskets, plus an Olympic silver in 1984.
His numbers grew year after year:
1976/77 – 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds
1977/78 – 9.6 ppg., 3.1 rpg. – Cup
1978/79 – 12.0 ppg., 2.5 rpg. – Cup
1979/80 – 13.1 ppg., 4.0 rpg. – Cup
1980/81 – 15.6 ppg., 3.6 rpg. – League, Cup
1981/82 – 19.3 ppg., 2.1 rpg. – Cup
1982/83 – 24.1 ppg., 2.7 rpg. – League, Cup
From 1983, when the Spanish League as we know it
started, he played 421 games and scored 7,028 points
(16.7 ppg). His last great season was in 1991-92, with
18.6 points and 3.4 rebounds. He played less in the following
two campaigns, but he still had decent numbers
(10.9 and 9.9 points, respectively) to finish his career at
age 36 with 2.9 points and his seventh league title.
With the Spanish national team, Epi played 239
times and scored 3,358 points. His career with the national
team lasted for 15 years, 3 months and 19 days.
There was no one like Epi. On October 10, 1993, in Malaga,
he played his 222nd game with the national team
against the Czech Republic and matched the record
of Francesco “Nino” Buscato. But after that Epi played
in the 1994 World Cup in Toronto and stretched his
brilliant career for 15 more games. He played several
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