101 Greats of European Basketball

times with a European selection of players and L’Equipe
named him the best European player of the 1980s.
His most emotional and glorious moment came on
July 25, 1992. He was the last bearer of the Olympic
torch in his city, Barcelona, 12 years after Sergei Belov,
another basketball player, had the same honor at the
Moscow Olympics. With the torch flame, Epi lit an arrow
that was then shot by Paralympic athlete Antonio
Rebollo to ignite the Olympic cauldron, which was to be
the symbol of the Games until August 9.
On five occasions, Epi and his Barça teams tried to
win the European crown. In 1984, they lost their first final
to Banco di Roma (79-73) despite Epi’s 31 points. In
1990 and 1991, Barça lost twice in the title game (72-67
and 70-65) to the great Jugoplastika. Barça also went
to two more Final Fours – in Munich in 1989 and Tel
Aviv in 1994 – only to fall in the semis. But, even without
this title on his résumé, Juan Antonio San Epifanio
remained a Barcelona legend who always justified his
popular nickname: “Super Epi”!
Juan Antonio San Epifanio
101 greats of european basketball
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