101 Greats of European Basketball

Von Karajan of
Italian basketball
On May 4, 1949, Italian sports suffered
a great tragedy. A plane crashed on
the hill of Superga, near Turin. Among
the 31 victims were 18 players from
the great football team Torino, the
best Italian team at the time and winner
of five league titles and one national cup between
1942 and 1949. There were no survivors, but two
great names from that tragedy would be passed on
to resurrect Italian sports. One of the crash victims,
Valentino Mazzola, was the big star of Torino and the
Italian national team, just like his son Sandro Mazzola
would become in the 1970s for Inter Milan and the Italian
national team. Another victim, Franco Ossola, had
a little brother, Aldo, who was only 4 years old at the
time of the tragedy. Aldo would grow up to triumph in
another sport, basketball, while another brother, Luigi,
also chose football and played in the first division
with Varese, Roma and Mantova.
Aldo Ossola’s case is not typical. He starred at basketball
without thriving at what is for many the most
important part of the game: shooting. Scoring was not
his strong point, even though he knew how to surprise
his teammates and rivals alike from time to time. His
strengths were organizing the game, vision, passing,
great defense and leadership. He was a tall guard, at
1.92 meters, which allowed him to be a solid rebounder,
too. In Italian, there is a word that defines his role
perfectly: “regista”. Ossola was a great guard and a
great floor director who earned his nickname – the
Von Karajan of Italian basketball – because he could
orchestrate a basketball game like the world-famous
classical music conductor of that time, Herbert Von
Karajan.
Ten finals in a row
Ossola was like the director of an orchestra, the
great Ignis Varese of the golden era, between 1969 and
1979. The team played an unprecedented 10 consecutive
finals in the EuroLeague, winning five and losing
five. The secret was great balance between great foreign
players like Manuel Raga, Ricky Jones, John Fultz,
Bob Morse, Charlie Yelverton and Randy Meister, with
great Italians like Ossola himself, Dino Meneghin, Dodo
Rusconi, Marino Zanatta, Ottorino Flaborea, Ivan
Bisson and Giulio Iellini. That’s not to forget their great
coaches, Aleksandar Nikolic, Giancarlo Primo and Sandro
Gamba.
This unbelievable run began on April 9, 1970, in
Sarajevo, where Ignis defeated the reigning champ,
CSKA Moscow, 79-74. The stats show that Meneghin
scored 20 points and Raga 18, but Ossola’s contribution
was much greater than his 4 points. He the
brain of his team, a leader, a great guard, a man with
the confidence of his coach, the legendary Professor
Nikolic. He wore number 10 and he was a 10 as a
player. The following year, in Antwerp, CSKA paid back
Varese with interest, 67-53. Ossola was stuck at 4
points again. In his third straight final, 1972 in Tel Aviv,
Ignis defeated Jugoplastika by the score of 70-69 with
21 points by Meneghin and 20 by Raga and, again, 4
points from Ossola.
In another final against CSKA, 1973 in Liege, Varese
won 71-66 behind 25 points by Raga and 6 by Ossola.
101 greats of european basketball
Aldo Ossola
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