101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
But in 1974 in Nantes, where they lost 84-82 to Real
Madrid, Ossola was back to his customary 4 points.
The next year the final was a rematch in Antwerp, where
Varese prevailed, 79-76, of course with 4 points coming
from Ossola in 37 minutes on the floor. His fifth and
last title came in 1976 in Geneva, again against Real Madrid,
81-74. But for that one, Ossola set his best scoring
mark in a final: 9 points. Morse (28) and Meneghin (23)
shined for the champs. Over the next three years, Ossola
and Varese would play as many continental finals,
but lost to Maccabi, Real Madrid and Bosna Sarajevo,
respectively. Ossola’s sixth European trophy came in
1980 in Milan against Gabetti Cantu, 90-88 in overtime,
in the Saporta Cup.
“He was a great playmaker, but he had no shot,”
Borislav Stankovic, ex-secretary general of FIBA,
remembered of Ossola. In 1968, Stankovic became
Italian champion with Orasonda Cantu, thus becoming
the first foreign coach to win the title. “He lacked a shot
but made up for that with game vision, speed, aggressiveness
on defense. He was the soul and spirit of that
team. He reminded me of Moka Slavnic, but without the
shooting.”
Luca Chiabotti, the prestigious former La Gazzetta
dello Sport basketball expert, also recalled Ossola’s
scoring ability: “In the third game of the Italian League
finals of 1978 against Synudine Bologna, with Dan Peterson
on the bench, Ossola, already 33, was always
free because the rivals never thought he could shoot.
The stats were on their side: in 27 previous games, he
had totaled 52 points, less than 2 per game. But in that
decisive duel, he scored 11, a huge amount for him and
he was a key player to take the title.”
Another thing, almost unthinkable today: during
his whole career Ossola worked a day job at a family
business of jewelry and opticians. In 2005, he played
again in an official game at the age of 60 with his son
Emanuele, who was born in 1970. The Italian federation
had to change some rules to allow Ossola play at this
age, but his great friend Meneghin, then the president
of the federation, said, “For Aldo, we will even change
the constitution”. The doctors green-lighted the issue
because, thanks to his lifestyle, Ossola was in great
health.
A title collector
Ossola’s family may have had a jewelry shop,
but he had one of his own stuffed with medals and
trophies. Aside from the five European crowns and
the Saporta Cup title, Ossola won the Italian League
seven times, the Italian Cup four times and Intercontinental
Cups twice, in 1970 and 1973, for a total of 19
major titles. He has said that he won “everything that
can be won.”
While Ossola triumphed in Varese (plus a brief
stay at Onesta Milano from 1965 to 1968), he had
less luck with the Italian national team. He played the
1969 EuroBasket in Naples with a discreet 1.8 points
per game. He only played 25 games with the national
team. When Italy started winning titles, Coach Giancarlo
Primo preferred Pierluigi Marzorati and Giulio
Iellini. But despite lacking titles at the international
level, Ossola has one of the most complete careers
ever of an Italian player together with Dino Meneghin.
In fact, Ossola and Meneghin formed a duo that, for
many, is still the best guard-center combination ever
in Italian basketball.
Of course, when Euroleague Basketball chose in
2008 to identify the 35 best players during the celebration
of 50 years of European club competitions,
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