Giacomo "Jack" Galanda (born 30 January 1975) is a retired Italian professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player. He was a forward-center of 2.10 m. (6 ft. 10¾ in.) and 110 kg. (243 lbs.).
Professional career
Galanda was born in
Udine
Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...
,
Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...
. He grew up in the
Scaligera Basket Verona
Scaligera Basket Verona, known for sponsorship reasons as Tezenis Verona, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Verona, Italy. It competes in the LBA.
History 1951–1982: Decades within the minor leagues
Scaligera Basket was found ...
junior teams, with which he made his debut in the
Italian League
The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...
on October 17, 1993. After four years in the Verona team, he was traded to
Fortitudo Bologna
Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna 103, commonly known as Fortitudo Bologna and currently known as Fortitudo Kiğılı Bologna for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball club based in Bologna, Italy and currently plays in the second division.
Histor ...
. However, in his first year (1997–98) he was utilized as a reserve to
Gregor Fučka
Gregor Fučka (; born 7 August 1971) is a Slovenian-Italian retired professional basketball player and coach. A 215 cm (7' ") forward-center, he was a both a Mister Europa and Euroscar laureate in 2000.
Professional career
Fučka played ...
, and had a limited impact.
In 1998, he was
loaned to
Pallacanestro Varese
Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian basketball league system, Italian first ...
, where he was a leader of the team that, surprisingly, won the Italian League championship. Galanda therefore returned to Bologna, where he remained until 2003, when he was traded to
Montepaschi Siena
Mens Sana 1871 Basket is an Italian professional basketball club based in Siena. It is a section of the sports club Polisportiva Mens Sana, founded in 1871.
Under the name Montepaschi Siena, derived from sponsor Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, t ...
. He won two further Italian league championships in 2000 and 2004. In the 2005–06 season, Galanda played with
Armani Jeans Milano
Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...
. From 2006 to 2011, he played for
Pallacanestro Varese
Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian basketball league system, Italian first ...
. In 2011, he signed with
Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia. In May 2014, he announced his retirement.
Giacomo Galanda retires at 39.
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Italian national team
Galanda made his debut with the senior men's Italian national basketball team
The Italy men's national basketball team ( it, Nazionale di pallacanestro dell'Italia) represents Italy in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP).
Italy has qualified for 38 EuroBa ...
in 1997, and soon turned into one of the more representative players from his country. Some of his successes with the ''Azzurri'' jersey include silver and gold medals at the FIBA EuroBasket
EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...
(1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
and 1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
, respectively), and a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
of Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
.
References
External links
Euroleague.net Profile
Eurobasket.com Profile
Italian League Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galanda, Giacomo
1975 births
Living people
Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Centers (basketball)
FIBA EuroBasket-winning players
Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna players
Italian men's basketball players
Lega Basket Serie A players
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Mens Sana Basket players
Olimpia Milano players
Olympic basketball players of Italy
Olympic medalists in basketball
Olympic silver medalists for Italy
Pallacanestro Varese players
Sportspeople from Udine
Pistoia Basket 2000 players
Power forwards (basketball)
Scaligera Basket Verona players
1998 FIBA World Championship players