Pierluigi "Pierlo" Marzorati (born 12 September 1952) is an Italian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He is considered to have been one of the best point guards of all time in Europe, and was named the Mister Europa, in 1976. He was named one of

FIBA's 50 Greatest Players FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991) is the list of the 50 greatest players in the history of FIBA international basketball, as selected in the year 1991, by FIBA Magazine. The list was created in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the ...

in 1991. In 2007, he was inducted into the

Italian Basketball Hall of Fame The Italian Basketball Hall of Fame ( it, Italia Basket Hall of Fame, IBHOF) is a hall of fame that honours individuals (or whole teams) that have contributed to the spread and improvement of Italian basketball, through their sporting contributio ...

and enshrined into the

FIBA Hall of Fame The FIBA Hall of Fame, or FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, honors players, coaches, teams, referees, and administrators who have greatly contributed to international competitive basketball. It was established by FIBA, in 1991. It includes the " Samar ...

.HALL OF FAMERS Pierluigi Marzorati (Italy).
/ref> In 2008, he was chosen as one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors.

Club playing career

Marzorati was one of the key players of the

Cantù Cantù (; Brianzöö: ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Como, located at the center of the Brianza zone in Lombardy. It is the second largest city in Brianza. History The name could stem from that of the Canturigi, a population o ...

team (in which he played from 1969 to 1991), winning 2 Italian League championships (in 1975 and 1981), 2 FIBA European Champions' Cup (EuroLeague) titles (1982 and 1983), 4 FIBA Cup Winners' Cups (1977, 1978, 1979 and 1981), 4

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

s (1973, 1974, 1975 and 1991) and 2

FIBA Intercontinental Cup The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, also commonly referred to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs, or the FIBA Club World Cup, is a professional basketball clubs competition that is endorsed by FIBA and the NBA. Historically, its purpose has b ...

s (1975 and 1982). In July 2006, Marzorati decided to come back at age 54, to top class competitions with

, for the 70th anniversary of the team. On 6 October 2006 he finally appeared in an official game for Cantù, playing two minutes in an Italian League game, against the Italian national league champions Benetton Treviso. Cantù won 70-69. This way, he became the first (and only) basketball player in history to have played official games in five different decades, as well as the oldest professional basketball player to have ever taken part in an official game.

National team career

Marzorati played in 278 games for the

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 ...

, scoring 2,209 points. He won the silver medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, the gold medal at the

EuroBasket 1983 The 1983 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1983, was the 23rd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship, held by FIBA Europe. It took place from 26 May to 4 June 1983 in France. Italy defeated Spain in the final ...

, plus three bronze medals at the 1971,

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

EuroBaskets.

Post-playing career

Marzorati played his whole career with

. He also became a vice-president for the club, and served in that capacity until 1996.

References

External links

*
FIBA Hall of Fame page on Marzorati

Euroleague.net 50 greatest contributors

Italian League Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marzorati, Pierluigi 1952 births Living people Basketball players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics FIBA EuroBasket-winning players FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Italian men's basketball players 1978 FIBA World Championship players Lega Basket Serie A players Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players of Italy Olympic medalists in basketball Olympic silver medalists for Italy Pallacanestro Cantù players Sportspeople from the Province of Como Point guards 1986 FIBA World Championship players