Pallalcesto Amatori Udine, better known by the sponsorship name Snaidero Udine, was an Italian 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 ...

club based 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-Venezia Giulia. In 2011, following the dissolution of the club, a new team,

APU Udine APU Udine, officially Amici Pallacanestro Udinese, also known for sponsorship reasons as APU Old Wild West Udine, is an Italian professional basketball team of the city of Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The team currently plays in Serie A2, Italy ...

, was founded.

History

Associazione Pallacanestro Udinese (APU) was founded in 1944. It wasn't a particularly notable organisation until businessman Rino Snaidero (head of the Snaidero Cucine kitchen furniture company) became the owner in 1965. With his backing the club, now known as Snaidero Udine, reached the first division

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

in 1968. A new arena, named Palasport

Primo Carnera Primo may refer to: People *DJ Premier (born 1966), hip-hop producer, sometimes goes by nickname Primo * Primo Carnera (1906–1967), Italian boxer, World Heavyweight champion 1933–1934 *Primo Cassarino (born 1956), enforcer for the Gambino cr ...

after the boxer of that name, was built in 1970. Star players such as foreigners

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, Bob Fleischer and

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, as well as Italians Claudio Malagoli and

Ivan Bisson Ivan Bisson (born 21 April 1946) is a retired Italy, Italian professional basketball player. Professional career Bisson was a member of the FIBA European Selection, in 1975. He was a four time EuroLeague champion (1972, 1973, 1975, 1976). Na ...

helped the side finish fifth and fourth in the Serie A in 1972 and 1973, the latter a historic best. The Snaidero family withdrew from the club in the 1970s, it would spend the rest of its existence in the second tier Serie A2 with a few parentheses in Serie A until disappearing in 1992. Another Udine side, Libertas Udine, would play in the Serie A2 for two seasons between 1993 and 1995 before itself ceasing activities in 1996. Edi Snaidero, the son of former owner Rino, relaunched Snaidero Cucine Udine in 1999, buying the rights of Palladio Vicenza to play in the 1999-2000 second division. The side, coached by

Matteo Boniciolli Matteo Boniciolli (born 18 April 1962) is an Italian basketball coach of APU Udine in the Italian Serie A2. He has been a head coach since 1999, guiding several clubs in Italy and abroad to titles, also having taken charge of the Italian nati ...

and containing players such as Charles Smith and Teoman Alibegovic returned to the Serie A after one season, winning their best-of-five final promotion series. In their first season back in the elite, Snaidero qualified to the playoff quarterfinals but lost a five-game series against

Scavolini Pesaro Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian ''Vuelle''), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the top level Italian professiona ...

. That position was enough to play in Europe for the first time in 25 years, reaching the round of 16 in the

2001–02 FIBA Saporta Cup The 2001–02 FIBA Saporta Cup was the thirty-sixth edition of FIBA's 2nd-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition. It was the last edition of the tournament. It took place between 30 October 2001 and 30 April 1998. The f ...

. Having again lost in the playoff quarterfinals in 2001–02, Snaidero took part in the first-ever ULEB Cup in 2002-03, advancing to the eightfinals. Snaidero featured players like

Demetrius Alexander Demetrius Alexander (born November 3, 1975) is an American retired professional basketball player. He played both power forward and center positions. College career Alexander played junior college basketball at the Hutchinson Community College ...

, Michele Mian,

Damir Mulaomerović Damir Mulaomerović (born 19 September 1974) is a Croatian professional basketball coach and former player who is currently the head coach for Cedevita Junior of the Croatian League. Professional career Mulaomerović started his career with S ...

or Sasha Vujačić, who joined the Los Angeles Lakers having started with Snaidero's junior team. After indifferent results the next four seasons, the team hired coach Cesare Pancotto before the start of the 2005-06 season. Snaidero went on to match its second-best ever ranking of fifth in the Serie A, thanks to a mix experience and youth with players such as Jerome Allen, Mian,

Nikos Vetoulas Nikolaos "Nikos" Vetoulas (Greek: Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Βετούλας; born February 6, 1974 in Patras, Greece) is a retired Greek professional basketball player and coach, currently managing Apollon Patras of the Greek Basket League. ...

Kyle Hill Kyle Eric Hill (born April 7, 1979) is an American retired professional basketball player. He was picked by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2001 NBA draft with the 44th overall draft pick. Hill's National Basketball Association, NBA rights were then ...

, Silvio Gigena, Jacob Jaacks and Christian Di Giuliomaria. Though they were swept in the playoffs, they earned the right to participate in the ULEB Cup again, reaching the Eighthfinals. In 2008-09, the side finished dead last in the Serie A, returning to the second division.

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a foo ...

entered the club as part owners over the summer of 2009. However they only played two more seasons in the second division before pulling out from the league, and professional basketball, in 2011.

Notable players

2000's * Damon Williams 1 season: '06-'07 *

Larry O'Bannon Larry O'Bannon (born August 15, 1983) is an American professional basketball player for Hispano Americano of the Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB). He played college basketball for the University of Louisville. Early life O'Bannon attended Jefferso ...

1 season: '06-'07 *

Kristaps Valters Kristaps Valters (born September 18, 1981) is a Latvian former professional basketball player. After retiring he became a coach, and is currently working as a head coach for Valmiera/ORDO. Playing career Valters first played professionally in ...

1 season: '06-'07 * Jacob Jaacks 2 seasons: '05-'07 *

1 season: '05-'06 *

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1 season: '05-'06, 2 games *

Dan Langhi Daniel Matthew Langhi (born November 28, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. Born in Chicago, Illinois, he was raised in the small western Kentucky town of Benton. In addition to his high school basketball career, where h ...

1 season: '04-'05 * John Wallace 1 season: '04-'05 *

Uroš Slokar Uroš Slokar (; born May 14, 1983) is a Slovenian former professional basketball player who last played for Pallacanestro Cantù of the Lega Basket Serie A. Professional career After playing two seasons in the Slovenian basketball league, Slokar ...

1 season: '04-'05 *

Glenn Sekunda Glenn may refer to: Name or surname * Glenn (name) * John Glenn, U.S. astronaut Cultivars * Glenn (mango) * a 6-row barley variety Places In the United States: * Glenn, California * Glenn County, California * Glenn, Georgia, a settlement i ...

3 seasons: '03-'06 * Eddie Shannon 2 seasons: '03-'05 * Siniša Kelečević 1 season: '03-'04 * Michael Hicks 1 season: '03-'04 *

1 season: '02-'03 * Mikhail Mikhailov 1 season: '02-'03 *

Saša Vujačić Saša is a South Slavic given name. It is a diminutive of Aleksandar (see Sasha), but in the South Slavic countries it is often a formal name as well. It may refer to: * Saša Antunović (born 1974), Serbian footballer * Saša Bjelanović (born 19 ...

3 seasons: '01-'04 * Jeffrey Stern 2 seasons: '01-'03 *

Vincenzo Esposito Vincenzo Esposito (; born March 1, 1969) is an Italian former professional basketball player and coach, he lastly worked for Germani Basket Brescia of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), in Italy. During his playing career, he played at the shooting g ...

1 season: '01-'02 * Brent Scott 1 season: '01-'02 *

Andre Woolridge Andre Woolridge (born November 11, 1973) is an American former 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 ...

1 season: '01-'02 * Thalamus McGhee 1 season: '00-'01 1990's * Joel Zacchetti 9 seasons: '99-'05, '06-'08, '09-'10 * -

Teoman Alibegović Teoman "Teo" Alibegović (born January 11, 1967) is Bosnian-Slovenian former professional basketball player, coach, and manager. With 990 points scored, he is the second all-time top scorer of the senior Slovenian national basketball team. Earl ...

3 seasons: '99-'02 * Charles Smith 2 seasons: '99-'01 * Federico Pieri 1 season: '99-'00 *

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1 season: '91-'92 * Terry Tyler 1 season: '91-'92 *

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1 season: '91-'92 * - Henry Turner 1 season: '90-'91 *

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1 season: '90-'91 1980's *

Marques Johnson Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player who is a basketball analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks on Bally Sports Wisconsin. He played as a small forward in the National Basketball Associat ...

1 season: '89-'90 * Winfred King 3 seasons: '88-'91 * Michael Young 1 season: '88-'89 *

Mark Crow Mark Harvey Crow (born October 22, 1954) is a retired American professional basketball player who spent one season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New Jersey Nets during the 1977–78 season. He was drafted by the Nets from ...

1 season: '88-'89 *

Hank McDowell Hank Leigh McDowell (born November 13, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he was a 6'9" (205 cm) 210 lb (95 kg) forward and he played collegiately at Memphis State University (no ...

2 seasons: '87-'89 * Antonio Costner 1 season: '87-'88 *

Mihovil Nakić Mihovil Nakić-Vojnović (born 31 July 1955) is a Croatian former professional basketball player. Standing at , he played as a small forward. Club career Nakić spent most of his club career in Cibona, which he helped win back-to-back EuroLea ...

1 season: '87-'88 * Marco Solfrini 2 seasons: '86-'88 * Achille Milani 7 seasons: '82-'89 * Giuseppe Valerio 7 season: '81-'85, '87-'90 1970's * Lorenzo Bettarini 12 seasons: '76-'79, '83-'92 *

1 season: '74-'75 * Claudio Malagoli 6 seasons: '70-'76 1960's *

2 seasons: '68-'70 *

3 seasons: '67-'70

Sponsorship names

Throughout the years, due to sponsorship, the club has been known as : * Snaidero Udine (1968–77) * Mobiam Udine (1977–80) * Tropic Udine (1980–82) * A.P.U. Udine (1982–83) * Gedeco Udine (1983–84) * Australian Udine (1984–85) * Fantoni Udine (1985–90) * Emmezeta Udine (1990–91) * Rex Udine (1991–92) * Snaidero Udine (1999–03) * Snaidero Cucine Udine (2003–11)

References

External links

Serie A historical results
{{in lang, it Retrieved 27 June 2015 1944 establishments in Italy 2011 disestablishments in Italy Basketball teams established in 1944 Basketball teams in Friuli-Venezia Giulia Defunct basketball teams in Italy Sport in Udine Basketball teams disestablished in 2011