Viola Reggio Calabria 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club based in

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label= Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popul ...

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. At its heyday the club was renowned for discovering talented players who would go on to play at the highest level, for example five former players took part in the

2004 Olympics 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), ...

final. However, Viola was also plagued by financial problems, with the club filing for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in three occasions (1997, 2009 and 2019), that later sent it out the Italian elite. In 2019 a phoenix club, called Viola Supporters Trust, was formed by the fans of Viola Reggio Calabria. It currently plays in Serie C Silver Calabria, the fifth tier of the Italian pyramid.

History

The club was founded in 1966 as Cestistica Piero Viola by judge Peppino Viola in honour of his late brother Piero. It started playing in the Serie C that season, replacing AICS Reggio Calabria where Piero Viola had played at that level, finishing ninth. The club would establish itself in the Serie C (renamed Serie B from 1974–75) during the succeeding years. It would reach the professional second division Serie A2 in 1983. After a mid-table finish in its first season, Viola won the league in 1984–85 and earned a promotion to the

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 Coppa ...

. It was relegated after one season, returning in 1989 following a three-year stay in the Serie A2. The newly promoted side had its best ever season for its return to the elite, finishing the regular season in seventh place before losing in the playoff quarterfinals 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 ...

, as Viola's

Dan Caldwell Dan Caldwell is an American entrepreneur. He was a co-founder of Tapout (clothing brand), Tapout, and is president of the company. He produces and appears in movies, television series, and documentaries. Career Caldwell, along with Charles Lewis ...

finished as the league's top scorer.

Carlo Recalcati Carlo Recalcati (born September 11, 1945 in Milan, Italy) is an Italian professional basketball coach, and a former player. He was the head coach of the senior Italian national basketball team, from 2001 to 2009, and led them to the silver medal ...

took over the coaching reins the following season which ended in relegation. The club would bounce back by winning the Serie A2 in 1991–92. It would best its best finish with a sixth place in the 1992–93 Serie A, before a playoff quarterfinals series against Benetton Treviso ended with a disallowed on the buzzer shot that would have tied the game for Viola in the decisive 18 April game. The club made three other playoff appearances the next four seasons (quarterfinals in 1994 and eighth-finals in 1996 and 1997) with another of its players, Brian Oliver, leading the league in scoring during the 1995–96 season. The Cestistica Piero Viola organisation would be declared bankrupt in December 1997 (a bankruptcy later revoked due to irregularities), it was replaced in January 1998 by Basket Viola Reggio Calabria SPA and then by Nuovo Basket Viola Reggio '98 the same year. After a parenthesis in the Serie A2 in 1998–99, the club, counting a young

Manu Ginóbili Emanuel David Ginóbili Maccari (, , ; born 28 July 1977) is an Argentine former professional basketball player. Over a 23-year professional career, he became one of only two players (along with Bill Bradley) to have won a EuroLeague title, an ...

in its ranks, again reached the playoff quarterfinals though they were eliminated by

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

. The next season saw Ginóbili leave but players such as

Carlos Delfino Carlos Francisco Delfino (born August 29, 1982) is an Argentine-Italian professional basketball player for Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He holds dual citizenship in both Italy and Argentina. Standing at , he ...

and

Leandro Palladino Leandro Fabián Palladino (born January 13, 1976) is a retired Argentine-Italian professional basketball player. Professional career In his pro career, Palladino played in the Argentine League, the Spanish League, the Italian League, and the ...

arrive to help Viola stave off relegation and reach the 2000–01 FIBA Korać Cup Round of 16. After battling relegation again in 2002, Viola returned to the playoffs the following year, with a repeat of the past as they again lost in five games to Benetton Treviso. Nuovo Basket Viola struggled to raise funds prior to the 2004–05 season, with only a last ditch cash injection by the municipality keeping the club, sponsor-less until March 2005, financially afloat. The club would finish in the relegation places in 2005 but kept its top flight status after

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 ...

folded. It was relegated in 2006, where three successive coaches could not stop the club from moving down to the LegaDue (the renamed second division). Despite securing its LegaDue status on the court in 2007, Viola would see financial difficulties put an end to its professional activity over the summer, with the management unable to raise enough funds to keep the club running. Viola continued operating only through its youth sector, with the team playing in the Serie D. On 7 July 2009, a new organisation acquired the sporting rights of Basket Gragnano and was admitted into the Serie B Dilettanti. A change in ownership over the 2010 summer saw Giancesare Muscolino become president. The club would finish second during the regular season before losing in the promotion playoffs final to

Orlandina Basket Orlandina Basket, known as Infodrive Capo d'Orlando for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Capo d'Orlando, Sicily. It plays in the second tier Serie A2 Basket. Founded in 1978, it was one of the youn ...

. The 2011–12 again saw the team stall in the promotion playoffs but it was admitted into the DNA anyway. The club then successfully fought relegation the following two seasons and with the second and third tier merging in 2015–16, play in the second division as of the 2015–16 season.

Arena

At the beginning of the 1970s, the club transferred to the Scatolone arena, a small venue containing around 500 seats. With the club promoted to the Serie A2 in 1983, the Scatolone did not answer the league's requirements, a new arena – the Botteghelle – was built over fifty-seven days. In 1991 the PalaCalafiore (full name: Palasport Francesco Calafiore in dedication to a local sports journalist) was built; it is the biggest arena in Calabria and the seventh-largest in Italy, with more than 8,500 seats. Viola still plays in this arena (also known as the PalaPentimele, from the Pentimele neighbourhood it is situated in) as of the 2015–16 season.

Head coaches

Tonino Zorzi Tonino is an Italian and Spanish given name, surname or nickname. As a given name it is a diminutive form of Antonio in use in Italy, Spain, parts of the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicarag ...

5 seasons: '87–'90, '95–'96, '01 (Jan.)-'02, '06 (Jan.-Mar.) *

5 seasons: '90–'95 *

Lino Lardo Lino may refer to: * Lino, short for linoleum, a common flooring material * Lino, slang for linesman, the former name (still in widespread common use) for an assistant referee in football * Lino, slang for a habitual user of the narcotic cocaine ...

2 seasons: '02–'04

Sponsorship names

Throughout the years, due to sponsorship deals, it has been also known as: *Banca Popolare Reggio Calabria (1982–1984) *Viola Reggio Calabria (1984–1985) *Opel Reggio Calabria (1985–1986) *Viola Reggio Calabria (1989–1990) *Standa Reggio Calabria (1986–1989) *Panasonic Reggio Calabria (1990–1993) *Reggio Calabria Pfizer (1993–1995) *Viola Reggio Calabria (1995–2003) *Tris Reggio Calabria (2003–2004) *Eurofiditalia Reggio Calabria (2005) *Viola Reggio Calabria (2005–2007) *Liomatic Reggio Calabria (2009–2012) *Bermè Viola Reggio Calabria (2015–present)

Notable players

2000's *

Joseph Bunn Joseph Ray Bunn Stallins (born May 18, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. At 6'6" tall and 232 lbs. (105 kg) in weight, he played at the power forward and center positions. Professional career Bunn played colleg ...

1 season: '06–'07 *

Aleksandar Ćapin Aleksandar Ćapin (born October 6, 1982) is a Serbian former professional basketball player. Early life Growing up in Sarajevo, Ćapin took up association football in the FK Sarajevo youth system. In spring 1992, with the outbreak of the Bosni ...

1 season: '05–'06 * A. J. Guyton 1 season: '05–'06 *

Jelani McCoy Jelani Marwan McCoy (born December 6, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6'10" power forward/center, he played in the NBA from 1998-2007 for the Seattle SuperSonics, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavali ...

1 season: '05–'06 *

Vincent Yarbrough Vincent Raymond Yarbrough (born March 21, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the NBA and Europe. The 6'7" and 210 lb forward out of the University of Tennessee was selected as the fourth pick of the se ...

1 season: '05–'06 *

Thierry Zig Thierry Zig (born July 4, 1975 in Bondy, Seine-Saint-Denis) is a French former professional basketball player. Career *1994-1995: Levallois: 6g 0.7ppg 0.3rpg *1995-1996: Levallois: 26g 3.2ppg 0.4rpg 1.0apg *1996-1997: Levallois: 29g 10.2 ...

1 season: '05–'06 * Bryce Drew 1 season: '04–'05 * Terrence Rencher 1 season: '04–'05 *

Casey Shaw Joseph Casey Shaw (born July 20, 1975) is an American former basketball player who is the head coach of the boys varsity basketball team at Davidson Academy. Prior to his appointment at Davidson, he was an assistant coach for the Vanderbilt Commo ...

1 season: '04–'05 * LaVell Blanchard 2 seasons: '03–'05 * Giorgos Sigalas season: '03 * Titus Ivory 2 seasons: '02–'04 * Anthony Williams 3 seasons: '01–'03, '06–'07 * Ismaila Sy 2 seasons: '01–'02, '06–'07 *

Nicolás Mazzarino Nicolás Mazzarino (born October 21, 1975, in Salto) is a former Uruguayan professional basketball player, and current assistant coach for Club Biguá de Villa Biarritz of the Liga Uruguaya de Básquetbol. He also holds an Italian passport. At a ...

4 seasons: '01–'05 *

J. J. Eubanks John Hugh Eubanks, known as J. J. Eubanks (born November 13, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6-foot-6 guard/forward, he played his first two years of college basketball at Sullivan College in the junior college circ ...

3 seasons: '01–'04 *

Benjamin Eze Benjamin Ndubuisi Eze (born February 8, 1981) is a Nigerian-Italian former professional basketball player. He is a 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) tall center. Professional career Eze was brought from Nigeria to Russia during the 1998-99 season, where ...

3 seasons: '01–'04 *

Alan Tomidy Alan may refer to: People * Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

2 seasons: '01–'03 * Brian Evans 1 season: '01–'02 * Anthony Tucker 1 season: '01–'02 * David Vaughn 1 season: '01–'02 *

2 seasons: '00–'02 * Mark Anthony Davis 1 season: '00–'01 *

Thierry Gadou Thierry Gadou (born 13 January 1969 in Vieux-Boucau-les-Bains) is a French basketball player formerly with Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez. Gadou won a silver medal with the France national basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics Th ...

1 season: '00–'01 *

1 season: '00–'01 1990's *

Alejandro Montecchia Alejandro Ariel Montecchia (born 1972) is a retired Argentine-Italian professional basketball player. He played at the point guard position. Professional career In his pro career, Montecchia won the South American League and Argentine League ch ...

3 seasons: '99–'02 *

Brian Shorter Brian William Shorter (born November 28, 1968) is an American-Italian former professional basketball player. He spent two decades playing in European leagues. High school career Shorter, a Philadelphia native, grew up in a low-income neighborh ...

1 season: '99–'00 * Kevin Thompson 1 season: '99–'00 * Brent Scott 2 seasons: '98–'99, '00–'01 *

2 seasons: '98–'00 *

Jeff Nordgaard Jeff Wallace Nordgaard (born February 23, 1973) is an American-born naturalized Polish former professional basketball player. Early life Nordgaard's father, John Nordgaard, was a biology teacher and guidance counselor at Dawson-Boyd High Schoo ...

1 season: '98–'99 * Christian Welp 1 season: '98–'99 * Jay Larrañaga 2 seasons: '97–'98, '04–'05 * Diego Fajardo 2 seasons: '97–'98, '03–'04 * Dedric Willoughby 1 seasons: '97–'98 * Brian Oliver 3 seasons: '96–'97, '98–'00 * Mike Brown 2 seasons: '96–'98 * Lance Miller 1 season: '95–'96 * Yamen Sanders 1 season: '95–'96 * Alessandro Fantozzi 1 season: '94–'95 * Shaun Vandiver 1 season: '94–'95 * Randy White 1 season: '94–'95 *

Wendell Alexis Wendell Paul Alexis (born July 31, 1964) is a retired American professional basketball player who played for several European clubs, between 1986 and 2004, most notably for ALBA Berlin, where he was voted MVP of the German Bundesliga four times, ...

1 season: '94–'95 *

Ken Barlow Ken Barlow is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', played by William Roache. He was created by Tony Warren as one of ''Coronation Street''s original characters and December 2020 marked Ken's 60th anni ...

1 season: '93–'94 *

Kevin Pritchard Kevin Lee Pritchard (born July 18, 1967) is an American basketball executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. Pritchard played 4 seasons in the NBA as a player, and ...

1 season: '93–'94 * Marco Spangaro 4 seasons: '92–'96 *

Sasha Volkov Alexander Anatolevich Volkov (, russian: Александр Анатольевич Волков; born 29 March 1964), commonly known as Sasha Volkov, is a retired Soviet and Ukrainian professional basketball player. He was born in Omsk, Russian ...

1 season: '92–'93 * Tiziano Lorenzon 2 seasons: '91–'93 *

Dean Garrett Dean Heath Garrett (born November 27, 1966) is a former American professional basketball player. At a height of tall, he played at the center position. College career Garrett attended San Clemente High School, in San Clemente, California, w ...

3 seasons: '90–'93 * Michael Young 2 seasons: '90–'92 *

Frank Kornet Francis Milton Kornet (born January 27, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round (30th overall) of the 1989 NBA draft. Kornet played two seasons in the NBA, both with t ...

1 season: '93 1980's * Roberto Bullara 7 seasons: '89–'96 * Charles Jones 1 season: '89–'90 * Alessandro Santoro 12 seasons: '88–'00 * Giampiero Savio 2 seasons: '88–'90 * Robert Lock 1 season: '88–'89 * Phil Zevenbergen 1 season: '88–'89 *

4 seasons: '87–'91 * Gustavo Tolotti 12 seasons: '86–'92, '93–'99 *

Joe Bryant Joseph Washington Bryant (born October 19, 1954), nicknamed "Jellybean", is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played for the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets of the National Basketball As ...

1 season: '86–'87 * Donato Avenia 9 seasons: '84–'90, '92–'93, '96–'98 *

Kim Hughes Kimberley John Hughes (born 26 January 1954) is a former cricketer who played for Western Australia, Natal and Australia. He captained Australia in 28 Test matches between 1979 and 1984 before captaining a rebel Australian team in a tour of ...

5 seasons: '83–'88

References

External links

Serie A historical results
Retrieved 25 August 2015 {{Serie A2 Basket 1966 establishments in Italy Basketball teams established in 1966 Basketball teams in Italy