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

player. He is considered to have been one of the best

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...

s of all time in Europe, and was named the Mister Europa, in 1976. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players 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.HALL OF FAMERS Pierluigi Marzorati (Italy).
/ref> In 2008, he was chosen as one of the

50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors The 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors (2008) of FIBA European Champions Cup and EuroLeague history were awarded and chosen on February 3, 2008, in Madrid, Spain. The occasion was the fiftieth anniversary since the founding of the inaugural sea ...

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 ...

team (in which he played from 1969 to 1991), winning 2

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 T ...

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 Cups (1973, 1974, 1975 and 1991) and 2 FIBA Intercontinental Cups (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

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, scoring 2,209 points. He won the silver medal at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

in Moscow, the gold medal at the EuroBasket 1983, plus three bronze medals at the

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

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

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 ...

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