Héctor Oscar "Pichi" Campana Marcomini (born November 10, 1964) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

former professional

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player, and the former Vice Governor of his native Córdoba Province, in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, serving for the Justicialist Party, from 2007 to 2011. During his basketball career, while playing at the club level, Campana won the

FIBA Intercontinental Cup The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, previously known to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs and the FIBA Club World Cup, is an annual international men's basketball competition organised by FIBA, the sport's global governing body. The competit ...

championship in

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, the Pan American Club Championship in 1996, three FIBA South American League championships, in 1997, 1998, and 2004, and a total of seven LNB (Argentine First Division) championships. Campana is also the all-time top scorer in the top-tier level league in Argentina, the Liga Nacional de Básquet (LNB), with 17,359 points. Campana also played with the senior Argentine national team, and he represented Argentina at the

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s editions of 1986, 1990, and

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Professional career

Campana started his pro club career with Redes Cordobesas, in the Córdoba Province local league, in 1976. He subsequently joined the

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

side Obras Sanitarias, in 1982, and debuted with the club in the Liga Nacional de Básquet (Argentine First Division) in 1984, the year of the league's inception. During his 28-year-long club career, he played exclusively in Argentina. The

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

had four spells with Córdoba's biggest team, Atenas, which was the club that he retired with in 2004, at the age of 39. Campana was the Argentine National League Final's MVP three times, twice with Atenas (1987 and 1991–92), and once with Gimnasia y Esgrima y Pedernera Unidos (GEPU) (1990–91). He was also named the league's season MVP four times, twice with River Plate (1989 and 1990), once with GEPU (1990–91), and once with Atenas (1998–99). Campana's four league MVP selections is an Argentine National League record that he shares with Leonardo Gutiérrez. Campana was also the league's top scorer in four consecutive seasons, from 1989 to 1991–92. Moreover, Campana's seven Argentine National League championships are tied with Marcelo Milanesio, for the second most ever in the league's history, behind only Leonardo Gutiérrez's ten league championships. The most points he ever scored in a single game, in Argentina's top-tier level league, was 62 points, in a game during the 1990 season.

National team career

Argentine junior national team

Campana was a member of the junior youth national teams of Argentina. With Argentina's junior national team, he played at the 1982 FIBA South American Youth Championship, the 1982 Pan American Youth Championship, and the 1983 FIBA Under-19 World Cup.

Argentine senior national team

Campana was a member of the senior men's Argentine national team. He played with Argentina at the following tournaments: the 1985 FIBA South American Championship, the 1986 FIBA World Cup, the 1989 FIBA South American Championship, the 1990 FIBA World Cup, the 1992 FIBA AmeriCup, the 1994 Goodwill Games, the 1994 FIBA World Cup, and the 1997 FIBA AmeriCup.

Political career

After he retired from playing professional club basketball, Campana started a political career. As a member of the Justicialist Party, he was elected the Vice Governor of Córdoba Province, in

. He served in that governmental position from 2007 to 2011.

Personal life

Campana's daughter was diagnosed with a

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

condition, while she was still in utero. She has therefore had to go through a total of 11 cardiac procedures since she was born. As a consequence, Campana founded the ''Fundación Corazoncito'' (in English: Little Heart Foundation), that helps to build hospital infrastructures and to train Cordobese medics abroad.

Honours and awards

;Club Atenas: * Argentine National League (6): 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991–92, 1997–98, 1998–99 * FIBA South American League (3): 1997, 1998, 2004 GEPU: * Argentine National League (1): 1990–91 ;Individual * Argentine National League Finals MVP (3): (1987, 1991, 1992) * Argentine National League MVP (4): (1989, 1990, 1991, 1999) * Argentine National League Top Scorer (4): (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992) * FIBA South American League MVP (1): 2004 * Argentine National League All-Time Top Scorer * Number 5 jersey retired by Atenas: (2005)Milanesio y Campana homenajeados con el retiro de las míticas "9" y "5"
Pick and Roll website, 2005-11-05Atenas retira la camiseta de Héctor "Pichi" Campana
, Infobae, 2005-07-12

References

External links