Sandro Gamba

Sandro Gamba was captain of the Italian basketball team at the 1960 Olympic Games in Roma, where they finished fourth, losing to the Soviet Union in the semi-final 78-70. He made his national team début on 15 September 1952 in Istanbul in a match against Austria. A silver medal at the 1955 Mediterranean Games in Barcelona was the highlight of Gamba’s national team career, which ended with 64 international caps and a career 210 points.

Retiring from competition as a player, Gamba went on to become one of Italy’s greatest basketball coaches, starting as an assistant with his former club Olympia Milano (1965-73), then becoming head coach with Varese (1973-77) and Auxilium Torino Basketball (1977-79). He won five Italian titles (1966, 1967, and 1972 with Milano, 1974 and 1977 with Varese) and one Italian Cup (1972), as well as two consecutive European Cup Winners’ Cups (1971, 1972), and finally, with Varese, two consecutive European Cups (1975, 1976).

With the exception of a few years (1985-87), Gamba was the head coach of the Italian National team from 1979-92. He led them to an Olympic silver medal at the 1980 Games in Moskva, and a fifth-place finish four years later at Los Angeles in 1984. Seven times he coached the Azzurri team at the European Championships, winning a historic gold in 1983 in Nantes, a bronze in 1985, and then a silver in 1991. In recognition of his distinguished coaching career and ongoing commitment towards coaching on all continents, in 2006 Gamba was made a member of the Naismith Memorial and Italian Basketball Halls of Fame.