Mario Cevasco

Mario Cevasco was, along with Eraldo Pizzo and Gianni Lonzi, the backbone of the Pro Recco team that was the most successful water polo club in Italy between 1959-71, when they won the Italian Championship 12 times. At Milano in 1964 he enjoyed his greatest moment when Pro Recco won the LEN European Champions Cup by beating Partizan Belgrade, Dinamo Magdeburg and CVSK Moscow in the final stages.

A very intelligent player, Cevasco went to three Olympics, 1964-72, and could well have played in the “home” Olympic at Roma in 1960, but he was not available due to study commitments. By the time he joined the national team, however, their moment of glory had come and gone at the Roma Olympics, and Cevasco had to be content with a fourth place in both the 1964 and 1968 Olympics. It was unfortunate that a player of his talent should receive only one international honour from the sport, a gold medal from the 1963 Mediterranean Games at Napoli. Cevasco died in 1999 after losing his battle with cancer. A few years after his death, the municipal administration of Recco named the bridge that connects the seaside promenade with that of Punta Sant’Anna in his honour.