Sergio Paganella

Born in Libiola, a small village of the municipality of Serravalle a Po, Sergio Paganella moved to Milano as a youngster, and in 1930 played for his first basketball club, Società Sportiva Santo Stefano. After joining the Milano Borletti club, he won four Italian titles (1936-39) and got the chance to play in the national team. With the “Azzurri” he played at the 1935 European Championships, the Olympics in 1936, and the 1937 Europeans in Latvia, where he won the silver medal.

Paganella’s sporting career was put on hold during World War II while he served with the Battaglione San Marco. After the war he resumed his sporting activities and, in addition to basketball, played water polo, tennis, boxing and gymnastics. In 1935, he graduated in economics and worked for the Borletti group, and then opened a small firm of sanitary facilities, which he ran until 1986.