In Piazza Montegrappa, on May 11, 1999a – rare, alas – collective celebration of the city of Varese took place: the one for the Scudetto of the Roosters, the nickname used at the time by Pallacanestro Varese in place of a main sponsor.
A party that was relived a few meters away from the fulcrum of that night, on the evening of Monday 21 May: in fact, the screening of that historic match was staged at the MIV – Game 3 of the final against Benetton Treviso – in the presence of many fans and people who “did the feat”. Not the players, many of whom hold positions in the world of basketball (and for this reason are busy far from Varese), but the entire structure of society that in that season a unique sporting and organizational miracle was invented.
For this reason, before scrolling the images on the screen of the Giove Hall of the MIV, all those protagonists went on stage around Toto and Edoardo Bulgheroni, at the time the owner and president of the company (Toto is also the president today) and to the gm Gianni Chiapparo who “built” the team. Doctors, components of healthcare staff, managers, personneland offices, responsible for different areas, journalists who edited the famous – and splendid – house organ “Two points” and so on.
At halftime, coach Charlie Recalcati – cued by Antonio Franzi and Flavio Vanetti – he “reread” the first 20 minutes of that match trying to reconstruct the words said in the locker roomwhile Edo Bulgheroni thanked the event organisers, the trust “Basketball is us”: “Never change, never fail to support the kids who take to the field.”
It rained stars in Varese. Twenty-five years ago the Roosters won the championship
A large family (among the players the only one present was Marco Van Velsenthe then Dutch “community” who took root in the city) also applauded by a group of “veterans” from the Great Ignis of which those Roosters were the worthy and natural heirs. In addition to Bulgheroni, the two American GMs have arrived for the current company Zach Sogolow and Max Horowitz (Scola and many others are in Agropoli for the U17 national finals), struck by seeing an arena that was filled to capacity that magical night.
And for relive that atmosphere to the fullest, the video – granted by Rai which broadcast the meeting – was broadcast without the comment of the reporters and technical assistants of the time (Franco Lauro, Dino Meneghin and Dado Lombardi). In short, with the original audio of the arena made of choirs, applause, noises (the unforgettable trumpets) that accompanied a match that remains unforgettable 25 years later. And which, as we have already written, it would be time to refresh with some new victories, because celebrating is nice, but celebrating is wonderful.
