The years 1962-1971
The legendary 1960s ... We can say it too, because they were the years of definitive momentum, the consecration of the Tortona basketball movement. Yet the omens are gloomy, given that while Wilt Chamberlain, on March 2, 1962 , scored 100 points in New York while playing for Philadelphia (a record that, of course, remains unbeaten), Derthona had ceased its activity. It restarted exactly two years later, within the newly formed local sports club, with Vittorio Moccagatta presiding over the members' meeting, but above all with the launch of a regular Basketball Initiation Center, and it was the turning point: by January 1965, there were 150 members, led by Professor Dino Canegallo and Professor Mario Armana. They were the heirs of Messina, and with Professor Aldo Caenazzo, they would become the triumvirate of Tortona coaches for generations.
In 1966 , Simmenthal's Olimpia Milano was the first Italian team to lift the Champions Cup, while the city's attention was heightened by the legendary Bar Tournaments, which drew big-match crowds to the Corso Garibaldi court, thanks in part to the presence of players like Rusconi, Bufalini, and Flaborea, who played for Ignis. In February 1967, Tortona paused for a long-awaited event: the Corso Garibaldi gym was inaugurated, and Ignis Varese and Oransoda Cantù played there, in one of those derbies that never leave anyone indifferent. There was a lot of play, practically everyone attempted to shoot, the Kaimanis succeeded better than many, and the protagonists were Luigino Fassino, Peo Moccagatta, Toto Picchi, and Mario Bidone, who in the "big room" enjoyed years of important exploits, among satin tracksuits and free throws still shot from below. It was the prelude to the local rivalry that would soon explode: it was 1969 when in the legendary Barino dei Portici a group of carefree young men decided to create the “Rapida Basket Club”, a name chosen not by chance.
It's a reminder of the quick, gastronomical trips away from home, the gypsy-like outings of ours, and the twinning with Cantù provides jerseys and tracksuits worn by Fassino, Fanzio, Uccio Camagna, and Bidone under the presidency of Dr. Pino Rossi. On the bench, Milvio Picchi doesn't "eat panettone," and Checco Beccaria leads the yellows into the First Division championship. That same year, Derthona restarts the Promozione championship, with Armana on the bench and Di Matteo appointed president after recording a Juventus record 63 points in a resounding victory in Fossano. They continue on parallel tracks until 1970-71 , when Tortona hosts its first derby, in front of 400 packed spectators, and it's the Bianconeri who take over the city.
In June of the same year, Rapida organized the friendly match between Cantù and Asti and the Tortona fans could admire Charlie Recalcati, the best Italian of the time as well as the man who would lead our colors to Olympic silver in Athens around thirty years after... The women's sector takes hold and Uccio Camagna is its creator and leader in the first Promotion championship but it is a double derby because basketball in skirts also sees the second local team: it is Coach Risso's Red Stone.
The gym in Corso Garibaldi is no longer enough to contain the city's enthusiasm, the structures are lacking, the funds are lacking but there is no lack of passion and talent and the promotion to Serie D marks an era: Carboni, Bertolotti, Lugano, Vittorino Rossi push us to the first time beyond regional borders, effectively opening a whole different story.
Texts taken from the book “ LEON'S HEART: fifty years of basketball in Tortona ” by Roberto Gabatelli – 2008
