Basketball, 90 years of the legend Dan Peterson: “I would do it all again. Italy was my America”

Dribbling, stopping, shooting. Basketball and technique, the blackboard to draw patterns and the word to make dreams fly. Daniel Lowell Peterson, born on January 9, 1936, like his Olimpia Milano, turns 90 today. Coach, communicator, disseminator. A character capable of going beyond sport, entrusting the traits of his humanity to TV, before social media, in addition to the indisputable value expressed on the pitch. For the Gazzetta he is a friend, an acute columnist, a precious guide to understanding what lies behind defeat and victory, the characters and dynamics of elite sport. Always with his unmistakable style and that “Italian” language that strikes at first impact. During his visit to the editorial office he blows out the candles with his sweet life partner, his wife Laura Verga, and answers the questions starting from the basics of his sport, the fundamentals of basketball and the moments that give soul to the game. Two-way ball.

Do you remember the “first” on the bench?

“Of course, I was 15 years old, after being rejected as a player I started coaching Ridgeway. It was a 45-7 victory, if I’m not mistaken.”

Dribble. Who beat the rhythm of his basketball better than anyone else?

“Mike D’Antoni. Discipline, technique, precision: a coach on the pitch”.

“Franco Boselli. Stylistically perfect. And Roberto Premier. Effective. Someone who didn’t know fear.”

Defense. His 1-3-1 made history.

“A question of the heart, therefore of men. The best defender we ever had? Meneghin. And then Vittorio Gallinari, the only one capable of stopping Larry Wright in the final against Roma in 1983”.

The team. It was written in the stars that Olympia was his favorite creature.

“Italy was my America. In 1973 I arrived at Virtus Bologna from Chile, where I had coached the national team. Five years later president Bogoncelli wanted me in Milan. To talk to him I went to Paris. I remember he was eating in a classy restaurant, at the entrance they asked me to wear a tie, it was compulsory. Obviously I hadn’t brought it, a waiter saved me. ‘I want you to coach my team,’ Bogoncelli told me. ‘You are a person who inspires trust’. The beginning at Olimpia was not easy, I came after Cesare Rubini, a monument. At the Palalido there were three solid wooden benches, I never wanted to sit on the one he always used.”

MVP. The strongest Italian player ever?

“Dino Meneghin. No doubt. I could cite a thousand episodes, like the Champions Cup final won in Lausanne and ended with an injury and a limp.”

Time out. Break from basketball: when did you realize you had become a popular character?

“With the NBA and wrestling commentary. Then in the year of the Grand Slam, in 1987, the Lipton Tea commercial arrived. We shot it in Miami, even though in the commercial I said I was in Chattanooga, Tennessee.”

“Hook heaven! Pandemonium! Mom, throw away the pasta.” In front of the microphone he let himself go.

“Never prepared anything, it was all instinct. Some things were, let’s say, free translations from phrases of famous American journalists, like Bob Elson. He would say ‘Mom, put the coffee on the stove’ when the match was over. I knew that in Italy pasta would work better…”.

Last shot. Do you like basketball today?

“No. I would abolish the 3-point shot. Nobody shoots from inside the area, especially in the NBA. They ruined the game.”

Siren, end of the game. If you close your eyes, what is the most intense emotion experienced as a coach?

“The comeback from -31 against Aris in ’86. But also the 1978/79 season, that of the Bassotti Band: they thought we were relegated, we reached the championship final”

Changing room. Would you change anything about this match that lasted 90 years?

“Nothing, I would do it all again from the first minute to the last.”