Basketball, Sugar Ray “Sugar” Richardson, dead

Mourning in the world of basketball. Michael Ray Richardson, known to all as “Sugar”, has passed away at the age of 70. Former star of Virtus Bologna, he was one of the most iconic and loved foreign players ever to pass under the Two Towers and in our championship in general.

larry bird

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The number chosen in the draft would be enough as a business card: fourth overall in 1978. Two steps down the Celtics took Larry Joe Bird… Born in Texas but soon moved with his family to Denver, Colorado, in high school he was recruited by many universities, including Iowa, Colorado State and Montana. He played in the NBA for eight years, mainly for the New York Knicks from 1978 to 1982 and for the New Jersey Nets from 1983 to 1986. In 1984 he was found positive for cocaine for the third time and was suspended from the NBA championship, only to be definitively banned in 1986.

Italy

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He arrived in Italy in 1988 in the ranks of the then Knorr Bologna. He played in Italy until 1994, winning the Italian Cup in 1989 and becoming MVP of the All Star Game. The following year, again with Virtus, he won the Italian Cup and the Cup Winners’ Cup. He scored 50 points in the All Star Game, setting a new record. In 1991 he began training with Bologna and was found positive for cocaine. ‘Sugar’ justified himself by saying that it was an anaesthetic. There he began his tour of Europe: Split, Livorno, Antibes, Cholet, Forlì, before finishing at AC Golfe-Juan-Vallauris, near Nice, at 47 years old.

son

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His son Amir, born in 2002, moved from Reims to Fiorentina last year. He also won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics with Morocco, also scoring a stunning goal with a curling shot from the top of the penalty area against Iraq in Nice, in the final group stage match. Born in the French Riviera where Sugar played his last season before retiring, he began his career at Le Havre in Ligue 2, a club that produced talents such as Pogba, Mahrez, Benjamin Mendy and Payet. A midfielder with good feet, as they once said, he was voted by L’Equipe last year as one of the 5 best young players in the championship.

Florentine

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The condolences of the Viola club also arrived: “President Rocco Commisso, his wife Catherine, General Director Alessandro Ferrari, DS Roberto Goretti and all of Fiorentina rally around Amir Richardson and express their deepest condolences to him and his family for the passing of his father”.