Cesare Rubini
Rubini, circa 1948.
Personal information
Born (1923-11-02)2 November 1923
Trieste, Italy
Died 8 February 2011(2011-02-08) (aged 87)
Milan, Italy
Senior clubs
Years Team
1947–1948
 Società Canottieri Olona
1949–1951
 Rari Nantes Napoli
1952–1956
 Rari Nantes Camogli
Medal record
Men's Water Polo
Representing  Italy
Olympics
Gold medal – first place 1948 LondonNational Team
Bronze medal – third place 1952 HelsinkiNational Team
European Water Polo Championship
Gold medal – first place 1947 MonacoNational Team
Bronze medal – third place 1954 ItalyNational Team
Cesare Rubini
Rubini (with the basketball in his hands).
Personal information
Born(1923-11-02)2 November 1923
Trieste, Italy
Died8 February 2011(2011-02-08) (aged 87)
NationalityItalian
Career information
Playing career1948–1957
Coaching career1957–1973
Career history
As player:
1948–1957Olimpia Milano
As coach:
1957–1973Olimpia Milano
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As head coach:

Basketball Hall of Fame as coach
FIBA Hall of Fame as coach
Medals
Men's Basketball
Representing  Italy
FIBA EuroBasket
Silver medal – second place1946 Switzerland

Cesare Rubini (2 November 1923 – 8 February 2011) was an Italian professional basketball player and coach, and a water polo player. He was considered to be one of the greatest European basketball coaches of all time, Rubini was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994, making him the first, and to this day, just one of three Italian basketball figures to receive such an honour, alongside Dino Meneghin and Sandro Gamba. He was also inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2000.

In 2002, he was awarded the FIBA Order of Merit. He was inducted into the Italian Basketball Hall of Fame, in 2006. He was also inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame, in 2013.

Sports biography

Rubini started to play basketball for his high school team, in his native Trieste, where he graduated in 1941. The same year, he began to play for Olimpia Milano's junior clubs, the most prestigious Italian League basketball club at that time. However, he had a long-lived passion for water polo: this led him to later become one of the rare world sportsmen to compete at the highest level in two different team sports.

Water polo career

As a club player-coach, Rubini won 6 Italian national domestic league titles in water polo (1947, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955) with Società Canottieri Olona, Rari Nantes Napoli, and Rari Nantes Camogli. He also totaled 84 caps, for the senior Italian water polo national team, 42 of which were as a team captain. He won a gold medal at the 1947 European Water Polo Championship, with the senior Italian national water polo team.

In the meantime, he had also assumed the role of player-coach of the Italian basketball club Olimpia Milano, in 1948; and he was called by the national teams of both sports (basketball and water polo) to play with them. Rubini chose water polo, and he won a gold medal in the sport, at the 1948 Summer Olympic Games, in London, beating the Hungary in the final. With Rubini as a full-time player, Italy could boast what was to be called the "Golden Settebello", one of the most valuable water polo teams ever, which also won a bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics, and at the Turin European Championship of 1954. In both the events, Italy was behind traditional rivals of Yugoslavia and Hungary.

Basketball career

As a club basketball player-coach, Rubini won 6 Italian national domestic league titles (1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957) with Olimpia Milano. In 1957, he devoted himself only to the team's head coach role, and he then went on to win 9 more Italian national domestic league titles with Olimpia (1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1972). In those years, he set an unparalleled record of 322 victories, and 28 defeats. Overall, as head coach of the Milan team, Rubini totaled 501 victories, including the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) championship in 1966, and two (European 2nd-tier) level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cups (FIBA Saporta Cup) titles, in 1971 and 1972: these were the first European-wide victories of Italian basketball clubs. He also won the Italian Cup, in 1972.

As a player, Rubini won a silver medal with the senior Italian national basketball team, at the EuroBasket 1946, held in Geneva. Later, as the delegation head of the senior Italian national basketball team, Rubini also took part in the first international victories of Italy: these include the silver medal at the 1980 Summer Olympic Games. At the EuroBasket, Italy finished first at the 1983 EuroBasket, in Nantes, finished third at the 1985 EuroBasket, in Stuttgart, and finished second at the 1991 EuroBasket, in Rome.

Death

Rubini was involved with his beloved sports until his death: he promoted water polo formation for young athletes, and was the Honorary President of Olimpia Milano. He died on 8 February 2011.[1]

See also

References

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