By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Gilberto Benetton, the co-founder of the eponymous clothing brand, has died at the age of 77 after an illness, the Italian group announced on Monday, October 22.
“Gilberto Benetton died at home today in Treviso following a brief illness,” the Benetton group said in a brief statement. “His wife, Lalla, daughters Barbara and Sabrina and son-in-law Ermanno were with him in his final moments.”
Benetton was a giant in the fashion and business world, but he also left his mark in the global basketball scene, by doing something that few others have replicated since. The vision of building the right infrastructure in order to create a team and not buy it, that ended up being a portal to the other side of the Atlantic.
The club
Gilberto Benetton had been for years the president of the multi-sport club that had his family brand and has made the small Italian town of Treviso great in rugby, basketball, and volleyball. In total, he won 60 titles from 1978 to 2012, when basketball and volleyball activities were shut down.
Pallacanestro Treviso, named Benetton Basket and widely referred to as Benetton Treviso, is now just a youth basketball club. However, especially during the 90s, it was a European powerhouse.
The Benetton Group started sponsoring the club during the 1981-82 season. The following year, Benetton would become the majority owners of Pallacanestro Treviso, moving into the newly constructed “PalaVerde” arena, owned and financed by the family. The team was playing in the second division at the time but after their promotion to Legabasket in 1987, their trip to the European elite started.
Tony Kukoc, Stefano Rusconi, Riccardo Pittis, Orlando Woolridge, Ramunas Siskauskas, Zeljko Rebraca, Vinny Del Negro, Andrea Bargnani and more were among the stars of the team which remained a powerhouse until 2012 when the Benetton family decided to step down.
Coaches like Mike D’ Antony were hired and in total Benetton Treviso won 2 FIBA Saporta Cups, 5 Italian Leagues and 8 Italian Cups, while playing in four EuroLeague Final Fours. However, the trophies and the memories are dwarfed by “La Ghirada”.
A gate to the NBA
The Ghirada Sports Complex was opened in 1985 at the edge of Treviso, where once a marsh stood. Covering an area of 22 hectares, “La Ghirada” is open to anyone willing to take part in sporting or leisure activities.
There are three gyms, six rugby fields, covering 60,000 square meters football and five-a-side fields, a cross-country circuit, a fitness center, three indoor basketball and volleyball courts, a beach volley area, a golf practice area and a swimming pool.
With Benetton’s vision focused on producing talent and developing young players, a training facility like this was one of the major pillars of the club’s future.
And the plan was good enough even for the NBA. Since 2000, “La Ghirada” is the home of the biggest pre-draft camp outside the US borders. Initially called “Reebok Eurocamp” and since last season rebranded as the “NBA Global Camp” Treviso has been for 18 years the central meeting point between the NBA and European basketball.
The European pre-draft camp proved to be the right idea at the right moment and it remains a huge factor in the shaping of the current NBA landscape. It might not have happened if the infrastructure didn’t exist and Gilberto Benetton had it ready since the mid-eighties. He will be missed…