Davide Ancilotto

Davide Ancilotto (Venice, 3 January 1974 – Rome, 24 August 1997) was an Italian professional basketball player.

Davide Ancilotto
Personal information
Born(1974-01-03)3 January 1974[1]
Mestre, Venice, Italy[1]
Died24 August 1997(1997-08-24) (aged 23)[2]
Rome, Italy[2]
NationalityItalian
Listed height6 ft 8[3] in (2.03 m)
PositionShooting guard
Career history
1988–1989Basket Mestre
1989-1990Aurora Desio
1990–1991Scaligera
1991–1995JuveCaserta
1995–1996Olimpia
1996–1997Virtus Roma
1994Italia U-22
1995–1997Italy
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Italy
FIBA U20 European Championship
Silver medal – second placeSlovenia 1994Men's basketball

Career

Beginnings

Ancilotto began playing association football at a very young age in Mestre. He began to play basketball, first experimenting with various roles, and then becoming a shooting guard, despite being 202 centimetres (6.63 ft) tall,[3] remarkable for a guard in Europe, becoming one of the most important players in this role on the continent. His height made him an atypical player for his role, not aesthetically beautiful, but concrete.

Serie A and national team career

Ancilotto played 178 games in Lega Basket Serie A: the first four seasons in Caserta (1991-1995, three in A1 and the last in A2), then at Madigan Olimpia Basket Pistoia (1995-96), and with his last team, Virtus Roma, with which he collected 28 appearances, in the 1996-97 season. In 1996 he was about to be sold to the Spanish team Badalona but chose to stay in Italy and play for the team of the capital.

In his Serie A career he scored 1890 points.

He made his debut for the Italy national team on 12 November 1995 against Finland, in Helsinki, playing in 18 games and scoring 102 points.

Death

On 16 August 1997, during a friendly summer match in Gubbio in a quadrangular pre-season tournament, Ancilotto suddenly fell to the ground, a victim of brain ischemia. He died at the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome on the night of 24-25 August after eight days in a coma.[2]

At his funeral, the entire world of Italian basketball gathered in the church of San Lorenzo, Duomo di Mestre. Davide Ancilotto was interred in the cemetery of Favaro in Mestre.

Posthumous honors

Several Italian cities have honored Davide Ancilotto's memory:

  • In Venice, his city of birth:
    • The CONI Mestre Sports Hall has been renamed after him.
    • The playground at the Albanese-Bissuola Park where he played during summer breaks has been renamed "Anciground" in his honor.
  • In Caserta:
    • The curve of the PalaMaggiò arena is officially named after him.
    • An alley that connects an important city road with the hamlet of San Benedetto was named after him.
The number 4 shirt of Ancilotto exhibited by Virtus Roma in the rafters of the PalaLottomatica, together with the banners of the trophies won by the team.

Palmarès

National
Slovenia 1994

References
  1. "Davide Ancilotto Guardia" (in Italian). Lega Basket Serie A. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  2. Galdi, Andrea (26 August 1997). "LA TRAGEDIA DI ANCILOTTO 'MA E' UNA MORTE ASSURDA'" [The tragedy of Ancilotto 'But it is an absurd death']. la Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  3. "Davide Ancilotto Player Profile, Acea Virtus Roma, News, Stats". Eurobasket Inc. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
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