Davide Ancilotto (

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, 3 January 1974 –

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 24 August 1997) was an Italian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player.

Career

Beginnings

Ancilotto began playing

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

at a very young age in

Mestre Mestre () is a borough of the comune of Venice on the mainland opposite the historical island city in the region of Veneto, Italy. Administratively, Mestre forms (together with the nearby Carpenedo) the Municipalità di Mestre-Carpenedo, one ...

. He began to play basketball, first experimenting with various roles, and then becoming a

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

, despite being tall, remarkable for a guard in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, 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 Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

: the first four seasons in

Caserta Caserta ( ; ) is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. An important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city, Caserta is located 36 kilometres north of Naples on the edge of the Campanian p ...

(1991-1995, three in A1 and the last in A2), then at Madigan

Olimpia Basket Pistoia Olimpia Basket Pistoia, also known as Maltinti Pistoia after one of its historic sponsors, was an Italian professional basketball team from the town of Pistoia. It played in Serie A (basketball), Serie A, the Italian top-level professional league, ...

(1995–96), and with his last team,

Virtus Roma Virtus Roma 1960, commonly known as Virtus Roma, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Rome, Lazio. The club, named Pallacanestro Virtus Roma competed in the first division of Italian basketball, the LBA, for decades until 2020, whe ...

, with which he collected 28 appearances, in the 1996-97 season. In 1996 he was about to be sold to the Spanish team

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a municipality in Barcelonès county, in Catalonia (Spain). It is located to the north east of Barcelona, on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By population, ...

but chose to stay in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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 Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, playing in 18 games and scoring 102 points.

Death

On 16 August 1997, during a friendly summer match in

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennine Mountains, Apennines. History Prehistory The ol ...

in a quadrangular pre-season tournament, Ancilotto suddenly fell to the ground, a victim of

brain ischemia Brain ischemia is a condition in which there is insufficient bloodflow to the brain to meet metabolic demand. This leads to cerebral hypoxia, poor oxygen supply in the brain and may be temporary such as in transient ischemic attack or permanent i ...

. He died at the San Filippo Neri Hospital in

on the night of 24 August after eight days in a coma. 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

Posthumous honors

Several Italian cities have honored Davide Ancilotto's memory: *In

, his city of birth: **The

CONI Coni may refer to: *Cuneo, Italy *Coni, Azerbaijan *Italian National Olympic Committee The Italian National Olympic Committee (, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the develop ...

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

: **The curve of the

PalaMaggiò PalaMaggiò is an indoor arena, indoor sporting arena located in Caserta, Italy. The capacity of the arena is 6,387 spectators and opened in 1982. It hosts indoor sporting events such as basketball, notably the home matched of Juvecaserta Basket ...

arena is officially named after him. **An alley that connects an important city road with the hamlet of San Benedetto was named after him. *In

: **

officially

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

his shirt number, 4, and the fans dedicated the curve to him. **On 2 June 2007 the then-

Mayor of Rome The mayor of Rome () is an elected politician who, along with the City Council of Rome, Rome City Council () of 48 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Rome. As Rome is a ''Comune, comune speciale'' since 2009, the office is d ...

Walter Veltroni Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist and politician. He served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the Italian centre-left opposition until his resignation on 17 February 2009. H ...

, together with the president of

, Claudio Toti, and some managers of the team, inaugurated a plaque dedicated to him, positioned near the

PalaLottomatica Palazzo dello Sport or PalaEUR, formerly known as PalaLottomatica, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena in Rome, Italy. It is located in the heart of the well known modern EUR complex. The arena hosted the 1960 Olympic basketball ...

. **On the

Caelian Hill The Caelian Hill ( ; ; ) is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. Geography The Caelian Hill is a moderately long promontory about long, to wide, and tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius. The hill overlooks a plateau from wh ...

, a basketball court was named after him. *In

Arese Arese ( ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, about northwest of Milan. Arese borders the following municipalities: Lainate, Garbagnate Milanese, Bollate, Rho, Milan. Arese was awar ...

(

Province of Milan The province of Milan () was a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third-highest population density among Ital ...

): **The Municipal Sports Center is named after him.

Palmarès

National

* FIBA U20 European Championship: :: Slovenia 1994

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ancilotto, Davide 1974 births 1997 deaths Italian men's basketball players Italy national basketball team players Shooting guards Sport deaths in Italy Rowers from Venice People from Mestre 20th-century Italian sportsmen