Viola Reggio Calabria is 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 ...

club based in

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...

, Calabria. At its heyday the club was renowned for discovering talented players who would go on to play at the highest level, for example five former players took part in the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

final. However, Viola was also plagued by financial problems, with the club filing for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in three occasions (1997, 2009 and 2019), that later sent it out the Italian elite. In 2019 a phoenix club, called Viola Supporters Trust, was formed by the fans of Viola Reggio Calabria. It currently plays in Serie C Silver Calabria, the fifth tier of the Italian pyramid.

History

The club was founded in 1966 as Cestistica Piero Viola by judge Peppino Viola in honour of his late brother Piero. It started playing in the Serie C that season, replacing AICS Reggio Calabria where Piero Viola had played at that level, finishing ninth. The club would establish itself in the Serie C (renamed Serie B from 1974–75) during the succeeding years. It would reach the professional second division Serie A2 in 1983. After a mid-table finish in its first season, Viola won the league in 1984–85 and earned a promotion to the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. It was relegated after one season, returning in 1989 following a three-year stay in the Serie A2. The newly promoted side had its best ever season for its return to the elite, finishing the regular season in seventh place before losing in the playoff quarterfinals to

Pallacanestro Varese Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian basketball league system, Italian first ...

, as Viola's

Dan Caldwell Dan Caldwell is an American entrepreneur. He is a co-founder of Tapout (clothing brand), Tapout, and is president of the company. He produces and appears in movies, television series, and documentaries. Career Gary Fields, along with Charles L ...

finished as the league's top scorer.

Carlo Recalcati Carlo Recalcati (born September 11, 1945, in Milan, Italy) is an Italian professional basketball coach, and a former player. He was the head coach of the senior Italian national basketball team, from 2001 to 2009, and led them to the silver meda ...

took over the coaching reins the following season which ended in relegation. The club would bounce back by winning the Serie A2 in 1991–92. It would best its best finish with a sixth place in the 1992–93 Serie A, before a playoff quarterfinals series against Benetton Treviso ended with a disallowed on the buzzer shot that would have tied the game for Viola in the decisive 18 April game. The club made three other playoff appearances the next four seasons (quarterfinals in 1994 and eighth-finals in 1996 and 1997) with another of its players, Brian Oliver, leading the league in scoring during the 1995–96 season. The Cestistica Piero Viola organisation would be declared bankrupt in December 1997 (a bankruptcy later revoked due to irregularities), it was replaced in January 1998 by Basket Viola Reggio Calabria SPA and then by Nuovo Basket Viola Reggio '98 the same year. After a parenthesis in the Serie A2 in 1998–99, the club, counting a young

Manu Ginóbili Emanuel David "Manu" Ginóbili ( , ; born 28 July 1977) is an Argentine former professional basketball player. Credited for popularizing the Euro step move in the NBA, he is regarded as one of the greatest shooting guards and sixth men in the le ...

in its ranks, again reached the playoff quarterfinals though they were eliminated by

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

. The next season saw Ginóbili leave but players such as

Carlos Delfino Carlos Francisco Delfino (born 29 August 1982) is an Argentine professional basketball player for Baltur Cento of the Italian Serie A2 Basket. Standing at , he plays at the small forward and shooting guard positions. He is also noted for his de ...

and Leandro Palladino arrive to help Viola stave off relegation and reach the

2000–01 FIBA Korać Cup The 30th edition of the FIBA Korać Cup occurred between September 29, 2000 and April 18, 2001. The competition was won by the Spanish Unicaja, who beat the Yugoslavian Hemofarm in the double finals. Team allocation The labels in the parenthe ...

Round of 16. After battling relegation again in 2002, Viola returned to the playoffs the following year, with a repeat of the past as they again lost in five games to Benetton Treviso. Nuovo Basket Viola struggled to raise funds prior to the 2004–05 season, with only a last ditch cash injection by the municipality keeping the club, sponsor-less until March 2005, financially afloat. The club would finish in the relegation places in 2005 but kept its top flight status after

Scavolini Pesaro Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian ''Vuelle''), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the top level Italian professiona ...

folded. It was relegated in 2006, where three successive coaches could not stop the club from moving down to the LegaDue (the renamed second division). Despite securing its LegaDue status on the court in 2007, Viola would see financial difficulties put an end to its professional activity over the summer, with the management unable to raise enough funds to keep the club running. Viola continued operating only through its youth sector, with the team playing in the Serie D. On 7 July 2009, a new organisation acquired the sporting rights of Basket Gragnano and was admitted into the Serie B Dilettanti. A change in ownership over the 2010 summer saw Giancesare Muscolino become president. The club would finish second during the regular season before losing in the promotion playoffs final to

Orlandina Basket Orlandina Basket, known as Infodrive Capo d'Orlando for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Capo d'Orlando, Sicily. It plays in the second tier Serie A2 Basket. Founded in 1978, it was one of the you ...

. The 2011–12 again saw the team stall in the promotion playoffs but it was admitted into the DNA anyway. The club then successfully fought relegation the following two seasons and with the second and third tier merging in 2015–16, play in the second division as of the 2015–16 season.

Arena

At the beginning of the 1970s, the club transferred to the Scatolone arena, a small venue containing around 500 seats. With the club promoted to the Serie A2 in 1983, the Scatolone did not answer the league's requirements, a new arena – the Botteghelle – was built over fifty-seven days. In 1991 the PalaCalafiore (full name: Palasport Francesco Calafiore in dedication to a local sports journalist) was built; it is the biggest arena in Calabria and the seventh-largest in Italy, with more than 8,500 seats. Viola still plays in this arena (also known as the PalaPentimele, from the Pentimele neighbourhood it is situated in) as of the 2015–16 season.

Head coaches

Tonino Zorzi Antonio "Tonino" Zorzi (10 June 1935 – 19 August 2023) was an Italian professional basketball player and head coach. He was nicknamed Paròn. Life and career Born in Gorizia, Zorzi started playing basket in his city team Goriziana before movin ...

5 seasons: '87–'90, '95–'96, '01 (Jan.)-'02, '06 (Jan.-Mar.) *

5 seasons: '90–'95 *

Lino Lardo Lino may refer to: * Lino, short for linoleum, a common flooring material * Lino, slang for linesman, the former name (still in widespread common use) for an assistant referee in association football People Given name * Lino (footballer, born 1 ...

2 seasons: '02–'04

Sponsorship names

Throughout the years, due to sponsorship deals, it has been also known as: *Banca Popolare Reggio Calabria (1982–1984) *Viola Reggio Calabria (1984–1985) *Opel Reggio Calabria (1985–1986) *Viola Reggio Calabria (1989–1990) *Standa Reggio Calabria (1986–1989) *Panasonic Reggio Calabria (1990–1993) *Reggio Calabria Pfizer (1993–1995) *Viola Reggio Calabria (1995–2003) *Tris Reggio Calabria (2003–2004) *Eurofiditalia Reggio Calabria (2005) *Viola Reggio Calabria (2005–2007) *Liomatic Reggio Calabria (2009–2012) *Bermè Viola Reggio Calabria (2015–present)

Notable players

2000's *

Joseph Bunn Joseph Ray Bunn Stallins (born May 18, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. At 6'6" tall and 232 lbs. (105 kg) in weight, he played at the power forward and center positions. Professional career Bunn played colle ...

1 season: '06–'07 *

Aleksandar Ćapin Aleksandar Ćapin (born October 6, 1982) is a Serbian former professional basketball player. Early life Growing up in Sarajevo, Ćapin took up association football in the FK Sarajevo youth system. In spring 1992, with the outbreak of the Bosnian ...

1 season: '05–'06 * A. J. Guyton 1 season: '05–'06 *

Jelani McCoy Jelani Marwan McCoy (born December 6, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6'10" power forward/ center, he played in the NBA from 1998 to 2007 for the Seattle SuperSonics, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland C ...

1 season: '05–'06 *

Vincent Yarbrough Vincent Raymond Yarbrough (born March 21, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the NBA and Europe. The 6'7" and 210 lb forward out of the University of Tennessee was selected as the fourth pick of the se ...

1 season: '05–'06 *

Thierry Zig Thierry Zig (born July 4, 1975 in Bondy, Seine-Saint-Denis) is a French former professional basketball player. Career *1994-1995: Levallois: 6g 0.7ppg 0.3rpg *1995-1996: Levallois: 26g 3.2ppg 0.4rpg 1.0apg *1996-1997: Levallois: 29g 10.2p ...

1 season: '05–'06 *

Bryce Drew Bryce Homer Drew (born September 21, 1974) is an American college basketball coach and former player who is the head coach at Grand Canyon University. Previously, he served as the head coach at Vanderbilt and in the same capacity at his alma ma ...

1 season: '04–'05 *

Terrence Rencher Terrence Lamont Rencher (born February 19, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. He is an assistant coach for the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders. Playing career Rencher was a prep star at St. Raymond High School f ...

1 season: '04–'05 *

Casey Shaw Joseph Casey Shaw (born July 20, 1975) is an American former basketball player who is an assistant coach for the Grand Canyon Antelopes men's basketball team of the Western Athletic Conference. Prior to this he was the head coach of the boys' var ...

1 season: '04–'05 *

LaVell Blanchard LaVell DeAaron Blanchard (February 23, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player. He played in several leagues in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ukraine. He was a four-time All-Big Ten Conference perfor ...

2 seasons: '03–'05 *

Giorgos Sigalas Giorgos Sigalas (alternate spelling: Georgios) (; born 31 July 1971 in Peristeri, Greece) is a Greek former professional basketball player and is the current head coach of Greek Basketball League club Iraklis. During the decade of the 1990s, ...

season: '03 * Titus Ivory 2 seasons: '02–'04 * Anthony Williams 3 seasons: '01–'03, '06–'07 * Ismaila Sy 2 seasons: '01–'02, '06–'07 *

Nicolás Mazzarino Nicolás Mazzarino (born October 21, 1975) is a former Uruguayan professional basketball player, and current assistant coach for Club Biguá de Villa Biarritz of the Liga Uruguaya de Básquetbol. He also holds an Italian passport. At a height of ...

4 seasons: '01–'05 * J. J. Eubanks 3 seasons: '01–'04 * Benjamin Eze 3 seasons: '01–'04 * Alan Tomidy 2 seasons: '01–'03 * Brian Evans 1 season: '01–'02 * Anthony Tucker 1 season: '01–'02 * David Vaughn 1 season: '01–'02 *

2 seasons: '00–'02 * Mark Anthony Davis 1 season: '00–'01 *

Thierry Gadou Thierry Gadou (born 13 January 1969 in Vieux-Boucau-les-Bains) is a French basketball player formerly with Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez. Gadou won a silver medal with the France national basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics The ...

1 season: '00–'01 * Leandro Palladino 1 season: '00–'01 1990's *

Alejandro Montecchia Alejandro Ariel Montecchia (born 1972) is an Argentine retired professional basketball player. He played at the point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regu ...

3 seasons: '99–'02 *

Brian Shorter Brian William Shorter (born November 28, 1968) is an American-Italian former professional basketball player. He spent two decades playing in European leagues. High school career Shorter, a Philadelphia native, grew up in a low-income neighborh ...

1 season: '99–'00 * Kevin Thompson 1 season: '99–'00 * Brent Scott 2 seasons: '98–'99, '00–'01 *

2 seasons: '98–'00 *

Jeff Nordgaard Jeff Wallace Nordgaard (born February 23, 1973) is an American-born naturalized Polish former professional basketball player. Early life Nordgaard's father, John Nordgaard, was a biology teacher and guidance counselor at Dawson-Boyd High Schoo ...

1 season: '98–'99 * Christian Welp 1 season: '98–'99 *

Jay Larrañaga James Joseph Larranaga Jr. (born January 30, 1975) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who currently serves on the staff of the Los Angeles Clippers. He was previously the top assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of t ...

2 seasons: '97–'98, '04–'05 *

Diego Fajardo Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. ...

2 seasons: '97–'98, '03–'04 *

Dedric Willoughby Dedric Demond Willoughby (May 27, 1974 – July 19, 2023) was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Playing career Willoughby attended Archbishop Shaw High Scho ...

1 seasons: '97–'98 * Brian Oliver 3 seasons: '96–'97, '98–'00 * Mike Brown 2 seasons: '96–'98 * Lance Miller 1 season: '95–'96 *

Yamen Sanders A ''yamen'' (''ya-men''; ; Manchu language, Manchu: ''yamun'') was the administrative office or residence of a local bureaucrat or mandarin (bureaucrat), mandarin in Imperial era of Chinese history, imperial China, Korea, and Vietnam. In ...

1 season: '95–'96 * Alessandro Fantozzi 1 season: '94–'95 *

Shaun Vandiver Shaun Garin Vandiver (born June 15, 1968) is a retired American college and professional basketball player and currently an assistant basketball coach for the University of Wyoming. Vandiver served as the head basketball coach at Emporia State U ...

1 season: '94–'95 * Randy White 1 season: '94–'95 *

Wendell Alexis Wendell Paul Alexis (born July 31, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player who played for several European clubs, between 1986 and 2004, most notably for ALBA Berlin, where he was voted MVP of the German Bundesliga four times ...

1 season: '94–'95 *

Ken Barlow Kenneth "Ken" Barlow is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by William Roache. He was created by Tony Warren as one of ''Coronation Street''s original characters and December 2020 marked Ken' ...

1 season: '93–'94 *

Kevin Pritchard Kevin Lee Pritchard (born July 18, 1967) is an American basketball executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. Pritchard played 4 seasons in the NBA as a player, and w ...

1 season: '93–'94 * Marco Spangaro 4 seasons: '92–'96 * Sasha Volkov 1 season: '92–'93 * Tiziano Lorenzon 2 seasons: '91–'93 *

Dean Garrett Dean Heath Garrett (born November 27, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player. At a height of tall, he played at the center position. College career Garrett attended San Clemente High School, in San Clemente, California, ...

3 seasons: '90–'93 *

Michael Young Michael Young may refer to: Academics * Michael Young, Baron Young of Dartington (1915–2002), British life peer, sociologist and social activist * Michael Young (educationalist), British educational theorist and sociologist * Michael K. Youn ...

2 seasons: '90–'92 * Frank Kornet 1 season: '93 1980's * Roberto Bullara 7 seasons: '89–'96 * Charles Jones 1 season: '89–'90 * Alessandro Santoro 12 seasons: '88–'00 *

Giampiero Savio Giampiero (often Gianpiero or Gian Piero) is an Italian male given name. List of people Giampiero *Giampiero Albertini, Italian actor *Giampiero Artegiani, Italian singer *Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer *Giampiero Catone, Italian politic ...

2 seasons: '88–'90 * Robert Lock 1 season: '88–'89 * Phil Zevenbergen 1 season: '88–'89 *

4 seasons: '87–'91 * Gustavo Tolotti 12 seasons: '86–'92, '93–'99 *

Joe Bryant Joseph Washington "Jellybean" Bryant (October 19, 1954 – July 15, 2024) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played for the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers, and Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Assoc ...

1 season: '86–'87 * Donato Avenia 9 seasons: '84–'90, '92–'93, '96–'98 *

Kim Hughes Kimberley John Hughes (born 26 January 1954) is a former cricketer who played for Western Australia, Natal and Australia. He captained Australia in 28 Test matches between 1979 and 1984 before captaining a rebel Australian team in a tour of ...

5 seasons: '83–'88

References

External links

Serie A historical results
Retrieved 25 August 2015 {{Serie A2 Basket 1966 establishments in Italy Basketball teams established in 1966 Basketball teams in Italy