History
The club was originally founded only a few hundred yards from St. Peter's Square, as the result of the merger of two existing Roman sides in the lower divisions; San Saba and Gruppo Borgo Cavalleggeri, taking the name Virtus Aurelia. Only a short while after its foundation, the name was changed into the final and current Pallacanestro Virtus Roma.
The four founders were Rino Saba, Paolo Ragni, Pileri, Franco Polidori and Armando Polidori, who was elected first president.
The immediately following years saw the military-style training in small groups, practicing outside under the arches of Porta Cavalry. The situation changed in the early seventies when in 1972 Polidori entered into negotiations between the president and some officials of the Banco di Roma, sponsor of the training works committee, which took part in sports sponsorship. Being involved with sponsorship of the team, which at that time still hobbled in series C, ambitious bank executives who were seeking greater visibility, then aimed at the direct acquisition of Virtus Roma basketball operations. The colors were set as blue, yellow and red.
Read more about this topic: Pallacanestro Virtus Roma
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“History has neither the venerableness of antiquity, nor the freshness of the modern. It does as if it would go to the beginning of things, which natural history might with reason assume to do; but consider the Universal History, and then tell us,—when did burdock and plantain sprout first?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)