Spiro Leka was the point guard of Partizan of Tirana when on 3 November 1988 the then Scavolini with Daye and Cook made his debut in the Euroleague by flying to Albania. At the airport to welcome the Pesaro team that had taken off from Rimini was the current Albanian president Edi Rama as an interpreter for Scavolini
“As a boy I called him big-headed. He had a big head.”
Who did they call him that?
“To the president of Albania Edi Rama. He was a pivot of the ‘dirty’ ones, like Meneghin, so to speak.”
The speaker at www.ilrestodelcarlino.it is Spiro Leka, Albanian, former Tirana basketball player and now coach: he also led Vuelle for a season, and is now on the staff of Colombia University in the United States. Leka has lived in Pesaro since 1991 “and I think that this summer I will bring some of the technical staff and some players to Pesaro for training – he continues – a bit like I did with Daniel Hackett who trained with me every summer in Pesaro and also I’ve improved a lot in my long range shooting.”
Spiro Leka was the point guard of Partizan of Tirana when on 3 November 1988 the then Scavolini with Daye and Cook made his debut in the Euroleague by flying to Albania. At the airport to welcome the Pesaro team that had taken off from Rimini was the current Albanian president Edi Rama as an interpreter for Scavolini. Rama has become popular in Italy after the agreements made a few days ago to create reception centers for migrants in his homeland after the meeting with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Leka let’s go back to Edi Rama: still friends?
“Certainly, so much so that a couple of months ago I was in Albania and during a hotel inauguration he wanted me to sit next to him and then he also introduced me to the Spanish ambassador and the authorities present”.
What do you remember about that Euroleague match?
“Certainly when Edi Rama entered Valerio Bianchini’s room, he was afraid and immediately said that he had done nothing. In reality Rama, who is still a friend of Bianchini, had entered the room only to pay him homage to one of his paintings. Because Rama was and he is a painter. And Bianchini was also very nice to me because he came to me and gave me – in that match I scored 17 points – a tie that he had bought in the Linea Uomo per il Corso shop.”
Was Rama following his technical career in Italy from Albania?
“Of course, and we spoke often also because he saw all the Pesaro matches and even commented on the results on the phone. It was a shame that year, because for three games I lost, I fell from the hero’s pedestal.”
Has Edi Rama ever come to Pesaro?
“No, even though he has come to Italy many times. Invite him? Now it’s difficult, he’s a head of state.”
On that day-long trip, in addition to the team (Costa and Magnifico were also there), there were also a couple of reporters, Silvano Clappis for the Ansa agency and Luciano Murgia for radio commentary. “A very kind person and very nice to us and the thing that immediately amazed us – recalls Luciano Murgia – was the fact that he spoke Italian very well. And when we asked him the reason, he replied that he had learned it by following the broadcasts of Canale 5, the only Italian TV broadcast on the other side of the Adriatic. “It would be nice to organize a challenge between two pivots, on the neutral pitch of Pesaro: Rama on one side and Minister Crosetto on the other who played for Turin when the sponsor was Berloni Cucine”, says a fan. Ambassador of the challenge? Spiro Leka.
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