The fourth gala of the Spanish Basketball Hall Of Fame awarded this Thursday in Hassan II Pavilion in Seville a 11 applicationswho will be the new members of the place of recognition that the FEB, with the support of ASput into operation to honor its legends.
Below we highlight some of the winners with parts of their speeches at the entrance ceremony.
Betty Cebrian
“Many thanks to the institutions: AS, Junta de Andalucía, etc. Thank you for organizing the event and for considering that my career deserved to enter the Hall of Fame. Thanks to Elisa for your words, you know how special it is for me to collect the award in your presence. This means a lot to all of us. It is a privilege for me. If you allow me, I would like to start by remembering many brave women, colleagues and friends, who are no longer with us: Pilar Valero, Eva Clará and others who continue to fight breast cancer today, who for me are the “True champions”
“Looking back a little, I have been privileged. I have had great locker room teammates and excellent coaches. Two of them are the following: Silvia Font was the first coach who put a ball in my hands, the one who instilled the sport and its values in me; María Planas was the one who made my debut in the First Division and the one who basically opened the doors to the professional world for me. There, in Tortosa, Rosa Castillo played, my reference, my friend and, when she retired, my representative and my handkerchief of tears. To her, above all, thank you for supporting me, this award is for you too”
“I don’t want to forget the institutions today. Because our generation owes a lot to companies that bet on women’s basketball when we hadn’t won anything. They gave us the opportunity to develop at the highest level. Finally, to my family, who has come from very far away and is scattered around the world. Family absences still hurt me. To my husband, to my son, for facilitating the logistics at home, because with the life I lead it is not easy. And to finish I’m going to award the Golden Ball to basketball. “I can proudly say that I was one of those girls who chose basketball as a refuge, working in its management and giving spaces so that many girls can pursue their dreams.”
Moncho Monsalve
“I didn’t expect it and I don’t think I deserve it. There have been some of my players here. Since my beginnings in Mataró I always carried my script, the opposing team and my ideas”
“Thank you to the people who have nominated me to be in a group of people that I not only respect, but love”
“There is a law in my life which is that reason is called basketball. Never forget the people who have helped you. For me there have been too many people and in four minutes it is impossible to mention them”
“In Pamplona, in San Fermín, we were 16 kids from all over Spain over 1.90. I was lucky to be selected from that group. Then, they gave me and my two colleagues a scholarship to work with a Madrid team of the time. Our coach, José Laso Castejón, is more than a friend and a brother. “We trained six hours a day”
“Thanks to a scholarship I was in the United States, where I met great coaches. There I met Chuck Daly, who led the Dream Team in Barcelona in 1992.”
“After that the idea of training in Brazil arose. I live, more than in a wheelchair, especially with crutches. From being a sports man I have ended up being handicapped. There I have to talk about Yolanda Llorente. I live with her and her family in San Antonio de la Rivera, working in training, watching basketball and listening to music. It is not easy to live with a disabled person, especially like me. Good night and be happy”
Sub-19
“First, thank all the people who have made it possible for us to receive the award. I’ll be brief. I will follow the rules of the game. Which is something important. The FEB has a training structure that has extraordinary human quality. When he came home he always said the same thing: the kids are very talented, but the doctor, the physio, the assistants, everyone who cares for the children, are of exceptional human quality. Professionally we have more or less successes, but day to day, what the Federation offers on a human level, is incredible. And I’m still surprised.”
“And the second thing I want to comment on is that this is a day-to-day process. We started in the sub-12 and in the end visibility comes to a select few in the sub-19. But everything has a value. When the legends later arrive here and have the detail of remembering their training coaches, of their beginnings, I see it as normal because it is the moment in which you can help the most, in which the player’s talent is helped by being close to him . When you receive the call from the Federation to be a coach in training, this is what they tell you: ‘You have to make these kids as educated as possible.’ Then the systems, the parties, can turn out better or worse, but the values are priority. I can’t tell you the future. I don’t know if in the coming years we will see the new Pau Gasol or Marc Gasol, but I do know that – by doing this work – Spain will continue to be a basketball country, which generates a lot of enthusiasm and will always be a rival worthy of admiration, which is something that in many places in the world we represent”
Antoni Daimiel
“Good evening everyone. I’m overwhelmed. When Vicente told me I was in Boston, at the Garden. I immediately looked for who decided this. I thought that as soon as one of the 14 members of the jury had drawn my name, that was the key.”
“If Moncho says he doesn’t deserve it, imagine me. He has probably commented on more than 4,000 games in 29 years. I want to acknowledge that entering this Hall of Fame is not in chronological order or importance. In the 70s and 80s there was a high level of press and I was hooked on basketball thanks to the press. Surely many more journalists will join over the years. Héctor Quiroga, Pedro Barthe, Ramón Trecet or my much missed Andrés Montes”
“There is another whim of fate which is to coincide with Wayne Brabender. He was my first idol before I started playing. His sobriety and aim… It was very aesthetic. They also told me that he was stoic, with tremendous discipline, with values like sacrifice. Quite the opposite of what I am, but that doesn’t make me stop admiring him. “I am very happy to be here with him.”
“I have tried to normalize the profession. I knew I was nobody in the basketball world. And I have tried to be kind, accompany the viewer, improve their experience, contribute and represent journalism that does not exalt the amateur and is respectful for the professional.”
“I wanted to be a small tile within a large mosaic. A dispensable tile, but in its place. And I’ve always wanted that, to be in my place.”
Pilar Landeira
“Good evening everyone. First of all, thank all the members of the jury, the president of the FEB, the director of AS and the institutions. Elisa, thank you very much for the words you have dedicated to me. Today is a day of intense emotions and remembering it makes my hair stand on end. Congratulations to the fellow nominees, there have been many moments and journeys. It is an honor to share this with you”
“Behind this recognition there are people and entities. I want to thank all the trainers who wanted to make me a better referee. To the Extremadura, Madrid, Catalan Federation and the ACB, because we must never forget our origins. And I want to thank all the teammates with whom I was in the games that I had to direct.”
“There are two people who are responsible for me being where I am right now. Eduard Portela and Santiago Fernández, president of the ACB and director of arbitration. They were the ones who placed the trust so that he could referee. Opening that door that was forbidden was incredible and today there are more and more women who also have great quality”
“Refereeing has been my true school of life, it has formed me as a person and is responsible for who I am. That is why today is a day of internal pride. I have infinite gratitude towards refereeing”
Marina Ferragut
“Thank you very much, Federation, AS, authorities, jury, for thinking of me to be part of this promotion. It is a pride. I didn’t want to talk about Drazen Petrovic, but when we didn’t have female references he was the reference. I remember going to see him at the Palace, to see if he would come out; “We imitated him by shooting free throws, sticking out our tongues like he did.”
“I want to thank and congratulate Elisa Aguilar. I have been lucky enough to live an incredible basketball story, to see the Federation evolve from Ernesto Segura de Luna to today, with Elisa here. It is an honor to be represented by her, a strong, brave, professional and hard-working woman. Wish you all the best”
“My story begins forty years ago, when at the age of twelve I went to a pioneering 21st century in Manresa. Twelve players, girls, without knowing what destiny had in store for us. I have very good memories of Francesc de Puig, my first coach, who taught me to work and that things, if I put in a lot of effort, would come. After that there have been many players and managers who have made me the person I am today. Currently I have managed to unite my two passions, education and sports, I am a teacher. “I want to thank my director, Sonia, for, in a moment of transition, when after the withdrawal everything seemed a little shaky, she gave me the opportunity to lead my school’s sports project.”
“I believe that education and sports are two fundamental tools for a society that is a bit turbulent today. “They go hand in hand, united, and that is what I try to convey”
“I want to thank my intense friends from Barcelona, who have shared the good and bad moments with me. Then I want to remember my thanks and remember my father, my mother, my brother, who in a discreet and humble way have been supporting me, following in my footsteps. “Now that I am a mother, I understand what it must cost to let such a young girl go to pursue her dreams.”
