Oronzo Pugliese - Lo show della panchina (1965)

Oronzo Pugliese - The Show on the Bench (1965) Oronzo Pugliese (Turi, April 5, 1910 – Turi, March 11, 1990) was an Italian footballer and manager of the 1950s and 1960s, best remembered for his remarkable ability to inspire and motivate the players of the team he coached. BIOGRAPHY Born in Turi, in the province of Bari, to a peasant family, he retained the frankness, sincerity, and simplicity of his origins. He was an impulsive and fiery character, with a great ability to inspire both players and the crowd. FOOTBALLER His career as a footballer, unlike his coaching career, was not extraordinary; He switched positions from center forward to full-back, playing first in Puglia in the lower leagues, then for various other teams, including Frosinone (then called "Bellator Frusino"), Aquila Montevarchi, Potenza, and Popoli, and finally in Sicily, at Syracuse and Messina. He played several seasons with the Aretusei between the two world wars, contributing to their victory in the Serie C group in 1940-1941 and their qualification to the final of the 1944-1945 Sicilian championship. COACH He made his debut in Sicily, playing for Benevento and Siena. It was in Sicily that he began his coaching career, first with Leonzio in 1939, where his salary consisted of a few baskets of oranges, then with Siracusa and Messina, with whom he achieved promotion to Serie B in 1949-1950, in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto with Igea Virtus (1947-1949), then with Benevento (Serie C 1951-1952), in Caltanissetta with U.S. Nissena (IV series 1952-1955); in 1955-1956 he led Reggina to the IV series, achieving promotion to Serie C. In 1958-1959 he came close to promotion to Serie B with Siena, losing the play-off against Ozo Mantova. He then returned to Syracuse, where he finished fifth in Serie C. FOGGIA The two most important experiences of his career, however, came a few years later, first with Foggia and then with Roma. With the Apulian club, he achieved promotion to Serie B in the 1961-62 Serie C season, and two years later, at the end of the 1963-64 season, he reached Serie A. In 1964, he won the "Seminatore d'Oro" (Golden Sower), an award given to the coach who distinguished himself most during the season, thanks to his sporting achievements while leading Foggia, newly promoted to Serie A. He was nicknamed "the Wizard of Turi," a title he received in the 1964-65 season, when, leading the newly formed Foggia side, he managed to defeat Helenio Herrera's Grande Inter. Since Inter were too strong an opponent to be challenged head-on, he ordered his players to wait and study their opponents without exposing themselves, placing very tight man-marking on the Nerazzurri attackers. Foggia won the match 3-2, and from then on, Pugliese became a celebrity. The Rossoneri finished their first season in the top flight with a surprising ninth place in the table, tied with Roma. ROME In the next three years, he was called to manage Roma, where he became the fans' idol but didn't achieve the results he had hoped for. In 1965-1966, he remained at the top of the table for about two months, but then finished the season in eighth place. However, he did have the satisfaction of once again beating Herrera's Inter, this time 2-0 at the Olimpico. The following two years (1967 and 1968) fared no better, both finishing in tenth place; however, he had time to launch the promising youngster Fabio Capello. THE LAST SEVEN YEARS The following years saw his downward spiral. First Bologna on two occasions, then Bari, newly promoted to Serie A in 1969-1970, where he made his debut by beating Roma (who had since been coached by Helenio Herrera, who was thus once again defeated by the "Wizard of Turi"), but he was replaced on March 10, 1970, with the team in second-to-last place, which was relegated at the end of the season. He then moved to Fiorentina, Lucchese, Avellino, and Termoli. He concluded his career at Crotone in the 1977-78 season, a position his brother-in-law Egizio Rubino had held twenty years earlier. He died in Turi in 1990. Since 2008, the citizens of Turi have created the "Oronzo Pugliese" National Sports Award in his honor. The street leading to the municipal sports field in Turi is also named after him. MASS CULTURE Lino Banfi was inspired by him, at the suggestion of the famous Swedish coach Nils Liedholm, for the character of Oronzo Canà in the cult film "The Coach in the Ball" (1984) and its sequel "The Coach in the Ball 2" (2008). Giovanni Cataleta dedicated a book to him, "When Magicians Existed in Football."