For very little, Brazil did not lose the talent of Amaury Pasos to our arch-rivals. Son of Argentine parents, he was born in São Paulo, on December 11, 1935. The family had left the country during the government of Agustín Pedro Justo (1932-1938), known as the “Infamous Decade”, characterized by fraud in elections and corruption . Later, with his mother’s illness, who died shortly afterwards, the family returned to Buenos Aires, where Amaury lived from the age of 5 to 16.
“I owe all my education to Argentina. I have deep roots there”, he used to say.
Brazilian basketball legend, Amaury died in the early hours of Thursday (12), according to the Brazilian Basketball Confederation. He was next to his grandchildren and other closest relatives in São Paulo. The wake will be open to fans and will take place at Rua São Carlos do Pinhal, 376, from 10am to 6pm.
In Buenos Aires, the boy began to show talent in several sports. He practiced swimming, competing in the youth categories with Oscar Kramer, future bronze medalist in the 400 m freestyle at the 1955 Mexico Pan. Back in the country, when the family fled the populist government of Juan Domingo Perón (1946-1955), they left the swimming pools and entered the courts to train basketball and volleyball at the Clube de Regatas Tietê. Versatile, he also ventured into water polo, playing for Paulistano, and athletics, in which he competed in university competitions in the 400 m, 4 x 400 m relay, high and triple jump.
The option for basketball came with being called up to the Brazilian team that was training for the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, in 1954. At the age of 18, the Tietê center was called up by coach Togo Renan Soares, Kanela, at first, to complete the reserve team. With the ball in his hands, the young man stood out for the precision of his shots and his breath when marking. He ended up as a starter on the world runner-up team alongside another young man, winger Wlamir Marques.
For the next World Cup, in Chile, in 1959, the team was full of ambitions. Brazil established itself as one of the powers of the sport alongside the United States and the Soviet Union. But the preparation had none of its current glamour. Amateurs, everyone carried out other activities to survive. Nobody dreamed of the millionaire salaries of the NBA, the North American basketball league. Without passing near a five-star hotel, the team stayed for 45 days on the island of Enxadas, in Guanabara Bay (RJ), in a navy base.
The place had a bad reputation. He had been arrested in 1893, during the Armada Revolt, a rebellion by the country’s naval forces against the then president Floriano Peixoto. It was also mentioned as a detention house in the 1915 novel “Triste fim de Policarpo Quaresma”, by Lima Barreto.
“Canela [técnico da seleção brasileira] the power was turned off at 10pm. We bought flashlights to be able to read”, said Amaury.
Fun during this period? Only escapes on Sundays to have lunch out, accompanied by the coach, worried about the squad’s nutrition. At a time when there was no division of roles in the coaching staff, Kanela acted as a nutritionist. During the concentration, the leisure options were cards, dominoes, chess and pool. Furthermore, training and training.
“At that time, defending the Brazilian team was a romantic thing. There was no money for us. Just a daily fee for washing clothes”, recalled Amaury.
In the group that spent three months training for the World Cup, the veteran Algodão stood out, but the stars were already Amaury and Wlamir. “They were the Paula and Hortência of the time”, said teammate winger Waldyr Boccardo. “Amaury was the best basketball player in the country’s history”, agreed his friend Wlamir. “He was the most complete player Brazil ever had”, agreed Otto Pohl da Nóbrega, a member of that team, who died in 2000.
True. At 1.91 m, Amaury began his career as a center. As the sport evolved, he played further and further away from the basket, first as a winger and, at the end of his career, as a point guard.
In Chile, the Brazilian team qualified for the finals as first placed in its group, despite losing to the Soviet Union. As every champion team also has a dose of luck, the Soviets refused to face Taiwan, a political enemy of communist China, and were disqualified, along with Bulgaria.
Without their very strong rival in the decisive phase, the Brazilian team showed dominance by defeating the United States by a convincing 81 to 67. The game that guaranteed the title was against the home team. Despite the opposing fans, who filled the arena set up in the middle of the National Stadium, in Santiago, it was a massacre: 73 to 49. Amaury was voted the best player in the competition.
Four years later, with Kanela in charge, and Amaury and Wlamir on the court, Brazil would repeat the feat in Rio de Janeiro. A new power emerged: Yugoslavia, which would be runner-up. Despite this, the national team was absolute, with victories in the decisive phase over the United States (85 to 81), the Soviet Union (90 to 79) and Yugoslavia (90 to 71).
At the following World Cup, in Uruguay, in 1967, Amaury came in third place. For the Brazilian team, he also competed in three Olympics, being a bronze medalist in the Rome-1960 and Tokyo-1964 Games. He said that these medals, and not the world titles, were his main glories.
He was also four times South American champion (1958, 1960, 1961 and 1963) and twice medalist in Pans (silver in São Paulo-1963 and bronze in Mexico City-1955). In addition to Tietê, he defended Sírio and Corinthians, where he transferred in 1966, in the team that also included Wlamir, Rosa Branca and Ubiratan, the basis of the Brazilian team. He ended his career in 1973.
After running the family business for almost ten years, he returned to basketball as a coach in the 1980s. With clipboard in hand, he led Monte Virgínia to the São Paulo title in 1982 and became assistant coach of the Brazilian national team. In 1995, he defended Brazil in the Veterans World Cup, winning gold.
Due to his age, he later opted for a sport without physical contact. Just like Michael Jordan, whom he considered the “greatest player in history”, he played golf.
And, also with the bat in his hands, he exercised the same precision with the ball that once excited so many fans on the courts.
