There are sports careers that cannot be understood without qualifiers or specific matches. The of Pep Screw (Sant Joan les FontsMarch 11, 1968) has a few, but there’s one that stuck out in the minds of many basketball fans: theOpen McDonald’s of 1988. Madrid, the host of the competition, had just eliminated the Italian Scabolini in the semi-finals and awaited them in the final Boston Celtics of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale i Robert Parish. Those of Massachusetts they started with the label of favorites, but they did not decide the duel (96-111) until the last quarter. The white team played players of the size of Drazen Petrovic o Fernando Martin, but the headlines and praise for a magical night were a fluke. Screw has lost count of the blows that remind him of the confrontation: “Many times. People remember the game against Boston, against Larry Bird and the impact it had. I was only twenty years old. Also, it’s funny because they tell me: ‘how did you defend Larry Bird’, he scored almost thirty points.” The winger would score fifteen points in front of one of his idols. He went from watching the games with video in between Lakers i Celtics at the Titus nightclub in Badalona to face the genes from Indiana live: “He was my idol. He was tall like me, played on the outside and shot. I wanted to be like that man. Suddenly he was there. The first time I defended Larry Bird I didn’t know whether to touch him».
Cargol during an exhibition of his current work / ESC La Liga & NBA
Titles in white
That performance gave rise to all kinds of rumors about a possible move to theNBA. Even an enigmatic call from a person linked to a club there: “It had a lot of impact in the press, a lot. Things started to come out and I thought ‘I don’t know if these people are talking’. I once had a call from someone who claimed to be from an NBA team. It was in the summer. I said: ‘explain me, let’s talk’, but he didn’t call back. I really don’t know if this was something serious or not.’ Without making the jump to the NBA, that young man who landed on December 23, 1986 to play as a starting “pivot” went on to earn a place on a team full of talent that “protected him” only from ‘to arrive. With the passing of the seasons, the titles dressed in white would begin to arrive: one Korac (88’), dues Recopes d’Europa (89′ and 92′), two leagues ACB (93’ i 94’) i the Euroleague (95′), then still under the name of the European League.
Pep Cargol at the ESC La Liga & NBA facilities with soccer player Borja Iglesias / ESC La Liga & NBA
Screwol remembers two competitions in particular, the first league and the highest continental competition: «Madrid had not won the Euroleague for fifteen years. It was something very sought after. It was a generation that we knew might be our last chance. We already knew that the Sabonis he was going to the NBA the following year. Everything was built around him. There was Obradovic training, it was that year or it would be very difficult. We had already lost the semi-finals in Athens the year before. We wouldn’t have many more opportunities. In addition, it was a Zaragoza, a city that has been very important to me». With the basketball team of the Aragonese city, he would retire in 2003 and begin to take his first steps outside the courts. Almost every possible role within the organization, starting from grassroots coach to General Manager. The stage would end in 2022. Screwol is “proud” of the work done and of having been in the process of creating the women’s team. Coincidentally, he also saw the debut of his niece in Zaragoza, Aina Screwwith theUnited Girona 2023.
The homecoming
The city of Girona it is one of the others that takes to the heart. From Madrid, champion of Europe, he would make the jump to Valvi Girona. «I was excited to play in Girona again. There was this sentimental and belonging point that was important at that time”, admits Cargol. The club would manage to find stability in the middle part of the classification during the three seasons of Santjoanenc at the entity and also a title, the Catalan League of the 96/97 season. A stability that Screwol sees in the project of the Basketball Girona: “I follow him a lot. It seems to me that what Marc Gasol has achieved is admirable. He has grown a project from the ground up with a solid foundation. I admire him because he does things with a lot of sense and consistency, but also demonstrating a modern, bold and down-to-earth sports management.’
Pep Cargol during a Valvi Girona / Marçal Molas match
The second NBA call would never come, but fate has it that in the current job he is linked to the most powerful brand in the basketball universe. Screw is the general manager ofESC La Liga & NBA, a sports and academic training complex near Madrid, which he coordinates. a style high-school american Having hung up his boots a long time ago, the ex-player has yet to find anything similar to the adrenaline of the competition: “There is nothing that can match it. Sometimes I go with the veterans of Madrid and it doesn’t even come close». too he has a spine from not having been able to compete in the Olympic Games: «I stood at the gates twice. We had just won bronze at the 91 European Championships in Rome. We did well and they had chosen me as best sixth man. In 92 there were players who weren’t there the year before. I stayed very close. In 1988 it was between Quique Andreu or me and he went there».
2024-04-14 04:30:18
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