Coach Cláudio Mortari passed away last Wednesday (25) in São Paulo, his family said in a post on social media. In his more than 40-year career, the coach managed countless teams in the country, winning many important titles, including the Interclub World Championship with Esporte Clube Sírio. He led the Brazilian team at the 1980 Olympic Games, held in Moscow (Russia, at that time part of the Soviet Union).
“Mortari was a great idol in our history. A coach of incredible tactical quality, champion. But, as a person, even better. A gentleman, a teacher. With an incredible education and friendship. The world loses too much without Cláudio Mortari. Basketball loses a character and idol and we lose a friend. A kiss to the family, to the children. The man goes, the legend remains. Rest in peace and the risk for everything he did here”, declared the president of the Brazilian Basketball Confederation, Marcelo Sousa.
With successful careers that resulted in Brazilian titles with Palmeiras (in 1977) and Rio Claro (in 1995), the coach, who was born on March 15, 1948 in São Paulo, was the commander of Sírio’s golden era, leading the team to the title of the 1979 Interclub World Championship, with a historic squad that included Oscar Schmidt, Marcel de Souza and Marquinhos Abdalla. With Sírio, Mortari also won the South American Championship on three occasions and the Brazilian Championship in three editions: 1978, 1979 and 1983.
Throughout his career, Mortari played for other traditional clubs in the country. Among them are Bradesco, Corinthians, Pirelli, Telesp, Mogi das Cruzes, Mackenzie, Flamengo, Campos, Paulistano, São Bernardo and Esporte Clube Pinheiros, for which he achieved one of the most important titles in continental basketball, the 2013 League of the Americas.
