Antonio Novoa, first president of the ACB, dies

MADRID, 19 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Association of Basketball Clubs reported and lamented from its “deep condolences” this Saturday the death of Antonio Novoa, first president of the ACB, at 91 years of age.

“Novoa was transcendental in the founding process of the acb that culminated in 1982 and then became the first president in the history of the Association, a position he held for four years, until March 1986,” says an official statement.

Antonio Novoa was president of Club Bàsquet Granollers between 1974 and 1990, leading the most successful moments of an entity that rose to the elite of Spanish basketball in 1977 and remained until 1993, although from 1989 it merged with RCD Espanyol.

“Sending a big hug to his family and all his friends in the world of basketball,” wrote the president of the ACB, Antonio Martín, who highlighted “the enormous importance that Antonio Novoa has had” for Spanish basketball, as “a pioneer without which it would be impossible to understand”, neither the national sport nor the ACB.

All Endesa League matches this weekend will observe a minute of silence in memory of the first president of the ACB.