Jimmy STRONG a former baseball player and coach in Italy and the Netherlands passed away last Wednesday at the age of 88. He was born in 1918 in Atlanta, Georgia. He studied psychology at the local university and was a two-sport-star in basketball and baseball. After the war he came to Livorno, Italy in 1946 to play basketball, football and baseball. He joined Gira Bologna to coach and play basketball two years later. At the same time he also played baseball for Libertas Bologna. He hit .850 in 1954 and .750 in 1949. These are still Italian records. He also coached the Swiss basketball team in 1951/52 and led them to Olympics in Helsinki. In 1956 he took over as manager of the Italian baseball team. They finished third twice in 1956 and 57 at the European championships in Rome and Mannheim. He continued to play and coach baseball in Italy until he left for the Netherlands in the early 1970′s, where he continued to teach baseball, basketball, softball and boxing. STRONG had a big impact on European baseball and is greatly respected until today.
Nov '07 25
Jimmy Strong passed away
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